"This isn't what I wanted. This isn't what I wanted for you. I wanted to move out to the country on some peaceful planet where we could adopt children and have a nice house where we could leave everything behind. But that's not the hand I was dealt. It's not the fate either of us has been handed. If I could go back and change things, I would. You have to believe me. I'm in too deep to turn back now, Ben. I'm losing control of everything."
Ben tugged the comb free and set it down. "You can still change it. You have the power to do the right thing, but you're too much of a coward."
"That's true. As much as I ragged on you for being squeamish and afraid of guns, I'm the coward here, not you. I've always been a coward. Too afraid to save my mother's life, so I watched her die in my arms. Too afraid to face reality, so I buried myself in drugs. Too afraid to stand up for what's right, so I sided with Tirlmayn. Too afraid to tell the man I loved how I felt, so I settled for you."
Ben's lips parted in a short gasp from the stinging comment.
"But I realize now that I never settled for you, Ben. I love you more than you'll ever know. And it's because of that love that I have to do this. I have to be Tirlmayn's perfect son. I have to stop all violence, all wars, all killing, all rape, all evilness. I have to stop it from ever hurting you again. You have to see and understand why I will go through all measures, take all risks to make sure no other children have to go through what you've been put through. And if that means you killing me in the process, then so be it. But I won't give up. I've seen you hurting. I've heard your story time after time. I've seen Nemo after he was abused. I've seen the mental breakdown of a soldier who had been an offering boy to the corrupted church on Elysia. I've seen far too much pain in the helpless and the hopeless. I have to be their savior. That's who I'm doing this for. I'm sorry that you feel I tricked you. I'm sorry that I'm not doing this the way you think I should!" Vance leaned over on the dresser as two tears fell from his eyes to hit the wood. "I'm sorry. Do what you want, Benjamin. Put me down if you think it will make any of this better. My boomerang is under the corner of the bed. All you have to do is press the blue button on the control panel to activate the plasma. Throw it hard. Make it count."
* * *
"Come on, Lucas. You can do this."
Lucas Stephens shook his head frantically, sending his bright blue hair into his face and over his cybernetic eye. "No. I can't get in there. I can't get in there again."
Visht sighed and ran his hand over his circular red horns. He turned back to the exosuit that he had brought into the plain white cell. "Why not? You used to practically live in here. We need you to get back in here then help us take down Tirlmayn."
"No. No. I can't. I can't. They haven't given me my pills. I can't."
"Lucas, you're a soldier. You were a master sergeant in the Elysian Army. You can do this. Think of your training."
"No. I'm fine here. It's nice here. They feed me here. They don't whip me here or chain me up here. Even the men don't hurt me. They're good. They're good, Visht."
"I know they seem good, that they seem better than the priests who kept you locked up in that church, but you need you get out of here. Tirlmayn will kill you. He's trying to kill all of us. You're the only person who can use this exosuit."
Lucas flapped the arms of his straitjacket like they were wings. "They're not even buckled. No handcuffs here. No chains here. No punishment here. I'm safe. I'm safe and happy. Happy and safe. Oh, oh! Guess what? They gave me candy. Little yummy yellow candies."
"Stop. Lucas, I need you to snap out of this. I get it. You're crazy, but stop with the crazy! You have to stop!" The young warbringer grabbed onto Lucas's straitjacket and shook him forcefully. "Stop being crazy!"
Lucas whimpered like a small wounded animal as he broke down in a fit of crying. He was inconsolable.
Visht let him go, rolling his eyes as the teenager fell back onto the cot and flopped around like a fish out of water. "You're not faking this, are you? I know you're hurting and you're scared because of everything you've gone through, but you have to pull yourself together. We need you. We need this exosuit. You will be able to walk in it. You'll be able to use the weapons. Please. Lucas Stephens, please?"
"I want Ruth. Where is Ruth? Where are Ruth and my baby? Do you have my baby?"
"You have a baby?" Visht whispered to himself, almost afraid to say the words. "You're a father? I wasn't told that. I . . . no, Lucas. I don't know who Ruth is and I don't know where your baby is."
"I do. They're both dead. Dead, dead, dead. Everyone's dead. Everyone dies. You'll die. I'll die. We'll all die. That's what people do. They die." Lucas looked up through his tears and laughed. "That's all we're good for. Dying."
"I'm sorry for coming here and bothering you. It was a mistake."
"I'll do it."
Visht stopped. "Lucas, you're not in any condition to be-"
"I said I'll do it. I can't leave this room, though."
"For space's sake. You're impossible."
"Get me more candy. I need more candy."
"Do you have any of these candies you keep talking about?"
"Only one. I've been saving it."
"Can I see it?" Visht sat on the cot next to him and held out his hand. "Let me see your candy so I can know what I'm looking for."
"You'll get me more candy?"
"Yeah, just show me."
Lucas picked apart the seam of his cot then held up the tiny glittering yellow pill. "Candy."
Visht took it and held it up in the light. "This isn't candy, Lucas. You're being drugged. That explains why you're getting so much worse. They're drugging you. I've taken these before. They forced me to take them to make me look like I was even more messed up than I was. I've been right where you are when they thought I was insane. They thought I was unstable because I didn't want to kill anyone like the other warbringers. But listen to me. I've been in a straitjacket and locked in a room like this. Only with me, they weren't as nice. They beat me regularly to toughen me up. Lucas, I can get you out of here and away from these people."
Lucas's mouth fell open as he pointed towards the door of the cell. "Nemo."
Visht spun around to see the tiny blond boy with the mint green eyes in the blue hoodie, jeans, and purple sneakers. "That's Nemo?"
The boy smiled and waved his hand. "Hi. I'm Nemo Tillman. Do you know where my daddy is?"
Chapter 7
"Prince Benjamin! Ben, what happened?"
Ben stormed past the Azimandian Underground guards who joined him in the underground hallway. His face was hidden below the large hood of his white cloak. "Call everyone to a meeting in the sewers. It's an emergency. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone."
"What's going on?" One of the warbringers grabbed Ben's arm then grunted when the cloak flew open in front to reveal the red-stained clothes and arms underneath. "Why are you covered in blood? Ben, whose blood is that?"
He instantly pulled his cloak closed again and continued down the sewer. "I'll tell you everything at the meeting. Hurry up. We don't have much time. I'm talking minutes, not hours. I need someone to find me a way off this Star-World. Now!"
"Yes, sir."
Ben rushed into the main room of the sewers that he had been using as a meeting area and conference room. Members of the Azimandian Underground and the Red Sand Rebels immediately began filling the room with anxious and expectant looks on their faces. While it was normal for Ben to call them here in the middle of the night, it was never on this such short notice. The vibrantly dangerous energy that filled the musty air hummed with the near panic of an unknown emergency. As Ben waited at the front of the room, he shivered from the coolness of the drying blood that soaked into his clothes and became a sticky syrup on his chest and arms. Even the mold and sewage down there could not mask the smell.
A few minutes passed as the room grew more and more crowded. The guard next to Ben was keeping track of who was in attendance. Once most of them were there, Ben stepp
ed forward to address them. There was not enough time to wait. "Members of the Azimandian Underground and the Red Sand Rebels, I have summoned you all here to tell you that Prince Aveni, Vance Trainor, is dead . . . by my hands." He pulled open his cloak to show them the smeared blood. "This is his blood as proof."
The room erupted in frantic whispers, speculation, and worried rumors.
Ben held up his hands to quiet them. "Please be silent and listen to me. I need a ship. We need to get as many of you off of this Star-World as we can before the guards find his body and Tirlmayn has a chance to retaliate. If you think the warlord doesn't know we exist, then you have been fooling yourselves. Prince Aveni's body will be found any moment now."
Someone called to him from the crowd. "What about the bombs? We haven't finished disarming them yet."
"Not true. I have secretly had every bomb disarmed for two days. I did them on my own and kept it a secret in case there were any spies planted here by Tirlmayn or Krisharn. We have nothing left on this Star-World to care about that is worth losing our lives over. The time to evacuate is now. I came here as soon as I could."
"What about our families? What about our children?"
Ben tried to calm them down and reassure them that their choices were their own. He did not want them to view him as a tyrant. That was the very thing he was fighting against. "You are free to stay if you wish. I am extending the offer of help to any of you who want to come with me. The choice is completely up to you. I-"
"Ben!" Visht entered from a side hallway with Lucas on his back and a young blond boy at his side holding his hand. He twisted the boy's wrist harshly, causing him to cry out in pain. "It's a Nemo clone. It has a number on its foot. I brought it to you so you could kill it."
A group of warbringers at the back drew their laser pistols and aimed at the boy.
"Stop! Stop. Bring the boy to me. No one touches him." Ben waited impatiently as the boy was dragged up to him by an angry warbringer whose grasp was threatening to snap the clone's thin wrist. He caught the boy when the warbringer shoved him onto the low platform. He knelt down and wiped away the boy's tears from his mint green eyes. "Hey. Are you injured?"
The boy shook his head then lunged at him.
Ben grunted as the tiny arms were wrapped around his neck in a hug and the boy sobbed into the front of his robe with airy whimpers. He stood up with the boy in his arms and did his best to console him. "Shh. It's okay. It's all right." He then turned his attention back to the rebels. "Do any of you know how cloning works? No? Even these types of clones have their own minds. They are living, breathing people just like you and me. Yes, they are exact copies of Nemo and have been brainwashed since birth to believe they are Nemo, but they are alive. Every one of them is a child. No one is to harm them."
The clone whispered into Ben's ear. "My friends."
"Where are your friends? Are they here? Are they in the sewers?"
He nodded his head and placed his fingers in his mouth to whistle. As soon as the shrill notes filled the room, pale hands, bare feet, and green eyes peeked out from the shadows. The Nemo clones emerged from their hiding places all around them, their cheeks pink and their eyes wide and brimming with tears.
Ben gasped. He set the one boy down then held out his arms in welcome to the others. "Let them pass. No one touches them. Come here, boys. Come here to me. We're the good guys. We're not going to hurt you."
A warbringer crossed his arms and scowled. "They could have trackers in them, Prince Benjamin."
"We will deal with that once we're off this Star-World. Tirlmayn already knows where we are."
"But Prince Ben-"
"Silence." He turned back to what truly mattered in that moment. The children. "Come on, boys. Come on up here with me. Gather around. Don't be afraid of me. I will keep you all safe, I promise."
The boys, all perfectly identical aside from their various degrees of messy blond hair and assorted bruises on their faces and arms, gingerly stepped up onto the platform. They all held each other's hands as they looked up at Ben with fear in their large innocent eyes. It became instantly clear that they had no bad intentions. They were children. Only children.
Ben once again knelt down in front of them. He smiled as he counted them all. "Let's see how many there are of you. Fourteen? Fifteen. Fifteen boys. Is this everyone? I don't want to leave anyone behind." He made eye contact with each of them. "I am taking you with me. We're going to get out of here and I will do everything I can to give you better lives. Are you hungry? I'm sure you're starving. Don't be afraid of me."
They stepped closer then all threw their arms around Ben in one giant communal hug.
Instead of feeling joy from it, all Ben experienced was an overwhelming sadness. These poor children behaved like no one had ever shown them love before. They clung to the first person who offered them kindness. His heart broke, but he had to make sure he could save them as he had promised. Ben stood back up and put his hands on two of the boys' shoulders. "Guards, have you secured a ship?"
"Sandra Noriega has landed her ship in the field above this room. Everything is prepared for evacuation."
"Perfect. Who, aside from the boys, is coming with me?"
Visht raised his hand. "Lucas and I are. Dallis, Neon, and Derek are already making their way up to the ship with help from my sister."
Ben scanned the faces of the Azimandians and humans. "No one else? I'm sure we can find room on the ship for more."
"You go, My Prince." A human in all black saluted him. "You save yourself. We will hold back Tirlmayn's forces for as long as we can. You have done enough for us. Go."
Everyone raised their fists into the air and let out a fierce battle cry. "Vixt enri allum Benjamin. Vixt enri allum Benjamin. Go with honor, Benjamin. Go with honor, Benjamin!
* * *
Ben carried four large bags of cheese puffs in his arms down the main hall of Sandra's ship towards the biggest room that they had given him for his own. But it was not just his own. He was sharing it with fifteen precious boys. When the door slid open and he stepped inside, the boys rushed him, nearly tackling him to the floor. He laughed as they ripped open the bags and devoured the contents. Their hands and mouths became sticky with orange powder. "You must be hungry. How long has it been since you ate anything?"
One of the boys looked up from sucking the cheese off of his fingers to hold up three of them.
"Three? Three days?"
They all nodded their heads in unison before diving back into the bags of chips.
No wonder they were acting like they were starving. Because they were. Ben stood up and watched them for a few moments before going into the bathroom. "Let me get a shower, then I will go make you some sandwiches. You need real food."
None of them answered or acknowledged him. They were too busy wrestling for the last few chips to care about what he was saying.
Ben held up his hands as he watched the fifteen seven-year-old boys strewing cheese puffs across what had been his neatly-made bed. He cringed when two of them punched each other in the face then fell off into the floor, taking the bedside table with them. "Just don't kill each other, okay? I'll only be in here for a couple of minutes. Just a shower. Please don't die."
Ben shut the door then hurriedly stripped off his cloak. He stopped in front of the mirror to look at himself. Through his panic, he peeled off the blood-soaked shirt and pants. He tossed them into the trashcan, stuffing them down with his foot. Turning back to the mirror, tears of anger, of rage, of loss filled his grey eyes. His bare chest was streaked with his husband's blood. He could not think about it.
He stepped into the shower and turned the water on as hot as it could go then stood below the shower head to let it burn his skin. With his bare hands, he scrubbed and scrubbed as he cursed himself, he cursed Vance, he cursed the universe. When he had run out of things to curse, he picked up the shampoo bottle and poured the entire thing over his head then slammed his forehead against the tile wall u
ntil it was bruised.
"You know that's now how you're supposed to use shampoo, right?"
Ben growled as the male voice came over the earpiece he had forgotten to take out. "Go away. How can you see me?"
"There are cameras all over that ship. I simply found one I could hack into."
He frowned and looked around the ceiling. "There's a camera in the shower?"
"Never mind that. How are the kids?"
Ben thought back to the mess in the bedroom where he could still hear the boys arguing. "They're . . . wonderful."
"You don't sound so sure of that."
He turned the water off then found a towel on the wall and wrapped it around his waist. "They're just hungry is all. I'm outnumbered here. There are fifteen of them and only one of me. I'm going to go get dressed and make them some sandwiches. Kids like sandwiches, right?"
"I'm sure they'll like whatever you give them. You'll be a great dad."
"Their dad?" Ben's breath left him at the thought. "You think they see me as their father?"
"Why not? No one else has ever loved or cared for them. They need you, Ben."
"What about you?"
"I have to lie low here for a while. Tomorrow night after the funeral, I make my move. I'm turning this off until after I've finished the plan. Do not tell anyone."
"I won't. You have my word."
The voice growled at him. "Good. We get one shot at this, only one. Do not screw this up."
"Yes, sir."
"I like it when you call me that. It's sexy. Thank you for doing this, Ben."
"I'm not doing it for you."
"What do you mean by that?" The man asked.
"Would I have killed my husband if I was doing this for only you?"
"That . . . that makes no sense."
"Goodbye, Violet Ghost. Good luck with your mission."
"You too, Ben."
Ben pulled the sensor out of his ear and hid it under the sink. He wiped the water from his face before opening the door. His eyes grew wide when he looked out at the sight that awaited him. All fifteen boys were curled up in various positions across the bed and the floor, all fast asleep. He could not stop himself from smiling. They were too cute for their own good. Stepping carefully around bodies and empty chip bags, Ben made it to the dresser and quickly dressed in the baggy jeans and over-sized red t-shirt that was left there from whoever had occupied the room before him. Something tugged on the hem of his shirt, so he turned around to see the boys on their knees with their heads bowed before him. "What's going on, boys?"
The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10 Page 32