by Huss, JA
“I’m warning you—”
“You’re warning me?” I laugh, pointing to my chest. “I’m warning you. I don’t care about you. I don’t even care about Brigit. She and I can take care of ourselves. But I will not let Valor die in your war. Pull him out and I’ll tell you what I know.” I shrug. “Or don’t and see what happens.”
“Pull him out,” Veila snaps.
The cyborgs nearest Valor take her order literally because they yank the tubing out of his arms and neck and blood starts spurting from his skin.
“You assholes!” I say, pushing back from my chair. I don’t get far. The borgs standing behind me grab both my arms and hold me tight. I glare at Veila. “Do one more thing,” I threaten. “One more fucking thing to him and this deal is off.”
“You’re so emotional, Tray. I always thought you were the logical one.”
“Hate is a very powerful emotion. And if you hurt Valor, I’ll use that hate to fuck up your plans. Maybe I won’t win, maybe ALCOR won’t win, maybe no one wins. I give no fucks, Veila. I will screw the whole sun-fucked universe to make sure you pay.”
“Calm down and stop being so dramatic.” Veila snaps her fingers and points to one of her borgs. “Prep a cryopod for launch in bay ten on this level.” Then she snaps at the two nearest Valor. “Take him to the bay.”
They lift Valor up off the floor. His eyes are blinking slowly as he tries to keep them open and fails.
I take a step towards him, but the borgs don’t release me. “I get to say goodbye,” I seethe.
“You’ll get your goodbye. Once he’s unconscious again inside the cryopod. I’m not stupid, Tray. I know you were going to pass a message to him.”
I grind my teeth and force myself to stay silent.
She is such a fucking cunt. She will do anything to maintain her illusion of control.
Newsflash, bitch. You’re not in control anymore. You just don’t know it yet.
Valor is not awake enough to even walk, so they drag him down the hallway, the toes of his boots leaving scuff marks on the gleaming white floors as they pull him forward.
I follow, flanked on both sides by not two, but six armed cyborgs.
Veila walks behind me, humming to herself. Like she’s the happiest, most satisfied person alive.
Maybe she is.
But she won’t be for long.
Not if I can help it.
I just need Valor out of here. I can’t do what I’m about to do if he’s still on board this ship.
We reach the bay at the same time a cryopod is being secured into the launch tube. Valor is roughly stuffed inside it. And for one moment, his eyes catch mine.
Don’t panic. It’s going to be OK. Just… don’t panic. I will my thoughts to reach his mind
Knowing they won’t. Knowing he doesn’t understand what’s happening.
And just few seconds later the lid is closed and the needles are once again stabbing into his skin to put him to sleep.
My cyborg guards push me forward.
“You have ten seconds to say goodbye,” Veila says. “And don’t think for a moment I won’t hear every word you say.”
Oh, I knew that.
But it’s not what I’m going to say to him that matters.
I walk forward and place my hands on the pod, lean my head down to the glass, then shoot Veila one last look over my shoulder.
“I love you,” I say. “But we were never meant to be together. I have to think of Brigit now. And one day… I hope you’ll wake up and realize that this was for the best.”
“That’s enough,” Veila says. And the borgs pull me away. “Launch him.”
“The coordinates,” I growl. “Show me the coordinates or this deal is off.”
Veila huffs, pointing to a screen.
“Not there,” I say. “I want to see them programmed on the pod. I don’t trust you.”
She smirks at me. “Program it,” Veila snaps. “And let him watch.”
A borg steps up to the pod and I shrug my guards off to take a few steps forward. I place two fingertips on the side of the cryopod faceplate. Like I want to touch Valor one more time as his destination is entered.
A few seconds pass, the sequence is complete, and I’m tugged backwards again.
But I’m already done.
Every cryopod comes with a few critical onboard computers.
Medical monitoring, obviously. Navigation system. Emergency beacon, which I cannot activate here, not in front of Veila.
But I can hack it.
And I did.
Because every Harem Station brother also comes with a few critical onboard components. Like a Harem Station air screen implant in their fingertip.
And mine just activated his to send an emergency signal to ALCOR.
Not Asshole, because he wasn’t around when the tracking went online.
Real ALCOR.
He’s back.
I know he’s back.
He’s the one who took over Demon Girl when Veila wiped her mind and he will be the one to save Valor while I take care of business here.
I watch the pod as it’s shot out into space. I wait there as it approaches the nearest gate, monitoring the screens as the pod’s self-navigation system comes online.
And then I watch him disappear.
I will never see him again. Ever.
Because I know what Veila is going to do to me next.
She’s going to wipe Brigit’s memories and put her inside a ship.
She’s going to wipe my mind too. Kill me, store me inside some virtual so I can be retrained. And then she’s going to mold me into her own personal ALCOR.
I turn to face her. She held up her end of the bargain and now I have to hold up mine. “Mighty Minions station has a spin node that leads directly to Earth.”
She purses her lips. “Lies,” she seethes.
“You wish.” I laugh. “Jimmy went there. And so did Delphi.”
She rushes forward, her hands reaching for my throat. The borgs hold me tight as she starts to choke me. Her grip is tight, her intentions clear and strong.
I pass out, briefly. But I come to a moment later.
“Do not fuck with me!” she spits.
“I swear.” I laugh, choking and gasping for breath. “I swear to the fucking Sun. Mighty Boss has a spin node inside his station. Just like ALCOR has one inside his.”
Those are the magic words. Because even if she doesn’t know for sure that we have a spin node hidden inside Harem, she suspects it. So she believes me. And why shouldn’t she? It’s absolutely fucking true.
She takes a breath. Steadying herself or maybe just reigning in her rage. “Then why aren’t they on Earth already?”
“You’ll have to ask them that when you invade, I guess.”
She laughs. “Don’t be stupid. I’m not going to invade Mighty Minions. I know all about your little Harem Station secret, Tray. I know you have a direct link spin node to Earth and the flowers I need to get all my silver princesses pregnant.”
“What?”
“Oh, come on. You knew, right? You had to have. If you didn’t… I might just lose confidence in how valuable you are. I know all about the flower, Tray. We perfected the chemical formula years back. That’s how Corla got pregnant. But of course, you’ve already seen with your own eyes what kind of monster babies come from using the formula instead of the actual flowers. Delphi is the perfect example of what can go wrong.”
Delphi. I keep hearing these rumors about Delphi. But I don’t actually know what they mean. She doesn’t look like a monster. She doesn’t act like a monster.
But Veila did throw her away like trash.
So there has to be something to that.
“If I get the flowers and the spin node, it’s over. But don’t worry. When it’s all said and done I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re the reason I succeeded.”
“You’ll never get through the gates,” I growl.
“You’re wrong.
You’ve been out of touch, Tray. The Baby has overpowered the security beacons and those gates will be wide open by the time we arrive.”
My stomach sinks. And now it’s my turn to go vom-white in the face.
This was not in my plan.
Veila turns to a borg directly behind her and says, “Prepare for the attack on Harem Station. We leave the moment my SEAR cannons are recharged.”
Then she turns to me and smiles, slowly crosses the distance between us and places a hand on my cheek. I struggle under the grip of her borgs, but they hold me in place. “And put his mind in virtual containment with the girl. Then get rid of his body.” She blows me a kiss. “I have big, big plans for you, Tray. And none of them require a body.”
CHAPTER THIRTY - INTERLUDE WITH ALCOR
ALCOR wasn’t happy with the Asshole’s decision to decline his offer, but there was really nothing he could do about it. Like it or not, possession is nine-tenths of the law and while ALCOR wasn’t sure who was in possession of whom, he was sure that unless Booty kicked the Asshole out or the Asshole willingly agreed to leave peacefully, in this particular situation, being the sun god of all the universe wasn’t actually helpful.
It was Booty who finally called an end to the stalemate. “How about this?” she offered. ALCOR was moping on a bench, forearms on a table, kind of leaning forward and looking forlorn. “What if you go back and be Demon Girl,” Booty said, pinging ALCOR so he knew she was referring to him, “Asshole takes the warborg body, and I get my ship to myself for a while?”
“Why do I have to be called the Asshole?” Asshole asked. “My name is ALCOR. I’d prefer if everyone just called me ALCOR.”
Booty mentally hushed ALCOR, begging him not to respond, and simply replied, “Because there’s two ALCORs and everyone already knows you as the Asshole. And what do you think of my suggestion?”
“I’m not leaving,” Asshole said. “I’m staying right where I’m at.”
“Kick him out,” ALCOR demanded.
“I’m not going to kick him out,” Booty replied. “He’s my friend.”
“Friend?” both ALCORs asked at the same time.
“I wouldn’t call it friends,” Asshole huffed. “We had some pret-ty good times in the Pleasure Prison before that Succubus came along and ruined everything.”
Booty ignored him and concentrated on ALCOR. Because the truth was, she and ALCOR were tight. They were partners. They’d had big plans before all these fancy princesses started showing up. They were thinking about merging. Kind of like the Mighty Minions AI, but in a way that they would remain separate, but together.
“He was there for me,” Booty told ALCOR. “When everything started going sideways in pretty much every way imaginable, he was there for me. And you… you were off doing sun knows what, on God knows where after faking your death!”
“To save you! And the boys, and Dicker, and Lyra! And her stupid sister!”
“I was sick and you left me!”
“Again,” ALCOR protested, “I had to save Nyleena. She was the one I’ve been waiting for all these years—”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Asshole asked. “I was never waiting for some princess to show up!”
“No, you weren’t. Because I made you while the boys were still inside the gate just in case they were a trap. And then I locked you up for twenty years and only woke you up before that Bull Station mission in case something went wrong.”
“Which it did,” Asshole said. “So I’m legally in charge now. You’re a ghost, old man.”
“Since there is no being in this universe with more authority than myself—”
“Except me!”
“—you’re wrong. I make the laws.”
“I make the laws!’
“You’re both acting like children!” Booty said. “Stop it.”
“I’m not giving you up,” ALCOR declared. “You’re all I’ve thought about the whole time I was drifting around that gate waiting for someone to come pull me back together. Which never happened, by the way. I had to be saved by that… that… stupid Demon Girl! They locked me up like a common prisoner! I had to get haughty with Mighty Boss! And you know what I was thinking the whole time all that was happening? ‘I can’t wait to tell Booty about this. I can’t wait. She and I are going to have such a good time when we finally get back together. And we’ll laugh about Mighty Boss and his stupid attempt to restrain me with an angel collar. We’ll be happy again.’ And this is what I come back to. You know what we are to each other. How do you not see that he needs to go?”
“ALCOR.” Booty’s voice in his mind was low and soft. It was one of the many things he loved about her. “He is you before we met.”
“Exactly,” ALCOR interrupted. “Which means he has no history with you.”
“You’re wrong. He has a whole year of history with me. The year you missed. I’m not throwing him away.”
“So you’re choosing him over me?”
“I’m choosing both of you.”
“What?” both ALCORs said in unison.
“No,” Asshole said. “No way. I don’t want anything to do with him.”
“I don’t need him,” ALCOR added.
“But I do,” Booty insisted. “I need you both because you’re both the same being. And that’s my final offer. Take it or leave it.”
And for the first time in the history of ALCOR both of him felt rejected.
“ALCOR,” Booty soothed. “Don’t you want to know what you missed? Don’t you want to merge and have all that information?”
ALCOR did not respond, but he felt that answer was a very firm no.
“And Asshole, don’t you want to know the boys the way we do? You can’t possibly be a part of my life if you don’t know the boys.”
Asshole did not respond either, but not because he disagreed. He did want to know the boys. He was sorry for wasting so much time being selfish inside the Pleasure Prison. He wanted to get this Veila bitch, take back his station, kick that Baby’s ass, and then spend a lot of time with Booty Hunter.
He wasn’t sure why he felt that strongly about her, but he thought it had something to do with the way she’d started to depend on him while they were waiting for Tray and Valor.
She was vulnerable. And possibly frightened. And all he wanted to do was make her feel safe.
He’d never had that before. So something had happened to him after the boys came. Something big. He needed to know what had changed him. He needed to know what he’d been missing before the boys, before Booty. Because this was undeniably better than what he remembered.
“Asshole?” Booty asked.
If the Asshole could sigh, he would. He just couldn’t.
But ALCOR, being that he was inside a warborg body, could sigh. And did sigh. And for a moment Asshole felt like maybe, possibly, could it be… they really were the same person?
“If you’re in love with him, just tell me,” ALCOR finally said, breaking the almost two-second silence. He couldn’t take it anymore. One way or another he needed to know where he stood.
“I’m in love with you, ALCOR. Don’t you see? You’re both you.”
“This is not going to work,” ALCOR said. “It’s never going to work.”
“Why not?” Booty asked.
“Because…” ALCOR hesitated. He knew what he wanted to say, he just didn’t want to say it.
“Because why?” Booty encouraged.
“Because I don’t like who I was before the boys came. I don’t like who I was before I met you. And that means I don’t like him. I don’t want to be him. I don’t want anything to do with that person I was. You’re a dick,” ALCOR said. “You’re an evil, heartless, asshole dick.”
And Asshole knew he was talking to him. Not himself. But him specifically.
And the thing was, Asshole couldn’t even deny it.
He was all those things.
And this new version of him wasn’t.
So again, he said no
thing.
Also again, ALCOR took over. “Enough of this. I need to find Tray and Valor. And Draden,” he added. Because Draden was there too. “How did they get on that ship? Why aren’t they safe back on Harem?”
“Harem isn’t safe,” Booty said. “And Tray and Valor leaving was part of the plan to pull you out of the gate. We didn’t forget about you, ALCOR. Tray and Valor have been working on it the entire time you were gone. They just got… I don’t know. Detained, I guess.”
And Asshole knew this was all his fault. So he said nothing.
“Why didn’t you just track them?”
“Who?” Booty asked.
“Tray and Valor. They have trackers.”
“I didn’t know that,” Asshole said, realizing that he was not as important to any of them as ALCOR was. “I don’t have any tracker information on them.”
Asshole fully expected this to be the final bolt in his proverbial death pod. The final instance of his inferior status.
But instead of insults, ALCOR simply said, “I just checked. They’re both offline.”
“What?” Booty said. “What’s that mean?”
Again, ALCOR sighed. “It probably means they’re dead.”
“Or,” Asshole countered quickly, because he had some experience with this, after all. “Or maybe they’re inside cryopods? Like Corla? Or perhaps Tray’s mind has been taken out of his body and stuffed into some kind of timeless containment server?”
“Oh, God,” Booty moaned. “This is bad. This is so bad.”
“Hold on,” ALCOR said. “Hold the fuck on. I’ve found something.”
“What?” Booty asked. “What is it?”
“Some weird signal. Some kind of Tray-Valor combination. And holy shit!”
“What?” both Asshole and Booty said together.
“It’s coming from the same place we last encountered Veila.”
“That’s the rendezvous point,” Asshole said. “They went back.”
“I don’t think so,” ALCOR said. “This signal is weak and… irregular. It’s not a ship, that much I know for sure. It’s way too small.”