The Smuggler's Ascension: The Ties That Died

by Christopher Ingersoll

  Kristof had pulled the Phoenix from Sabine’s mind and barred him from ever using her again, and in the process had threatened the God’s life if he tried to interfere in their lives again. The memory was shocking to Kristof when he thought of the power within himself that allowed him to do such a thing to a God.

  “You’re doing it again,” Sabine complained from within his arms. “You’re going to drive yourself crazy thinking about this war of the Gods. Just for a little while, let it be just us, please.”

  “I’m sorry, my love,” Kristof said sincerely as he turned Sabine so he could gaze into her eyes. “I just fear what is to come. I can’t lose you or Anasha to this stupid war between Death and the Phoenix, especially when both of them have tried to tamper with you.”

  “You’ve blocked the Phoenix from me and Anasha,” Sabine reminded him, “And the baby has protected us from Death. So please, for your own peace of mind, just be here with me tonight and nowhere else.”

  Sabine pulled Kristof’s head down for a kiss, and he gave himself over to her loving embrace. From far away, they felt the touch of Anasha’s mind as she too helped to drive away all thoughts of Gods and wars and to just focus on the love they shared. Kristof found it was not hard to let his loves draw him into the warm embrace of their warm affection as the sun slowly touched the watery horizon and seemed to set it ablaze.

  ~3~

  Night had long since fallen over the Royal Palace as Anasha looked up into the star filled sky at the distance blue dot that was Durani. The sense of Kristof and Sabine making love was strong, and she closed her eyes to revel in the sensation while adding her own love to their passionate embrace. The fact that the three of them could make love over such distances like this was truly amazing, Anasha felt, as she felt Kristof swell inside their tiny wife as his passion erupted with hers.

  In many ways, the spiritual lovemaking they shared was more intoxicating that the physical sensations, though she loved those too. Anasha allowed the connection to dissolve as she felt her two loves slowly drifting off to sleep. She wished that she was there wrapped in their embrace, but the tradeoff would have been having to attend Stephan’s wedding. Kristof may have forgiven Stephan now along with Sabine, but she had not, nor would she ever.

  As a member of the Su’Tani Defenders, Anasha had given her life to the order and its mission to protect the rulers of the Protectorate. Stephan’s treachery, whether willing or not, had been in defiance of everything Anasha valued, not to mention endangered the people she loved even before Sabine had invited her to join the union with Kristof. Anasha also knew that her father had not trusted Stephan afterwards, even after Sabine had pardoned the man.

  Old animosities died hard, Anasha thought to herself as she walked back into the apartments she shared with her wife and husband. The quiet emptiness of the place with it being just herself here did not sit well with her, and thoughts of a workout in the palace’s gym came to mind.

  As she stripped off her uniform from the earlier graduation ceremonies, Anasha thought she heard a noise from the other rooms nearby. She quickly threw on a pair of shorts and one of Kristof’s shirts as she went to go investigate. The noise came again, and she walked on bare feet towards the room that had been set aside for their android companion, Max.

  Max had been invited to live them unanimously, and the android had been most emotional in his acceptance. Anasha had learned the month prior that Max had evolved and had begun to feel genuine emotions, something that was both wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Many androids in the past had gone mad from such an evolution, which was why androids now received periodic memory wipes.

  Since joining Kristof, however, Max’s mind had not been wiped until now Max was evolving. Anasha had witnessed some of the more terrifying emotions, like rage, that the android had been feeling. It made the tales of mad androids all the easier to believe, so she had made Max promise to come to her if he ever felt his control slipping.

  The room that Max occupied was rather severely adorned, containing Max’s recharging station and little else. Anasha saw that Max had placed a colorful piece of art on one wall, though; a most un-android like thing for him to do. She remembered smiling the first time that Max had proudly displayed it to everyone.

  The noise came again, and Anasha now saw that it had been Max himself, appearing to be deactivated as he recharged, and yet his head had moved quickly which rocked his body in the recharging station. Max’s face was also contorted and twitching, as if he were having a bad dream. Anasha realized suddenly that this was exactly what was happening.

  “Max,” Anasha called softly as she reached to deactivate the recharging station.

  The android came alive suddenly with a roar and sent Anasha flailing hard against the wall, where Max’s artwork fell and landed on her lap. Max staggered a step or two, appearing to be disoriented and somewhere between angry and scared. After a short moment, though, he seemed to regain his senses as he looked down at Anasha strung out on the floor beneath the painting.

  “Anasha?” Max said suddenly and went to the staggered woman, lifting the painting from off of her and kneeling by her side. “Did I do this?”

  “Yes,” Anasha said as she tried to catch her breath. Max’s blow had caught her in the chest and knocked the wind from her.

  “I am so sorry,” Max said as he gently lifted Anasha and carried her into the main living area and laid her on a couch.

  Anasha watched the android cautiously, waiting to see if he were truly in control of himself. When Max’s anguish seemed not to diminish from what he had unintentionally done, Anasha relented and took his hand and gave him a reassuring look. Max visibly relaxed at having been forgiven.

  “I don’t understand,” Max said then. “How did this happen?”

  “You were dreaming, Max,” Anasha told him. “Don’t you remember?”

  Max stood silently as he tilted his head to one side in thought. It was a truly curious gesture to see an android make, another of Max’s evolving peculiarities, Anasha thought. Her ribs hurt now as she lay there watching the great black and red android ponder the past few minutes.

  “I can recall vague images,” Max said at last. “They are not clear, though, as if I were seeing them through water.”

  “Dreams feel like that sometimes,” Anasha agreed. “What were you dreaming about?”

  “The supernova, and then Dorcanus II,” Max said simply, and he did not need to explain to Anasha what those images meant. The supernova had led to Kristof’s death over a year before. And now, it had only been a little over two months since Kristof had been captured on Dorcanus II in a failed attempt to apprehend a fugitive, only to find the mission had fallen into a trap set by Kristof’s brother. Anasha knew Max bore a tremendous amount of guilt for not being able to save Kristof on Dorcanus, especially after they learned of the terrible torture Kristof had endured after.

  During the rescue mission to Clovani Prime, Anasha had seen the rage in Max’s face when they had found Kristof, and had witnessed the carnage Max had rendered during their escape. The android had literally ripped through armored vehicles and their occupants in order to clear the way to getting Kristof to safety. It had been a terrifying sight, one that Anasha had asked the rescue team to keep to themselves as a favor to her.

  Anasha stood and went to Max and pulled his head down so that he was looking her in the eyes. The android’s solid red eyes were unreadable, but she wanted him to see the compassion in hers. Some of the guilt seemed to dissolve from Max’s expression at last, and Anasha was able to relax and let him go.

  “I’m a little worried about you, Max,” Anasha said quietly as she went to the room’s small bar and got some ice from a freezer there. She wrapped the ice in a towel and placed against her chest where the android had hit her moments before. She would have a hell of a bruise by morning, she knew.

  “Why are you worried?” Max asked curiously, his logical android manner returning at last.

&nb
sp; “These new emotions you are feeling are coming too fast,” Anasha said as she resumed her seat on the couch that Max had brought her to. “You haven’t had time to process them before being bombarded with new ones. I think as a result you may be suffering from a very human condition called Post Traumatic Stress.”

  “Meaning what happened on Dorcanus II has made me crazy?” Max asked with a tilt of his head.

  “No, not crazy, Max,” Anasha said quietly. “In a sense, what you experienced on Dorcanus has damaged your new emotions, kind of like a laser shot to the arm, but not as easily repaired. It’s causing you to have these nightmares, and it also effected how you acted on Clovani Prime.”

  “You mean the battle madness,” Max said matter-of-factly.

  “Yes,” Anasha responded simply and allowed the android to process her words. She knew that he was most likely accessing everything he knew of PTSD even before she’d finished telling him what she thought was wrong.

  “If this is true,” Max began at last, “Then how do I…fix myself?”

  “That, my friend, is a question that us humans have not answered yet even for ourselves,” Anasha told him quietly. “But you won’t have to figure it out on your own. I told you before, I will help you with all of this any way that I can.”

  Max’s smile was all that Anasha could have hoped for. Having an android such as Max, who was a military grade android and armed to the teeth, suffering from any type of disorder was terrifying. He seemed to truly care about his new family, though, and it gave her hope for him. The other options were not ones she wished to consider. They all loved Max as family and didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

  “First thing we need to do is find a way for you to recharge without danger of you coming out of a dream like tonight again,” Anasha said as she rose to her feet once more. “What is your current power level?”

  “83.7% capacity,” Max responded.

  “Then we have some time,” Anasha said with a sigh.

  “You breathing is labored,” Max said sadly. “How badly have I injured you? Really?”

  “I’m just sore, Max,” Anasha said and gave his hand a squeeze of reassurance. “I will be ok.”

  “I am truly sorry, Anasha,” Max said. “I will resume guard duties while you rest.”

  Max did not wait for an answer before turning and leaving the room. Anasha felt her heart break a little for the android, who was trying to cope with things he was never designed for. Human’s had a hard enough time with feelings and emotions, how was an android supposed to learn to deal with them?

  ~4~

  Sabine ran her hand over her stomach as she gazed at herself in the mirror. The swell of her stomach as she neared the fifth month of her pregnancy was definitely noticeable by all and made the fit of all of her clothes either too tight or not fit at all. Not for the first time she thanked the palace seamstresses for supplying her with new dresses and formal gowns. She loved the little bundle under her heart, but she had to admit she would be glad to have her body back to herself.

  Her breasts had begun to grow at last, Sabine giggled to herself, as she ran her hands over them. She’d always teased Anasha that she’d wanted larger breasts, and now she did, if only for a little while anyway. If only the rest of her body wasn’t beginning to feel just a bit ungainly. Having started out as not very large to begin with, it hadn’t taken much gain from the baby to start making her feel awkward. She’d been just under five feet tall and only ninety five pound when she’d learned she was pregnant, and now she was starting to feel like one of the court cows she and Kristof had joked about ages ago,

  “If you’re going to stand there naked and fondling yourself,” came Kristof’s voice from the bathroom door, “We are going to be very late to the ceremony.”

  Sabine giggled as she turned to see Kristof standing naked in the bathroom door, still damp from his shower. He must have been watching her for a few minutes, because his arousal was very apparent.

  “Put that thing away,” Sabine giggled as she threw a towel at Kristof. “I think you’ve done enough damage with it already,” she added as she gave her swollen stomach a glance and a smile.

  Kristof laughed as he came to her and knelt before her to kiss her stomach. Sabine loved it when he did that, which is probably why he did it every chance he got. Her happiness was tinged by sadness though as she thought about her baby and how they would most likely never know him because he was most likely an unborn God, conceived to replace whichever God fell in the war that raged in two realities.

  “Come on, silly,” Sabine said as she smiled and caressed Kristof’s cheek, “Like you said, we need to get ready or we’ll be late.”

  Sabine watched as Kristof slowly donned the new uniform of a General, a rank that she had promoted him to for two distinct reasons. One, he had earned it through his selfless service for the Protectorate, and two, it meant he would no longer be able to personally lead those missions that frightened her so much and which had so recently almost led to her losing him. Kristof had objected at first, but Anasha had backed her up.

  The formal uniform was black with silver buttons and trim. His rank insignia and medals, another award for his valiant service to the Protectorate, shined in the morning light. Sabine swooned in desire for him as she took in the finished effect as he stood there for her inspection.

  “Very nice, my love,” Sabine purred approvingly. “Now help me into my gown, my valiant knight.” Sabine giggled as Kristof gave her a flourishing bow before he grabbed her undergarments and tossed them to her.

  “I wouldn’t mind if you didn’t wear them,” Kristof said naughtily as she pulled her panties up over her hips. Sabine stuck her tongue out him as she continued to dress.

  “I’ll take them off for the reception,” Sabine teased him in return, to which he growled.

  Sabine’s royal red gown had been cut in a more modest fashion than she cared for, but being a formal affair and in the presence of most of the royal court, she had consented reluctantly. The gown had been trimmed in silver so she would match Kristof’s uniform, while stylists had helped her with her hair earlier that morning. Royal jewels and her crown, which she’d had remade into a smaller and more tasteful piece, finished off her look, and at last she was ready to join Kristof for what promised to be a beautiful, if tiring, ceremony.

  She teased Kristof about having their own ceremony on their third anniversary because she enjoyed the look of terror in his eyes, but Sabine was not truly all that eager to endure such a ceremony herself. As the Queen, she inevitably attended ceremony after ceremony, which made her value the private and simple life she shared with Anasha and Kristof more and more each day. Kristof didn’t need to know she wasn’t serious though, not yet anyway, she thought with a smile.

  Stephan and Giselle had chosen for their ceremony to be held in a great open amphitheater made of Mother of Pearl and trimmed out in black volcanic obsidian. The venue was spectacular, Sabine saw, as she and Kristof were led into a secured balcony that overlooked the amphitheater. Apparently Kristof found the venue quite spectacular as well.

  “If you’re going to make changes at home,” Kristof said, “This isn’t a bad way to go.”

  The day had broken sunny and beautiful, and thankfully not as humid as the day before thanks to a gentle breeze that blew over the city. The people of the city had come out to witness the marriage of the Grand Duke along with many of the royal court for the Protectorate. Sabine waved to the crowds below as they noticed her and cheered, though there were a few cries of outrage as well, since she was still blamed by some for the massacre on Clovani Prime despite the Royal Council making it known that the Queen had been influenced by an unknown entity.

  Sabine still felt her own guilt over the affair, feeling that she should have been strong enough to see what was being done to her. Kristof repeatedly told her that she could not expect to compete against the will of a God, but even so she still felt guilty. Her dreams were haunted by the
sight of Clovani Prime’s atmosphere erupting in a massive ball of flame before disappearing and leaving a wasted, lifeless world behind.

  “Hey, you ok over there?” Kristof asked her, concern on his face. She knew he knew what was on her mind, so she gave him a smile and pushed the thoughts from her head to focus on the day.

  “Does Anasha seem out of breath to you today?” Sabine asked to change the subject.

  “She does feel a bit breathless,” Kristof agreed. “She’s probably in the gym, is all it is.”

  “All day?” Sabine asked, not buying such a simple answer.

  “I don’t know,” Kristof conceded. “It feels like she’s keeping something to herself, but I have no clue what. I wouldn’t worry about it now, we’ll give her a call when we get free of this madness.”

  “Be nice,” Sabine chided as the music began that signaled the beginning of the ceremony.

  Grand Duke Stephan Duranis the First appeared first in a finely tailored suit of dark blue silk, with buttons and cufflinks shining with Mother of Pearl like the amphitheater around him. Sabine was glad to see the look of happiness on his face, something that had always seemed lacking during their time at the Sanctuary. She realized how much of his life he’d given up to help raise her, which had in the end made it easier for her to forgive him.

  Margravine Giselle Loranta appeared next in a gown of ivory satin trimmed out in pearls. Sabine loved the gown and the happiness on the woman’s face as she peered ahead at Stephan. The music swelled as the bride joined the groom at the altar that had been erected for the ceremony. The people of Durani said their prayers and ceremonies before a visage of Atillus, the Durani God of the Seas, though few actually followed the full faith. Purannis was much the same with their deities, Sabine knew.