by Megg Jensen
Leila smiled. For the first time in months, she wasn't alone. Recent events had been as devastating to her as her parents' death. She glanced at her father. And yet, he was still alive. Torsten had apparently told her the truth when he said their parents had faked their deaths. She hadn't wanted to believe it, but seeing her father now, she knew it to be true.
I will never abandon you, the voice inside cooed.
Leila wrapped her arms around her stomach as they neared the orb. Soon she would be trapped in there again, among the dead, among her brother and his friends, and now among these strange fire-breathing humans who had followed them to the orb.
They are an abomination, the dragzhi said. Human and dragzhi should not mix DNA. It is one thing for the two to live symbiotically, as you and I have chosen. It is another to produce offspring. It is anathema. We must destroy them, as well.
Leila climbed into the orb behind Cordan and her father. She slipped past them, flashing Cordan a sweet smile as she waved them to the spot where she, Torsten, and the others had sat during their days in space.
Cordan laid her father gently on the floor.
"The medics said you should feel better soon. Rest, Dad. We can talk about what happened later." Leila bent over, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.
She crooked her index finger at Cordan. He followed her a few paces away. "He will recover, right?"
"Wade will recover within days. Sleep will speed that process." Cordan looked up at the bodies floating above them. Then his eyes darted toward the door where the dragzhi-like humans were coming in. "Space is limited. We must make sure there is room for your father to breathe and stretch. If he is contained too tightly, it may be more difficult for him to recover."
Leila rested a hand on Cordan's forearm and fluttered her lashes, vaguely surprised at the coolness she felt through his shirt. He should have been warm from the trek, but perhaps he was chilled after walking into the orb. "I think between the two of us, we can guard him against all harm."
Cordan's head cocked to the side. "Are you not the one who shot him?"
Leila dropped her arm to her side. She bit her lip, attempting to quench the anger suddenly roiling in her chest. "It was an accident."
"Rell was the only other person in the hall. Was she your intended target?" He asked it without any emotion, as if her answer wouldn't sway his opinion of her.
Leila looked around the orb. The others were gathered near her father, talking amongst themselves as he rested. "Yes, she was. Rell killed someone I loved. I only meant to repay that debt." Her eyes locked on Cordan's, willing him to understand. Needing someone, anyone, to bear the pain with her.
"Killing Rell will not bring back the one you lost. And, as you can see, you only ended up harming someone else you love. You must let go of these feelings, Leila." Cordan turned on a heel, walking away from her and toward Rell.
Leila's hands formed fists, shaking uncontrollably at her sides.
Wouldn't anyone ever understand?
I understand.
Leila closed her eyes, remember the liquid dragzhi's appearance before it slithered into her body. Its silver form had undulated before her, performing a hypnotic dance. Yes, it understood. It felt her pain just as deeply.
We can destroy all of them at once. Everyone who has hurt you. Everyone who has betrayed you. Everyone who has rejected you. Everyone who is an abomination.
"What can I do?" Leila said aloud.
"You can come over here with the rest of us," Torsten said, waving to her.
Annoyed at herself for speaking aloud instead of sending her thoughts to the dragzhi, Leila stalked over to her brother and his friends. Cordan and Rell sat on the floor next to Leila's father. Watching Rell stroke her father's hair made Leila angrier. Who was she to take that role?
"I'll sit with him," Leila said, inserting herself between Rell and Cordan. Rell reluctantly scooted over.
Leila didn't miss the look Rell and Cordan exchanged. As if they were worried about Leila being around her father. It was ridiculous. She was fine. Just fine. She would never hurt her dad. At least not on purpose. Shooting him was an accident. It was Rell's fault, like everything else.
"We are heading back to Setion as quickly as possible. The humans may have agreed to let us have Rell, but I suspect they will change their minds eventually. We also want to avoid any dragzhi ships on the way back. Look at all we’ve done for the ungrateful meatbags! The tark are glorious perfection!" Denestra shouted.
A hiss spread through the orb, coming from the strange hybrids gathered not far from them. Leila had tried to count their numbers, but gave up after a couple hundred. There were so many of them. "They're coming to Phoenix with us? Maybe we should drop them off somewhere else first."
Rell took a deep breath. "Leila, they don't have a home. They've been kept in cages their entire lives. We have plenty of space for them on Phoenix since so many others were lost."
"But they're freaks! Look at them!" Leila pointed at one woman, whose nostrils puffed smoke with every breath.
"Leila!" Torsten scolded her, an angry look on his face.
"What?" Leila looked at all of them, disappointment apparent on their faces. "They are! They aren't like us. Haven't we had enough problems with aliens disrupting our lives?"
Torsten reached down and yanked her to her feet. "Come with me. Now."
He dragged Leila away from his friends. "What is wrong with you?"
"Nothing, big brother." Leila wrenched her arm out of his grasp. "Remember when you didn't believe in anything other than what you read? You’ve changed. You're cavorting around in space with aliens who've tried to kill us. What's wrong with you?"
"Lei, come on. You know everything's changed. You have to adapt to the new reality. You have to let go of your anger and move on with the rest of us." Torsten pleaded with her, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I love you."
Leila wanted to say it back to him, but she couldn't. She wasn't sure she could love anymore. Her heart had been broken in so many pieces, maybe it would never mend. Instead, she stalked away, finding a small place to sit alone. Torsten and his friends to her right. The hybrids to the left. The revenants and the tark above her.
Her head ached, as if all of them were pressing on it at once. She felt assaulted. Unloved. Deceived.
She had run out of choices. It wasn't just Rell that had to die. It was all of them. Every last one.
I knew you would see things my way. Get up. Go to the control panel. Let me control your arms. I have been studying the tark while you were conversing. I think I know how to call my brethren. They will find us. They will rescue the two of us.
Leila stood on shaky legs. Finally. Someone cared about her enough to help her. "Denestra? I'm Leila," she said, introducing herself to the tark controlling the ship.
"I know who you are, ugly human. Now go away." Denestra floated between Leila and the control panel.
"I wanted to take a look at things. See how they work." Leila stepped closer.
"No. This is a tark ship. It will not be sullied by a human touching the controls."
"I don't want to touch it. I just want to know more about how it works. I'm fascinated by your technology," Leila lied. Her arms raised in the air, her fingers reaching closer to the control board.
Another step. I need to be closer.
"Go away or I will kill you. I will gut you from your neck to the bottom of your belly. Your innards will spill out, and then while you are still alive, I will eat them." Denestra's eyes flashed red.
Under the control of the dragzhi inside, Leila reached up, knocking Denestra out of the way. Her arms waved in the air, performing a ritual Leila didn't understand. But the dragzhi inside cackled. It knew what it was doing.
Someone yanked her away from the panel. "Stop it. Do we need to tie you up for the rest of the trip home?" Malia snarled in Leila's ear.
Leila looked at her brother. After a brief moment of eye contact, Torsten looked away.
It is well, human. It worked. They have been contacted.
My brethren are coming.
"There's nothing you can do. The dragzhi are coming to stop you," Leila announced triumphantly before something hit her head and she blacked out.
40
Rell paced the orb. Leila had betrayed them. The dragzhi were coming.
The dragzhi.
It always came back to them. Rell couldn't seem to get away, no matter how hard she tried.
"How is she?" Rell nodded at Leila, whose body lay on the floor.
"She'll be out for a while." Malia massaged her sore fist.
Rell didn't blame her for clobbering Leila. She would have done it if Malia hadn't beat her to it.
Rell glanced at Wade. His face was contorted in pain and sadness over his daughter’s actions. What could have possessed her to call the dragzhi, of all things? And how had she figured out how to use the control board?
"How far away are we from Phoenix?" Torsten asked Denestra.
"Not far now. We are running at full speed. On the journey out, we only flew at quarter speed. Then, we were looking for something. Now, we want to get to Setion as fast as possible, to beat the dragzhi there." Denestra's arms worked feverishly over the control board. "Considering the weight we carry, this is the fastest we can travel. If you humans weren’t so flabby, we wouldn’t have this problem. We may have to eject one of you.”
"We aren't ejecting anyone,” Rell said, joining them. “We're all in this together."
"You are too optimistic, human. I would like to live, and that is my only priority, meatbag." Denestra glared at Rell.
"Your priority is to get me back to Phoenix and to my father," Rell reminded Denestra. Torsten had told her the whole story about the relationship between the tark and the fire dragzhi hiding on Phoenix. The fire dragzhi wanted Rell, and despite its complaints, Denestra would deliver her and anyone else she insisted on bringing along.
"I am flying as fast as I can," Denestra said.
"Make sure to rest so your arms don't hurt," Rutger said. He doubled over, laughing.
"Is he ever serious?" Rell asked Torsten, who shook his head, a wry smile on his face.
Malia rolled her eyes. "I'd apologize for him, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't want me to."
"It's fine. Actually, it's great," Rell said, smiling. "I think we could all use a laugh."
Everyone except Denestra seemed to agree.
"Pay attention, meatbags! I will keep the sensors on. If the dragzhi are anywhere near us, we will know. We will destroy them all!"
"What sorts of weapons do you have?" Rell asked. "Are they sufficient to fight the dragzhi?"
Denestra's eyes turned a pale gray. She floated in front of Rell without a response.
"You do have weapons, don't you?" Rell asked.
"They do," Torsten said. "When we first landed on the dragzhi ship, Denestra warned them of the orb's capability for destruction." He looked at Denestra. "Right?"
"It is correct I said that," Denestra said.
"But?" Rell asked, afraid of the answer.
"Everyone should fear the tark!" Denestra raised her arms. "All will quake at our feet in abject terror!"
"Do you have any weapons?" Torsten asked through gritted teeth.
Denestra glared at him. "No."
Rell gasped. Without weapons, they were going to die. The dragzhi would kill them without another thought.
"Can the revenants help?" Torsten asked. He looked at Rell. "Their spirits left their bodies when we were searching for you. They helped us."
"And what do you expect them to do?" Denestra asked. "Slap the dragzhi ship with their wispy phantasm forms? Idiot! They are not weapons in that manner. If the dragzhi boarded our ship, they could fight as they did with those things," Denestra waved an arm at the hybrids, "but I doubt it will come to that. We will land on Setion."
"Then what?" Rell asked. "Even if we land first, they'll catch up with us in no time."
Malia rested a hand on Rell's shoulder. "We knew that was a possibility. The dragzhi will never leave us alone as long as the fire dragzhi hide underground. For all we know, they've attacked while we've been gone. Our home may be gone."
Rell fought the tears at the corners of her eyes. She couldn't lose her home planet. It was all she had left. "We head home, and we face whatever comes at us. I won't give up."
"None of us will," Torsten said.
"Let me know if you get anything on the radar," Rell said to Denestra. She stalked back over to Cordan, stepping over Leila's body. Cordan kept vigil over a sleeping Wade. She sat next to her cyborg friend. "How is he?"
"Better. Wade is healing. Soon he will be as hardy as the rest of you."
"And you? How are you?" Rell asked.
Cordan smiled. "I am fine, I suppose. I feel no differently than before."
"Strange answer, man." Rutger sat next to them. "I feel like total shit. You carried Torsten's dad all the way. You should be exhausted, too."
Cordan looked at Rell. She said, "Cordan isn't like us."
"Oh great. Another alien," Rutger said. "A good one, I hope?"
"I am neither good nor bad," Cordan answered. "I simply am."
"Cordan is a cyborg. A good cyborg." Rell patted him on the shoulder.
"Really?" Torsten bent down, examining Cordan.
"Hey, treat him like he's one of us, okay?" Rell said to Torsten. "He's not one of the tech relics you like to study in your spare time. He's your father's best friend, and one of mine, too." Rell took Cordan's hand and squeezed it.
"Thank you for doing everything you have for my dad," Torsten said. He sat on the other side of Wade.
"I did as I was programmed," Cordan said. "But perhaps there is more to it. I have much to discover about myself. Thanks to Rell, I will have that chance. Earth United kept reprogramming me. I preferred Wade's teaching to theirs.”
The orb's lights flickered, then extinguished. Rell jumped to her feet.
"They are here," Denestra said, pointing.
Rell pushed through the hybrid crowd, following Denestra's gaze to the opposite side of the orb. Sure enough, six dragzhi ships hovered outside.
Torsten put his arms around Rell's shoulders. He leaned down, kissing her on the head.
"This isn't the end," Rell said. "Don't act like it is. We need to fight."
"How? Tell me, and I'll do it," Torsten said.
"I don't know." Rell concentrated on her breathing, wondering if each was the last.
The gun ports on the ships opened, an orange glow emanating from them as the weapons powered up.
"It can't end here. It just can't," Rell said. "I can't let it."
She closed her eyes, focusing even more on her breathing. She concentrated on Phoenix, on her home underground, on the street where she'd first seen Torsten, on the desert she'd wandered, broken and naked.
She thought of her parents, and her biological father. She remembered the kindness of Renata and Tatsuru and Markel.
Her lips burned as she thought of the first time Torsten kissed her, without her permission, and the first time she had willingly kissed him.
Reaching up, Rell grabbed Torsten's hands. "Hold on," she whispered.
Rell delved deep inside herself, remembering how it felt when she'd teleported before. How she'd taken Torsten, then Rutger and Malia with her. It had been a short distance those times. There had been so few of them.
But maybe... if she was worthy... she could do it.
The familiar spinning sensation overcame her. She grasped Torsten tightly. If nothing else, the two of them would be safe. They would make it. But that wasn't what she wanted. Rell needed to bring over one thousand bodies to Phoenix. To safety.
Her vision blacked out, and Rell spun, losing all sense of space and time until her body landed hard on the ground, her fingers splayed between blades of grass.
She slowly opened her eyes, then sat up.
Around her were Torsten
and many of the hybrids. She sprang to her feet, despite the dizziness in her head, whipping her neck from side to side as she looked for the rest of them.
There they were, scattered across the field outside the tower. Bodies everywhere, and all of them appeared to be moving.
"I did it," she said. "I can't believe it. Torsten?" He had been right behind her when they'd left the orb. He had to be close by.
"Torsten?" Rell called as she stepped around the others as they, too, took to their feet. "Torsten?"
A groan caught her attention. Rell pushed through the hybrids, but she still couldn't find him. "Torsten, where are you?"
"Up here..." he said.
Rell looked up and saw Torsten laying on a branch that looked about ready to break. "I'm so sorry! I can't believe you're stuck in a tree!"
"Better than dead in space." He smiled weakly. "You did it. You saved us."
"For now. They'll come down to the planet. They'll try again." Rell reached up, helping Torsten shimmy down the tree trunk.
"No, they won't," Denestra said, floating over to them. It smiled, teeth glinting in the bright sunlight. "I wasn't willing to die at the hands of the dragzhi, so I set my ship to self-destruct."
"You were going to kill all of us?" Rell gaped at Denestra.
"I was going to kill everyone! It would have been glorious. Once again, humans got in the way."
"So the dragzhi won't be back?" Torsten asked.
"Not those dragzhi. By the time any others figure out what happened, we will have built a solid defense network here. You will do as I say, and it will be the best defense you've ever seen!" Denestra cackled.
"No, we'll work together," Rell said. "The tark, the fire dragzhi, the hybrids, and the few humans that are left. We'll begin anew."
"What about Leila?" Torsten asked. "There's something wrong with her."
"We'll have to keep an eye on her," Rell said. "I don't know what else to do."
"We could put her in the brig, though I hate doing that." Torsten looked at his sister. She was rubbing the back of her head not far away. She glared at them.
Leila's body began to jerk. Her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her chest heaved, and then something silver shot out of her body.