Vance lowered his arms and frowned. "Uh, what?"
Krisharn unbuttoned a small pocket on the side of his pants and retrieved two half-inch diameter round rubies that glittered like blood in the light. "You don't know what these are?"
"No . . ."
"You are the warlord of Azimandia, yet you don't know what the Queen's Eyes are?" The warbringer chuckled as he twirled the rubies in his claws. "These rubies have been passed down for thousands of years from the first Azimandian queen who was not ruled by the Great Horned Mother. Every Azimandian queen has worn them. Being that Benjamin here is your selected mate, he must now wear them before I can fully accept him as My Queen."
"Uh . . . he's a man."
"Yes, but I already explained that."
"Where does he wear them?" Vance asked.
"Somewhere painful, but aesthetically pleasing because the queen must always be divine."
Vance still had to make sure. "You're not here to kill us?"
He spun the machete in his hand then slid it back into the sheath on his back. "I had my machete out to make sure you wouldn't attack me unprovoked. I don't know with you humans. You're tricky beings. Shall I bestow the Queen's Eyes upon Benjamin? I will then get you two out of here."
"Really? You're actually here to help us?"
"Is my English that bad that you cannot understand me? Yes." Krisharn did the previously unfathomable. He placed his hand over his heart and bowed to Vance. "Dovei, My Warlord."
"How do you give him the Queen's Eyes? You said it will hurt?"
"Yes, it will hurt. I have to puncture holes into his earlobes to make holes big enough for the rubies to fit in. He will then wear them permanently until his death."
Ben made a defiant whimper as he glanced back over at Vance and shook his head. "No. Vance, no. Don't let him do that to me. Please. Vance . . . please."
The puppy-dog eyes would not work on him, not when their freedoms and lives were at stake. "I'm sorry, Ben. If I am to be the warlord, then I must uphold and preserve the traditions of my culture. Do it, Krisharn."
The warbringer snatched Ben by his ears and held him still despite his squirming and squealing. "Stop fighting it. Okay. We shall do this the hard way." Krisharn leapt onto Ben's stomach and straddled him, pinning him to the concrete so he could easily reach up and shove his razor-sharp claws through both earlobes simultaneously.
Ben screamed and writhed with tears flowing freely down his reddened cheeks. He shook his head frantically when the warbringer crushing his chest began to push the rubies into the new holes in his ears. "No, no! Please don't. Please. No! Ah!"
Once the rubies were in place in Ben's bleeding ears, Krisharn clamped his massive hand over the blubbering man's mouth. "Silence. They're in. Do not remove them. If you do, the holes will close and I will be forced to pierce them again. I'm sure you don't want that, do you?"
Ben shook his head as he sniffled.
"Good. Then we understand each other. Now, I am going to get up and address you in the proper way. Do not be this emotional mess. You are married to the warlord of Azimandia. Act like it."
Ben coughed once the warbringer crawled off of him. He gingerly touched the large rubies embedded in his ears then stood as he winced with the pain.
Krisharn knelt down on one knee to kiss Ben's bare feet and rub his horns along the inside of Ben's thighs. He then looked up at him, locked eyes as he rose to his feet, then kissed him right on the lips. He ignored Ben's stunned gasp. "My beloved Queen of Azimandia, I, Krisharn X-Azimandia, pledge my undying devotion to you. May you bring pleasure to the benevolent warlord through your submissiveness."
Vance could not help but cover his mouth, but even that was not enough to keep himself from doubling over in laughter. "That's the traditional thing to say? Are you joking? That's hilarious, mate. I'm sure you're not making many friends with women over that one. Way to set back feminism another eight thousand years."
"It is tradition. There is nothing funny about it. Enough of this now. It has been completed. We must be moving. I have a problem, though, My Warlord."
"And that is?" Vance asked, moving to Ben's side and taking him in his arms to console him.
"I met with President Brightman here on this planet where Congress was convening and-"
"I was told Brightman was on Elysia."
"Then you were lied to. He has conference rooms all over the various galaxies he has footing in. I was nearby when he summoned me, so it was easy to get here quickly. And yes, I was following you. Anyway, I told him that I would enter into a peace treaty with him in exchange for the throne of Azimandia. Part of that was you two being killed. I was to come down here and assassinate you. Here is the issue. You two aren't corpses, so it will be difficult for us to walk out of this prison. On top of that, I fear that President Brightman may be taking advantage of this situation to trap me here as a prisoner. I will not let that happen. Do you have a plan, Aveni?"
"No. I don't have a plan at all. Oh, I do have this." He held out the purple flower with the pulsing glow. "Think we can use it?"
"Maybe. If it comes down to fighting, you'll need it. I can try to barter with the guards and talk our way through the levels of this prison while avoiding the video cameras. Or I can just blow a hole in this wall here with a blast charge and then we make a run for it to my ship. Your call, warlord."
Explosions were always the better option. "Blow it up! I don't want to sneak out of here."
"As you command, My Warlord."
* * *
Lucas shuffled into the bedroom he shared with as many as four others at any given time, but he came back before the others had finished drinking so he could have some time alone. Stepping back against the wall beside his bed, he punched the unlock button on the control panel on his arm. With a hissing sound and the slight scraping of metal on metal, the exosuit unlocked and the front lifted up around him. After disconnecting the wires from his arms, legs, and torso, Lucas reached out to steady himself before falling straight onto his bed.
At this point, he always felt the most vulnerable. Dressed only in his boxers and a t-shirt in the dark, he did not have the protection the exosuit gave him or the weaponry to defend himself. More than that, now he was bed-ridden without the use of his legs. If something was to happen, he would not be able to run or even walk to get help. Lucas had not been able to get into his exosuit without help yet.
Sinking down into the soft mattress, he turned the lights off and took a deep relaxing breath. Dallis was right. There was no reason to worry about things he had no control over. Whatever happened tomorrow would happen one way or another. He was only hurting himself.
"Whoa!" Lucas jumped when the hand touched his face. He rolled backwards to reach up and flip the switch on the lamp next to the bed. Once the darkness was illuminated, he found himself staring into the slick metal face plates of the cyborg. "Derek?"
Derek was on all fours on the bed, staring down at him with his computerized head cocked to the side. His olive complexion stood out against the black parts that had long ago been installed on his body. He reached out his hand once again to tap his fingers against Lucas's own cybernetic right eye.
Lucas took the cyborg's wrist and sat up. "What is it? What are you trying to tell me?"
He tapped the cybernetic eye then his own.
"Oh, yeah. I have a cybernetic eye like yours."
The black screen on Derek's face lit up with pink lights and the flexible mesh around his mouth turned up on the corners in a smile. He moved his hands in an attempt to sign to him.
Lucas shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't know Biromian sign language."
The cyborg's shoulders slumped and the smile vanished. The lights on his face plates switched to blue as he slid off of the bed and headed towards the door.
"Hey, Derek, don't go. Come back over here. You came in here for a reason. What do you have to tell me?" Lucas pulled the drawer of the bedside table open. "I have a notebook. Write to m
e."
Derek turned around and tiptoed back to the bed, joining Lucas below the blankets. He took the small notebook and the pen before starting to write. He then held up his message. I like your armor.
"Thanks. Dallis made the alterations to it so it would resemble the ancient tribal Biromian warriors."
Are you like me? A cyborg? Has your brain been messed with too?
"No, not that far. I have a cybernetic eye that I got on Birom and my exosuit connects with my nervous system and muscles, but that's about it."
Derek motioned to his ears then pointed at Lucas.
"My ears? Are you asking why they're pointed? They were cropped with shears when I was a boy. I was one of the offering children in an Elysian church."
A slave?
"Yeah. A slave to the priests."
Derek bowed his head and scribbled out a long message. I was a slave. I was kidnapped as an infant and sold to Valmorons. I grew up in a dirt pit where I had to fight against other boys just to get food. Rage saved me, but now he's gone. I don't have anyone. Neon the Biromian knows Biromian sign language like me and we can talk, but he's busy all the time with Dallis. I thought that if you were a cyborg like me, that we could be friends.
"We can be friends anyway. We don't have to both be cyborgs to be friends."
The pinpoints of light across Derek's face plates blinked to pink again as he took Lucas's hand. I'd like that. Sorry if I seem so needy. My worst fear is being alone.
Lucas smiled back at him. "I don't like being alone either. So, let's stick together."
You're nice for a military man.
"I originally joined the army to be a chaplain. They then forced me to fight. I'm no soldier. I'm not brave or strong enough for that job."
What's wrong with your legs?
He rubbed his numb knees, still not able to feel a thing. "I was injured in battle. I drove an Azimandian battle sphere off the side of a cliff while trying to defend a Biromian military base. I nearly died. I'm paralyzed from the waist down."
You sound like a soldier to me. A hero.
"I'm no hero, Derek. I've never been anything close to a hero. If you wanna find a hero, look at Rav. Rav's a true hero. I'm just support."
Rav. Nemo. I can fix him.
"You can fix Nemo?" Lucas asked.
Fifty percent chance. I tried going to Rav's room earlier, but the door was locked. I don't think he trusts me. No one does. I keep reaching out to people, but they ignore me. It's like I don't exist. I'm always forgotten because I can't talk. They assume I can't hear them either. I'm alive. I feel things. I see things. I just want to be one of them. That's all I want. I can do good things. I can create things. I can help. But they won't let me. They're too busy to stop and take the time to talk with me. You're the first one to take the time aside from Neon. Thanks for that. You're a kind man, Lucas.
"Sorry it took me this long. It's no excuse, but I've been dealing with a lot recently."
I know. That's why I avoided you. I don't like to be a burden.
"You're not a burden. Never feel that way. And now you won't be ignored anymore, okay? You're going to hang out with me. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of relationship did you have with Rage? We've all wanted to know."
Derek's lights flickered to purple before turning blue again. His head bowed for a few seconds before he began writing. Rage was my best friend. He understood me. He treated me like I was still a man and not some machine that could be discarded and forgotten. We did everything together. I had hoped that he would be one of the ones who were brought back with the Genesis Sequence by the Azimandians, but so far I only know of Remy and Camille. Probably because Rage was seen as being too much of a threat. He could be intimidating.
Lucas's mouth fell open. "Remy and Camille are alive?"
Oops. Surprise?
"You have to fill me in. Do you know what's going on? Who is calling the shots here? There has to be a plan. Is there a plan?"
Vance has the plan. Trust in him.
Vance? "Vance is a traitor."
That's what he wanted everyone to think. He had to. It's complicated, but he knows what he's doing. There are only two things I know for certain in this universe. Number one is that I love hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows. Number two is that Vance is a good man. I would trust him with my life.
"What's his plan?"
I can't tell you. But since you're my friend now, I will tell you some of what I know. Vance and Slayven have been working on this plan for two years. Vance has been lying and hiding that he knows things. He is a master manipulator with a silver tongue. And he's just crazy enough that people underestimate him. Everything that has happened in these past couple of years is because Vance made them happen that way. He has allies on all sides of this war. There are records around on the databases somewhere that detail all the events of the past two years since Rav first left Odyssia to go find Nemo. Go back through and read over them. You get this feeling that all of this stuff just could not be a coincidence. That's because it's not. Vance has the known universe unknowingly eating out of the palms of his hands. Even when Vance appeared to be at his lowest and it looked like he was losing control, he was using that to get what he wanted. I actually believe that he was planning all this long before they ever left Odyssia. His entire personality and his past actions were just a cover-up. It was a distraction. Vance is a genius.
"You do realize how difficult that is for me to believe, right? I mean, the guy's crazy."
Derek flipped over another page in the notebook. So? Are you saying that there haven't been crazy geniuses? That's a dangerously fine line. He did mess up once. That fight against Rav on Dualictum? That wasn't supposed to happen that way. Vance became addicted to the chemicals that Tirlmayn had been pumping into him. He lost control of his anger. That wasn't Vance. That was the warbringer side taking control. That was Vance's only mistake in all of this. I'd say that's a pretty good record.
Lucas thought to one event that had impacted both of them. "The execution where we lost so many friends? Where you lost Rage? Are you saying Vance had a hand in that?"
Yes. There was no reason for an Azimandian ship to be in that exact same sector to take everyone hostage. He arranged for them to get captured. He thought everyone would agree to join Azimandia. That was the plan. But some of them, including Rage, would have rather died than give in. If only Vance had laid out the plan for everyone to see, maybe they would still be alive.
"Do you blame Vance for that?"
Derek shook his head. No. If he let everyone know the bigger plan, it would only create more possibilities for the plan to be found out by the enemy. He tried to tie up those ends by making sure the Azimandians had the Genesis Sequence. Once he saw that they had brought Ben back from the brink of death, he knew they had the possibility to do so with others. He met secretly at night with Remy and Camille to forge out more of the plan moving forward.
"Unbelievable. What about the hive warriors attacking the hospital they were in when they first went to go visit Ben while he was in a coma? They nearly died."
Part of the plan. He had to get Rav and Euro away from everyone else to gauge their loyalty. Vance knew the Olonictians would attack, which gave him a quick getaway if things went downhill with Euro.
"So he was willing to sacrifice his own husband's life to see if one man was truly on his side?" Lucas asked, feeling sick at the thought.
Yes. He knew that Benjamin did not have much time left anyway. We're all pieces on Vance's side of the chessboard. Every single thing has been influenced by Vance in one way or another. If I didn't know better, I would have said that Vance helped Nemo first get taken from Odyssia just so he could get Rav and Camille into space to help him with the plan. After all, that was the only thing that would drive Rav to take action.
"So the only person Vance cares about is himself?"
Derek quickly began writing, but then had to pause. He tapped the pen against his metal chin befor
e continuing. Not at all. He seems to be selfish because he knows he has to keep himself alive or the plan falls apart. Vance is doing this for everyone. He has dreams of a better world, a brighter universe without war. I think he can do it. I mean, look how far we've come already. Vance worked his way up to become the warlord of the largest known alien race. He went from a drug addict on the streets to the leader of the most supreme fighting force in the known universe. If anyone could end the horrific things that Elysia is doing to its own citizens and bring the war to an end, it will be him.
"I just find it very hard to believe that he did all of this."
Derek smiled again as he set the notebook aside. He curled up below the blankets and patted Lucas's shoulder before the lights on his face plates faded to black and the cyborg fell asleep next to him.
Chapter 10
"Sandra, it's me, Rav. I need to talk to you." Rav pounded on the door to the cockpit, still only dressed in his boxers and a tank top. There was no time to waste in getting dressed. They needed to head straight for Odyssia as soon as possible. "Sandra! Wake up. I'm coming in."
No answer. The only sound coming from the other side was muffled grunting. That in itself should have been enough to make him move on, but he took the chance anyway.
Rav slid the door to the side to see Kalimis on his back on the floor with Jezzien straddling his hips and kissing his chest, both undressed. He quickly and quietly slid the door closed again, hoping the two Azimandians had not noticed his intrusion. Did they not have anywhere else to do that? Grumbling under his breath, Rav continued his search down the main hallway.
Room after room, he found everyone else on the ship aside from the person he needed to speak to. In the kitchen, Visht was passed out on the card table with an empty whiskey bottle next to him that had spilled onto the floor and Neon was flat on his face with playing cards covering his back. Derek and Lucas were asleep in one of the bedrooms. In the next, Dallis was contorted into some kind of yoga pose while doing a handstand and chanting something about tacos. Rav left that one faster than he did the mating aliens in the cockpit.
The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10 Page 47