by Alechia Dow
“Father did, to torture you. He knew it would expose your feelings.” He rubs his hands together, awkwardly. “I tried to save as many humans as I could for you, M0Rr1S.”
M0Rr1S does not know how to feel about that, what to say. “Brixton—”
“Keeping 0rsa alive may cost us all.”
“I know. But to kill her is... We are better than this. I didn’t know that you—”
“Don’t. It is my purpose and role to antagonize you for all the plans to work. He has to feel like at least one of us is on his side. You know that.” Brixton speaks rapidly, as if he has too much to say and not enough time to say it. “When it happens, when you let the humans reclaim this world and kill our grandfather, only I can stop the wrath that will consume him before he kills our mother.”
Brixton shakes his head at the thought. “You think you’ve failed, M0Rr1S. But you haven’t. Never me, and not her. I’ve been with you the entire way...”
“You have?” M0Rr1S gulps at the salty air as if the breath in his lungs has fled. “How?”
“I was there when she extracted her material for you. I watched her leave, exhausted but hopeful. And then I extracted some of mine, too. Not much, I was too young.” His voice falls softly, and he wipes away a tear that trails the side of his cheek. It’s silver and unexpected. “I think I may have wanted a brother more than Mother wanted a soldier.”
“Brixton.” It’s all M0Rr1S can say.
“We were always connected because of that little piece of myself I shared with you. I couldn’t hear you...unless you let me, and sometimes you did, but I could feel you. Always.” He sniffs, looking away. “Your despair with the vaccine. Your guilt, endless guilt, M0Rr1S. Your joy, whenever you listened to music, I think. And then...your determination when you read that book. That’s why art and expression were banned. Not just for the humans, but for the labmades. Feelings are powerful, I learned that from you.” Brixton’s brilliant green eyes lock on M0Rr1S. “They can’t be controlled by true Ilori minds. You think we’re almighty. But we need Il-0CoM to assert authority. We are connected to you...the connection goes both ways. If the labmades knew what they are capable of...”
M0Rr1S brushes away his own tears, watery, and so very human. “I wanted a brother. I needed you.”
“Would you have left if you knew the truth?” Brixton steps toward him, tentatively, and then kneels before M0Rr1S in the sand. “May I?”
M0Rr1S nods, although he doesn’t know what Brixton asks for...until he wraps his arms around M0Rr1S’s shoulders, and lets out a deep breath.
“Humans do this, yes?”
“Yes,” M0Rr1S whispers as his body collapses against his brother’s.
“One day,” Brixton says, “we will be free.” The moment is over too soon. Brixton rises, standing straighter as he does. “Take your...Ellie. There’s nothing here now, nothing you can break into to upload the code. There’s a bounty on your head, colony-wide. You step foot onto an Ilori ship as of now, and they will capture you. 0rsa has seen to that.” He huffs. “Find a way off this planet. You need Ilori systems and soon there won’t be any on the ground. You have maybe, at most, twenty-one rotations. One Earth week. I’ll stall them however I can.”
“How can I do any of that if I can’t get on an Ilori ship?” The exhaustion tugs at M0Rr1S, yet he doesn’t want to see his brother leave without at least knowing what he’s expected to do next.
“The Andarrans may have a solution to that. I have to go.” His voice cracks with regret as he glances at the sky. “Mother will reach you soon. When you come back here, be prepared. Find a way to convince the rest of the labmades to join this fight. Father will be unhinged.”
He steps toward 0rsa. “I’ll wipe her memory and take her home, but it’s a temporary solution. When she remembers, a war like nothing we’ve seen before will come. Our mother’s life, the labmades, this world and colonies beyond depend on what you do next. Do not fail.”
M0Rr1S chuckles mirthlessly, but dread sinks into the bottom of his stomach, not just of the future, but for Ellie.
“I’ll be with you. Always.” Brixton strides past M0Rr1S, the display of emotions gone as he swings 0rsa over his shoulder and strides over to an unscathed pod a few feet away.
“Brixton.” M0Rr1S turns to his brother as the pod’s hatch opens. “Thank you.”
Brixton merely nods, but his bottom lip wobbles. He zooms past the smoke into the night until he disappears from view. Seconds later, the pod shoots into the sky.
The wind whips the billowing smoke through his hair. M0Rr1S closes his eyes before falling face forward into the sand.
“Come. Let’s get you out of here, then.” Hands wrap around his sides as he shuts down into oblivion.
* * *
M0Rr1S awakes in a sunlit room. A bedroom, he realizes as he shifts to observe his surroundings. He’s on an oversize bed with translucent white curtains around the posts. There’s a man—Allister, he remembers—silently sitting next to him, staring out the window. The man’s eyes look haunted, tired, old. He hums something M0Rr1S has heard before.
M0Rr1S bolts up. “Ellie! Where is she? Did she—? Please, no.” The hysterics are uncontrollable. He feels a tension all over his body as he throws his legs over the edge of the bed and staggers toward the door. But he’s unsure where to go. His eyes water again, and he doesn’t know where he is. He needs to see her.
He can’t bear to think of her out of his reach.
“Morris. Morris.” Allister calls his name over and over in a soothing tone. “Don’t fear. Janelle is fine. She’s resting in another room.”
M0Rr1S rounds on him. “Is her family... Are they okay?”
“Her mother’s with her. I was able to find her father, but I can’t fix him. He’ll need special help.” He stands and crosses the room, holding his hands in front of M0Rr1S as if blocking him from leaving. “You need a charge. I have one.”
“You’re Andarran. Why are you helping us? I’ve trespassed. I am at your mercy.”
“Oh, you know, destiny and all that.” Allister waves a hand dismissively. “It’s a long story.”
“I have time.” M0Rr1S grinds his feet into a pink, furry rug.
“You know, in your future, you’re not quite as moody.” Allister cocks a smile. “I mean, I still find it attractive, mind you, but it’s hard to talk to you when you’re like this.”
M0Rr1S digs his feet in deeper. “Who are you?”
Allister clears his throat. “I never felt before, but oh the feelings she gives me.” His voice sounds exactly the same as on the albums.
Suddenly M0Rr1S panics. The bag; the music, the books...
“Your belongings are fine,” Allister says soothingly.
“You—you, you’re the Starry Eyed?” M0Rr1S’s voice cracks as he runs a hand through his hair. “You can read minds?”
“Well, not me singularly, no. There are four of us, but yes. I’m the lead singer. Central to the band, obviously.” He grins. “I can’t read minds, just emotions. For an Ilori, yours are easy to read.”
“And you’re Andarran,” M0Rr1S scoffs.
“Well we can’t all be humans or Ilori, can we?” Allister motions for M0Rr1S to return to the bed.
But M0Rr1S rubs his arm, unsure. His movements are slow now, and it’s hard to keep his eyes open. Yet, he would travel the world at this moment to find Ellie; to see her.
“Soon, Janelle will wake up. Better than new. But you need a charge. Would you like it? If so, stop destroying my rug and come here.”
M0Rr1S reluctantly nods and trudges toward the bed. He’s uncomfortable how this Andarran seems to read his mind, it makes him feel a loss of privacy. Maybe that’s how humans felt around him.
“Sit, and I’ll hook it up.”
M0Rr1S complies with a huff before sinking back onto the edge of the ma
ttress.
“This will be quick. Just relax. Think of fountains of electricity or calefs roaming in a field of grass or whatever your kind finds calming.” Allister opens a drawer in the bedside table and pulls out a cable.
M0Rr1S yawns, waiting. He lets his head fall to one shoulder, exposing his panel, but instead, Allister pulls M0Rr1S’s hand toward him, takes one finger and places it between two prongs. M0Rr1S looks up at him. “What’s this?”
Allister flips a switch on the cable. The charge is so strong and powerful that M0Rr1S’s teeth chatter and his body twitches. Seconds pass. M0Rr1S’s mind drifts to Ellie, and then to his failed mission. To his brother and their hug. To what he must do next. He snaps out of his heavy thoughts when Allister removes the charger from his finger and shoves it back into the drawer.
“Easy, yeah? I know you Ilori enjoy tedious things that teach you patience and increase your suffering, but Andarrans don’t waste time on unfun things.” Allister pushes a strand of dark blue hair behind his ear. “You’ve been there, haven’t you?”
“To Andarra?” M0Rr1S gapes at him briefly. “Yes, with my mother.”
“I remember you. A child holding Glind’s hand, walking through the arch of my origin planet. I was on the same boat as you when you let your fingers dance in the water.”
M0Rr1S could sort through the memories he has stored away in his mental files, but he doesn’t care enough about it now. His mind is elsewhere. Too many thoughts, most about Ellie.
Allister continues. “The Jadu picked you. Destiny. Not everyone has one. But you do. So do I. My destiny is to secure hers...and yours by extension.”
“Ellie’s? Your destiny is to save Ellie?”
“She hasn’t been picked by the Jadu, but she will be. We all play a role. Isn’t that what you Ilori say? What you think your purpose is?”
M0Rr1S has a million questions, but the first one that pops to his mind rushes out. “You know my mother?”
“Every Andarran does. She’s a hero, a mother of heroes.”
M0Rr1S shakes his head. “You don’t adhere to time. That is why you know me, and Ellie, and everything.” A statement of fact. He should have known.
“That’s what happens when the Jadu choose us. Time becomes...nothing and everything at once. We can’t travel it, mind you, but we can know it like memories. It’s both an intense burden and an exciting gift.” He smiles, but there’s no joy in it. “It’s why we came here. Arrived a bit early, though. Thought it might be good fun to become famous pop stars. We read Janelle’s book—her chronicles of the Great War for Earth. Don’t tell her I told you, but she’s not as bad of a writer as she believes.” This time there’s humor in his laugh. “Anyway, she wrote about that night you were sitting on the hood of a car in the desert falling in love. You both had stars in your eyes. I remember that line. It’s my favorite.
“We called ourselves the Starry Eyed after that.” Allister crosses to the window, staring out once more. “The future changes, yeah, but the path you’re on now...you’ll face destruction, trials, but the future as I know it now tells me you’ll survive it. And this world...it will heal. Just like Janelle.”
“But the future is not yet set?” M0Rr1S wonders.
“Any small change now can ripple the future I’ve seen. It’s best not to think about that.”
M0Rr1S decides Allister’s right. Thinking about that can addle a mind. So he thinks, instead, about the fact that Ellie’s favorite band are Andarrans. “All of the songs you wrote...they were for her? For us?”
Allister beams. “Of course. You provided good material. Plus, I thought if you really listened to the lyrics, you’d take instructions through them on your journey—saving you both from heartaches. I worried that you both are too literal, too practical-minded, to make sense of such meaningful poetry.”
M0Rr1S shakes his head again, ignoring the barb. He can’t wait to tell Ellie. “I knew it. I knew it! I told her that these songs seemed like they were made for us.”
Allister throws his head back and chuckles. “Janelle Baker, as I recall, does not like being wrong.”
“You know her well?” M0Rr1S sobers, and experiences what can only be a spike of jealousy.
“We all do. She’s...she’s wonderful. I needn’t tell you, of course. Your love is legendary. It’s what we all hope for. Or wish to experience again.”
M0Rr1S doesn’t know what to say. That flicker of jealousy, thinking that Ellie might not be with him in the future, and that Allister, the lead singer of her favorite band, knows her—thinks she’s wonderful—subside into joy. There is a future, and legendary love. He is about to ask another question when another being from last night, Cecil, knocks on the door before striding inside.
“Oh good, he’s awake. I need him to—”
“This is Cecil. He’s the absolute worst,” Allister proclaims. “Cecil, why is it always you? I literally like everyone else more than you.”
Cecil narrows his gaze on Allister. “Are you having another of your tantrums? Come, Morris, he is unbearable when he has one of these. And anyway, I need your help. And also, no offense, but later you should bathe, you smell a bit too Earthy for an alien.” Cecil tosses his raven-black hair from his deep, brown eyes. He’s clad in only a pair of jeans and covered in tattoos of roses of every color. They’re beautiful and odd, much like Cecil.
“I have to see Ellie—” M0Rr1S stands again. He feels better than he’s felt in weeks, so much so that if he wanted to, he could burst through walls to find Ellie. He owes the Starry Eyed for saving them all. All? “AvR0la, Alice, they are okay?”
Cecil steps closer to him, and coyly bats his eyelashes. “Yes, yes, everyone is fine. Whisper’s quite taken with Alice already. And AvR0la—Avi—is still in chains, unfortunately. Couldn’t figure out how those contraptions work. You’ll want to attend to that before your make out session with Ellie, believe me.”
Allister frowns. “Cecil, you are ridiculous.”
“Allister, I’m ignoring your venom today. One day you love me, the next, you can’t bear to look at me. I deserve better than this, you know?” Cecil raises his head with a deep, dramatic sigh.
“Go, Morris. With the help of Rupert—” Allister stares at Cecil, who gasps theatrically “—you’ll undoubtedly break Avi’s cuffs. And then you can run to Ellie.”
M0Rr1S keeps his mouth shut. Whatever is going on between them is not his business, and whatever they choose to call AvR0la is not his decision either.
“You’ll have to forgive me someday, you know.” Cecil sniffs, before turning on his heel and stalking off.
“Don’t mind him,” Allister sighs, “he’s a performer. You’ll find Andarrans make up for Ilori rigidity by embracing every tiny emotion and expressing it without shame. It is difficult to see the future and the past during the present. We’re always grasping at understanding. Although Cecil really is a bit too much.” M0Rr1S feels a bubbling of laughter in his chest but pushes it down. So far, they both seem a bit much. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you, Allister.” M0Rr1S bows slightly before following Cecil down a grand, checkered hallway that echoes with their footsteps. The walls are adorned with gold-and platinum-crusted albums and tiny ornamentations that must have taken ages for humans to build. Cecil waits at the top of the stairs, leaning against a dark, wooden banister.
“Don’t mind him. He’s still angry about me changing the lyrics to one of our songs. It was ages ago, but he just...he’s impossible. I told him you and Ellie wouldn’t understand that the songs were about you and your journey, and that it wouldn’t have stopped you from making the same, bad decisions. He didn’t listen. I had to remind him that everything happens for a reason, you know?”
M0Rr1S does know but doesn’t reply.
Cecil leads him down the stairs into a grand foyer filled with flowers an
d shimmering lights. M0Rr1S can barely take in the details before he’s whisked down another hallway only to stop when they reach the kitchen.
It’s the grandest house M0Rr1S has ever seen, with long hallways dotted with doors and tables with blue vases bursting with flowers. There are myriad colors everywhere, and distant threads of music. The kitchen is immaculate, with all sorts of gadgets and equipment made of expensive chrome, humming with electricity. It’s most unlike the kitchens he’d seen in the centers. And there, perched on a stool, is AvR0la. Their face is slack, but M0Rr1S can imagine how uncomfortable they must be.
He wants to take AvR0la’s hands in his own, but it isn’t safe. “I will get you out of these.” He cannot touch the metal without being poisoned himself, so he steps back. “It requires energy to work. Cecil—”
“I think I have the solution.” Another man walks in. Rupert, M0Rr1S recalls. He’s dressed in a black tuxedo with his silver hair pulled back from his face. He can’t be much older than Ellie or M0Rr1S. His skin is the same shade as M0Rr1S’s, and his eyes are a surprising amber.
“Oh, Rupert, thank goodness. Don’t tell Allister it was you who came up with the solution. He’s been especially foul to me today.”
“It’s fine, dear.” Rupert kisses Cecil on the cheek before examining AvR0la’s cuffs. “Yes, M0Rr1S, I do believe only you can attend to this. You will need to charge and use your abilities in tandem to break the chains. Can you do this?”
M0Rr1S nods, although he’s not entirely sure. He’s never done anything like this before.
“It will be dangerous. If you charge too long, you may combust. For which, I offer my deepest apologies.” Rupert tosses a look full of sincere sympathy. M0Rr1S is beginning to believe that all Andarrans are strange.
“Combustion would be less than ideal,” M0Rr1S agrees. He hasn’t even seen Ellie yet. He can’t combust without seeing her. But he also owes his life to AvR0la.
“Cecil, darling, would you get the spare charger?” Rupert turns to M0Rr1S. “We keep them on hand for our solopads. Lucky coincidence they work on labmade Ilori.”