The Heights of Perdition

by C. S. Johnson

  They were the ones who told her Captain Chainsword was a ghost, working with MENACE, determined to destroy their nation; they were the ones who told her the crew of the Perdition would torture her.

  And they were wrong about all of it! She was accepted here, appreciated here. In only a matter of days, Emery had become a welcome presence, more than Serena had ever been. Olga and Sean, along with her other new friends, made cleaning tolerable and work less like work than she’d ever known. Even dealing with children seemed to be less of a chore here! And Exton …

  She thought about the moment she’d first seen him, beside her in the medical ward, about how warm and wary he made her feel. He’d told her plainly the Perdition had enough power to overcome her venom.

  Aerie decided it was time to make him prove it.

  As she made her decision, her mind seemed to step out of its fog. She blinked, surprised to realize she was mindlessly waltzing around the Perdition with no idea where she was going.

  “Stupid, stupid … ” Aerie shook her head at herself. “Pay attention to what you’re doing. You need to watch where you’re going. This is how the URS managed to lie to you so well … ” She flustered over as she heard herself.

  I need answers, not assumptions.

  Thinking of her home made her heart ache. She wondered how Brock was doing with his military training, if he wondered about her, if her brothers were treating him nice in the training program they were in together. Aerie wondered if they thought of her at all.

  She doubted it.

  Another part of her, the angry side, wanted to go and march up to her father, then shake him as she demanded the truth from his own lips about Captain Chainsword, and why the State was so intent on hiding the truth from its people.

  A familiar shadow at the far right side of the corridor caught her eye. She felt her heart stop, along with her stride.

  Exton was standing near the wall at the far end of atrium, talking with a woman with curly brown hair. Aerie felt a surprising rush of nerves as she watched Exton nod to the lady beside him. The lady, with her long hair, was certainly pretty. Aerie subconsciously ran her hand through her own red hair.

  Just who is that?

  Obviously, Exton had a lot of admirers. Hadn’t she talked with some of them herself this past week? Even Alice had considerably warmed to the topic of the mysterious captain.

  Exton was certainly handsome, but he wasn’t married. Of course, that doesn’t always matter, does it? Aerie thought. She knew a number of men and women from the URS had only seen marriage as an obligation to survive. Pleasure came from other places.

  I have to stop this. Aerie felt her face flush over red again, which she knew only made things worse. How attractive could she be with her ruddy face and bright ginger hair?

  Before Aerie could decide what to do, a man came out and put his arm around the lady. A small boy was on his shoulders. Aerie watched with surprise when the lady kissed the man, clearly genuinely happy to see him.

  Are they married? Aerie wondered. She couldn’t imagine the General and her mother doing that.

  Exton pulled out a small object from behind his back. Aerie saw it was a small vehicle of some kind. Upon further examination, she realized it was a toy.

  Exton held it out to the small child, who gleefully cheered at the sight of it.

  Aerie melted. “That’s so sweet,” she murmured, unable to help herself.

  Another reason to like Exton, she thought reluctantly, watching him as he gave the child a high-five and a smile before the family took off into the sanctuary. He was good with kids.

  Exton turned. Aerie knew he saw her; the cool iciness of his gaze melted as she stared back determinedly. Inwardly, she resolved not to allow him to gain the upper hand.

  At least, not any more than he already had.

  “I thought I’d see you here,” Exton said as he came to stand beside her.

  “Why did you give that child a toy?” Aerie almost slapped herself for sounding so angry.

  “That was Judith and Aidan, and their son is Timothy,” Exton told her calmly, ignoring her frosty tone. “They’ve been part of the Perdition with me since the beginning. Timothy’s only four, and he’s got a sibling on the way. He’s good at breaking toys, which won’t help much when it comes to sharing with his new sibling.” He shrugged. “So after he breaks them, I fix them.”

  “The engineering background helps with that, I guess.”

  “Yes.” He glanced down at her. “You weren’t jealous, were you?”

  “No!”

  He grinned. “I was wondering if you had missed me.”

  “The only time I missed you,” Aerie told him, “was when I was fighting you by the tree.”

  He ignored her taunting. “Emery told me she was going to take you through the emergency drills today.”

  Aerie was caught off guard. She’d forgotten about the reason she even saw the fighters in the first place. “I, uh, finished them. And then forgot them.”

  He sighed. “I talked with Emery some just a few moments ago. She said you might be angry.”

  “I’m not.” Liar.

  Exton took her arm. “Liar. I know you’re angry. I can tell by the look on your face. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

  “I want answers,” Aerie insisted, pulling back from him. “I want to know the truth.”

  “You’ll get it. But not here. Come with me.” He dropped his voice. “I’d hate for even more rumors about you to get around the ship.”

  “Fine.” Aerie squared her shoulders and followed after him. “Where are we going, Captain?”

  “Somewhere we can talk and not worry about interruptions,” Exton assured her. “If you want answers, I’ll give them to you. But what you decide to do with them is up to you.”

  Because she couldn’t think of anything clever to say in return, Aerie remained silent as she marched on behind him.

  ♦19♦

  Exton felt his blood pump with anticipation. He was not excited to see that Aerie was in a bad mood, but he was excited to be with her again.

  The past week, he’d tried to ignore her, to prove to himself he could survive without her—as if spending six years in space, having no idea of her existence, and focusing on his plans for revenge against the URS were somehow not proof enough.

  But as he opened up the door to the Captain’s Lounge and pushed her in, ignoring her muffled protests, he knew he’d been foolish—foolish to think he could forget about her, foolish to think he would let himself, foolish to think he even wanted to try.

  “What is this place?” Aerie’s voice momentarily lost its edge as she glanced around the small room.

  “This is the Captain’s Lounge,” he told her. “I adopted it as my own a few days after the Perdition took off from Earth.”

  “It seems a little small.”

  “When you leave the whole world behind, every room is a small room,” Exton replied. “But this is my room. I don’t have a lot of people come here. Emery will pop in, and Tyler will, too, on occasion.”

  “Don’t you have a real room?”

  He grinned at her sudden blush. “I do. It’s down next to the hangar on Level Ten, actually. You might have passed by it while you were in the hangar.”

  “I didn’t pay much attention to the hangar after I talked to Emery.”

  “I had an inkling.”

  “You don’t need to mock me.”

  “I know you have a problem with it,” Exton remarked, watching her temper flare at his flippancy. “I’m not trying to provoke you.”

  “You’re supposed to provoke me,” she argued. “You’re supposed to be the enemy!”

  Exton was glad to hear her define him on those terms. She had insisted she was his enemy when they’d first met; she wasn’t so certain of that anymore.

  It was a nice feeling.

  “Do you want me to be the enemy?” he asked.

  “Yes. No. I mean, I don’t know.” Aerie huffed
. “I want the truth. Tell me the truth.”

  “You won’t believe me.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. “You don’t trust me.”

  “We’ve had this conversation before.” Aerie shook her head. “I don’t care.”

  “I do.”

  “How do we trust each other, then?” Aerie asked, her voice full of nervous desperation. “How do I know this is not a game?”

  “I don’t play games, remember? I told you that before.”

  “You also told me you would lie to me,” she countered.

  “I wasn’t playing a game when I kissed you before,” he promised, “and I’m not lying about it now.”

  She took an uneasy step back from him. “So how can I trust you?”

  “Let’s make another deal.” Exton extended his hand to her, offering her a truce. “We have a good record with deals.”

  “I do. You don’t.” Aerie crossed her arms. “You said you would tell me more about yourself that first time, but you left before you did.”

  “I’ll tell you that stuff now, along with the rest of it.”

  “And we haven’t had our rematch yet.”

  “Do you want to take care of that now?” he asked. “Neither of us scheduled it. And you were the one who was going to make the call on when, as I recall, so you could have a ‘fair, unfair’ advantage.”

  Aerie frowned. “We don’t have to do that now.”

  “Here’s the new deal: I won’t lie to you, and you don’t lie to me. What do you think?”

  “That won’t work.” She brushed a wayward lock of hair out of her eyes. “We have no way to know if we’re really telling each other the truth.”

  “We can try.”

  She hesitated for a moment, but then she took his hand. “Fine,” she agreed. “I accept.”

  He surprised her by drawing her hand up to his lips and kissing her knuckles in a gallant manner. The surprising caress managed to render her silent.

  Exton almost laughed at her response. To know he’d driven his bubbly, spirited Aerie to a standstill overwhelmed him. “The first thing I’m going to not lie to you about,” he said, “is that I’m going to kiss you right now.”

  “You want to kiss me? But why—umph.”

  Her words, along with her questions, faded as he leaned in and pressed his mouth against hers. Exton knew her uncertainty was gone a second later when her hands clutched at him and held him close.

  She might not have trusted him entirely, but she was curious about him. That was enough for him.

  For the moment.

  “The second thing I’m not going to lie to you about,” he told her, his breath warm against her mouth, “is that I’ve wanted to do that since the last time I kissed you.”

  She trembled. “Me, too,” Aerie admitted, her voice barely a whisper. “But I’m not sure why.”

  “I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” he murmured, pulling her closer.

  He closed his eyes as the taste of her washed over him, beckoning him to kiss her, imploring him to lose himself in her essence.

  His body seemed to move of its own accord. He could feel his fingers twisting in her fiery tresses, his hands moving down the curves of her body, his arms tightening around her—the cool air of the small room whisked away as the warmth of desire sparked.

  “Aerie.” Her name was a whisper against her lips.

  “What?” She eased away from him. “Am I doing it wrong?”

  “Huh?” Dazed, he opened his eyes. At the sight of hers, wide-eyed with wonder and hesitation, he shook his head. “No. No, you’re doing fine.” He kissed her again, as if to prove it.

  “That’s good,” she murmured. “I’ve never kissed anyone before.”

  Her statement caught him by surprise, enough to pull back. “Never?” he asked.

  She blushed. “There’s no need to make me feel stupid about it,” Aerie insisted. “I just never—” She stopped as he began laughing. “It’s not funny, Exton.”

  “I know,” he said. “I’m just ridiculously happy you’ve never kissed anyone else. It’ll save me some trouble hunting them down and killing them.”

  Aerie frowned and pushed back against him, freeing herself from his grasp. He smiled, even as she shoved past him.

  “I’m not making fun of you,” he told her. “I’m serious.” He took her arm. “I’m glad you’re mine, and only mine.”

  Aerie felt her face fluster. “I’m not yours,” she insisted. “How can I be, when I’m not sure about so many other things?”

  Of all things, this is one thing you don’t have to be unsure of, Aerie.

  His thought hung silently in the air, as if his mind expected him to say it. But Exton conceded Aerie had a point, and it was that point that stopped him.

  “If you want more time,” he told her, “you have it. You don’t have to make any life-altering decisions tonight.”

  “I don’t?”

  The genuine surprise in her voice, mixed with wary suspicion, made him curse the URS and their fear mongering all over again. “Of course not. You’re free to make your own decisions while you’re here.”

  “I’m not free while I’m here,” Aerie corrected him. “Remember? You won’t take me back home.”

  There was an abrupt moment of silence as Exton frowned. “Clever girl,” he muttered. “I can’t take you home right now. We’re both trapped here, Aerie, by things bigger than both of us.”

  She didn’t seem to agree with his argument, but a moment later she spoke again.

  “What if I don’t want to kiss you anymore?” Aerie asked. “Are you still okay with my choice?”

  “I’ll make another deal with you.” Exton smirked as he leaned closer to her, only a breath away. He felt her tremble saw her eyes look to his mouth. Her lips parted and her eyes fluttered shut as their breath mingled together.

  “I’ll only kiss you if you promise to kiss me back.” He reached over and tenderly ruffled her hair as he pulled back. “But in the meantime, you’re not allowed to kiss anyone else.”

  “How are you going to enforce that?” Aerie asked, a small pout on her face, clearly disappointed he hadn’t kissed her again.

  “I’m Captain Chainsword,” Exton reminded her in a playful tone. “If anyone else tries to take what is mine, he’ll walk the plank.”

  Before she could reply, he took her hand in his. “I know you have questions about other things, things that are just as important.”

  “Yes,” Aerie agreed, sounding as though she was trying to recall just what those things were.

  “Truth matters. What we believe matters.” He met her gaze, just as he had the first time he met her. “I’m going to tell you the truth about the Perdition. Can you trust me?”

  Aerie slowly nodded. “Okay.”

  “It might take a while,” he added, “because it doesn’t actually start with me. Like all history, it builds on the past.”

  “From the Old Republic?”

  “I can start there,” he remarked with a grin. “But I can go back further if you want an excuse to hang around longer.”

  She smiled at his teasing. “I think starting at the Old Republic sounds good.”

  “Going to cripple my ego, are you?”

  “It’s such a large target,” Aerie replied, laughing this time. “How can I resist?”

  Exton looked at her, watching her until she blushed. “How can you resist, indeed.”

  “Enough teasing. Tell me about the Old Republic.”

  “You likely know that a few years after the United Nations broke apart, war broke out.”

  “That was when nuclear war devastated the planet,” Aerie recited. “The URS told us that the resulting ash and debris covered most of the world and toxic rain became commonplace, eating up food resources, slowly killing off populations.”

  “That’s true,” Exton replied. “What they usually leave out at this point is that the United States of America was just the USA at the time, not the UNA
. It declared a state of emergency and the presidency turned into a self-appointed dictatorship.”

  “You know, you’re right,” Aerie replied. “I’d never thought of that. They don’t dwell long on that particular topic.” She giggled. “Can you imagine trying to convince the URS that they are still under the USA government’s emergency powers?”

  “It doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me, honestly,” Exton said. “The United States was ill-equipped to handle a large-scale disaster, but it was a fairly stable government system where the people were able to hold its elected officials accountable, most of the time.” He shrugged. “At least, more than the URS is able to now.”

  “I know it’s a complicated problem.” Aerie sighed. “I’m sorry I interrupted. Please, go on.”

  “Soon after, the USA joined with the northern country, Canada, to help with the ecological backlash,” Exton continued. “They became UNA, the United Nations of America. And the war, made increasingly difficult by food and communication issues, was largely postponed.” Exton shifted against the wall. “That’s another part they usually forget to mention.”

  “So we’re still at war with the Middle East?”

  “Technically. But not quite.”

  “Why would we even bother fighting a war like that? With the world this way?” Aerie hopped up to the window seat. She glanced out the window, looking down at the earth. It was too far away to make out any clear land divisions or see the dark oceans underneath the swirling clouds.

  Exton came up beside her. “Some people will have power at any price.”

  Aerie frowned. “That’s what they say.”

  “And that’s what they do,” Exton said. “The loudest people in the room are the ones who are usually trying to hide their own hypocrisy.”

  “It still seems wrong.”

  “To you, and me, maybe.” Exton shrugged. “It’s been hard since the fall of the Old Republic to convince people that all of humanity is broken.”

  “It’s like that thing you said before,” Aerie recalled. “Iniquity.”

  “Yes.” Exton nodded toward the earth. “All the religions in the world, before this time, agreed that there was something just not right within the heart of humanity.”