by Matt Larkin
Knight and Phoebe had proved quite zealous in their efforts to take down the pirates.
Rachel opened the door to Caleb’s cell and moved to stand in front of him. She doubted she had anything to fear from this man. Not anymore. He had the look of one broken by the weight of too heavy a burden. Too much loss. He sat with his head in his hands.
She still couldn’t read his emotions. By the look of him, she was probably lucky for that.
“Gavet.”
He looked up at her. “I didn’t know you’d come.”
“Twice you tried to tell me things, and twice you got cut off. So tell me.”
He chewed his thumb a moment before leaning back against his cell wall. “Did you … did you capture a woman with orange hair?”
Rachel nodded. She had seen someone like that. She pulled out a tablet and glanced through a prisoner manifest. “Yeah. Rebekah Norris. Your assistant, she claimed.”
“She was. She’s … God, she’s an angel.”
Wow. That little girl? Rachel had been right—other angels were hiding in plain sight. Raziel had said they could retract their wings … between that and telepathy, they could disguise their nature.
“Whose side is she on?”
Caleb sighed and shook his head. “There’s this scientist working for Jericho—running it now, really. I thought he was an Asheran. He knew all about cybernetics. Now I think he must be like her. She was helping him.”
Well, shit. How many of these hidden angels were out there? So now an angel was running Jericho Corp. Not much chance of finding allies there.
“So Rebekah is a foe, then. We’ll have her moved to the isolation wing.”
“Apollo murdered my family, Rachel.”
God. Rachel was glad she didn’t have to feel his emotions. That chip Leah found in his head blocked her, and for once, that might be a boon to her. She sat down on the cot beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. “I’m sorry, Caleb.”
No wonder the man had given up on life.
Apollo. That name sounded familiar.
“Apollo …?”
“Apollo Lionhead. The angel running Jericho.”
Angel. Apollo … “Apollyon …”
“What?”
“Raziel said that a fallen angel named Apollyon betrayed them. Caused the Vanishing. An angel serving the Adversary.”
“Fuck me. And I helped him.”
Which must mean Rebekah was also one of the fallen. If Raziel was here now … no. She couldn’t afford to depend on the angel. She was always preaching for humanity to stand on its own. Well, here they were. She and David and Knight and the others. And Caleb? Could she trust him? She couldn’t read his emotions, but if he wasn’t sincere, he was the best actor she’d ever met.
“Look, we’re heading back to the Milky Way, Caleb. The angels are trying to take out the NER.”
“The what?”
“New Eden Republic. We’ve been trying to start an independent government.”
Caleb shrugged out from her arm and turned directly to face her. “Rachel, listen to me. What I’ve been trying to tell you is none of this political shit matters anymore. The angels built space stations, okay. One of them was out at the Great Attractor. I went there.”
She scoffed. That was too far, and there were no known routes beyond the Local Group.
He shook his head as if reading her mind. “He told me the way. And I found an angel station there. I thought … I thought they were trying to harness the power of the black hole. God, Rachel, I was so wrong. The stations weren’t created to harness anything. They were created to lock it away from this universe.”
She leaned forward. “To lock what away, Caleb?”
“The Adversary.”
It wasn’t in this universe? “So … the Adversary lives in another universe.”
“No, Rachel.” Caleb rubbed his forehead. “The Adversary is another universe. A sentient universe of hatred, bent on the utter destruction of the angels.”
Rachel sat speechless, unable to get her mouth to work. A sentient universe. That was impossible. Nothing on that kind of scale could be alive. It was off-rotation nonsense. Caleb was traumatized. His mind had created delusions …
But Rachel had seen it. It had touched her mind. Terrible, alien hatred. Unfathomably ancient and vast. She had touched it when they breached the Conduit.
Man Shall Adhere to the Bounds of the Conduit.
And they had violated the Second Commandment. They had seen another universe. Had she borne witness to the Adversary itself? The ultimate foe of the angels?
“Rachel … these angel stations were created as seals to lock away the Adversary, you understand? Dimensional barriers to keep the universes separate. Apollo had me destroying them, four so far. And I think he’s brought down others on his own. I think … I don’t think many of these seals are left.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “What happens when the last seal breaks?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess … the Adversary will have access to this universe again.”
Holy. Shit.
Rachel rose. She had to get this information to David. She had to … to face the terrible truth.
Apollo was about to free the Adversary.
12
“That’s a fascinating question, but one Redeemers significantly frown upon. As such, I’d recommend you choose another topic … but yes, there is some indication angels may have had sexual liaisons with each other and possibly even with humans. There’s a story about the so-called angel of prostitution, Naamah, a name that appears nowhere in the Codex. Admittedly, the tale is fantastic but check the Mazzaroth for the Succubus Plague to read more about her.”
Dr. Rachel Jordan, helping an NRU student with a thesis
FEBRUARY 27, 3097 EY — PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
Caleb didn’t mind being back in the brig. At least in here he could do no more harm. Except that, in here, he could do nothing but think. He paced the cell. There was no escape. Not from here. Not from the visions that seeped into his mind the instant he let down his guard. The sights mankind was never meant to see. The hostile universe, bent on consuming his very soul. The hatred stretching down through the ages, reaching back to before the human race even existed.
The vile sickness that had consumed his heart and devoured that which he held most precious. Ayelet. James. Miriam.
Taken because of Apollo and the Adversary. Lost because of Caleb’s own selfish arrogance and ambition.
And still the voices spoke in his mind. They called to him. Demanded he obey—promised him solace. An end to his suffering if only he submitted. Not in words—not exactly. Rather it was like a serpent, slithering through his mind and constricting his lungs. Hissing at him of his only chance at peace.
Be silent.
Caleb shrieked and beat his fists against the wall.
Ayelet.
James.
Miriam.
He pounded until his hands bled. No one would hear. The cell was soundproofed unless the smart glass was switched to permeable. Exhausted, he slumped to the floor, dragging a streak of blood along the wall.
Rachel came most days. His only solace.
“I can’t release you,” she’d said.
“I don’t deserve release …”
But she brought him news. David MacGregor had become a leader in this New Eden Republic, jaunting around the galaxies, trying to recruit more member systems. The man’s fame spread almost as fast as that nephil who worked for him. Thousands flocked to his banner …
It might have seemed a new hope for humanity.
If the angels weren’t running around behind his back destroying or conquering half the worlds he enlisted. If Asherah wasn’t sweeping up vast swathes of territory Sentinels could no longer defend.
Well, Caleb wished MacGregor all the luck in the universe. The man didn’t understand what was really out there. Rachel had told him, Caleb knew, but still
… no one could understand until they had felt it.
The smart glass opened, and he turned to see that rahab doctor entering. What was her name? Leah Suzuki?
Caleb should have had a charming witticism to throw at her. Nothing came. He just stared at her numbly.
She sighed and knelt beside him. “They told me you injured yourself. You didn’t think you’d claw your way out of the cell, right?”
Caleb shook his head, slowly.
The doctor took his hands in hers and injected something into them. A rush of air against his skin, then he felt the nanobot regenerators begin to knit his split flesh back together. It itched, tingled.
A few seconds later, Suzuki pulled a cloth from a compartment in her suit and wiped away the blood. “Don’t do that again, Mr. Gavet.”
His hands were good as new. If only the rest of him were so easy to repair. If only his heart and mind and soul could be treated with a simple injection.
The rahab sighed and rose. “I’d say you got what you deserved, but Rachel told me what happened to your family. No one deserves that. I can give you something to help you sleep, if you need.”
“No!” Dear God. Asleep, he was defenseless. The Adversary crept into his mind whispering its promises and threats and illusions. Wrapping them around his fragile psyche until all he could do was weep like a child. “No. No sleep. No sleep, Suzuki. A stimulant … can you give me a stim?”
“I … don’t think that would be a very good idea.”
Caleb chuckled or tried to. It came out as a pathetic wheeze. The doctor only saw the medical angle. There was no cure for the human soul.
“Thank you,” he said.
She nodded. “I’ll, uh … I’ll have them send you some tea, then.”
Tea. Great. That should definitely save his soul.
He smiled at her, and she left.
Poor Caleb.
The voice echoed in his mind, soothing and full of pity. At first, Caleb thought Apollo had reached out across the stars to torment him. But he knew that voice. Rebekah.
“How are you doing this?”
I’ve always touched you, love.
She was an angel. A damned telepath. Like Apollo. That was how he’d done all this. And Rebekah … she’d been in his mind all along? Even with the anti-telepathy chip? Apollo must have left loopholes for himself and his minions.
Of course, my sweet.
She always knew just what he needed. She always knew exactly how to turn him on. To turn him away from Ayelet. She was like all his other little affairs, except he could never cast her aside.
Because I love you.
“Shut up! You love nothing, monster! You turned on my family! You claim to love me, but you let them die. That’s not love—it is the grossest betrayal.”
Caleb … I had no choice.
God, she’d manipulated him from the day they met. He’d thought he was using her. But it was the other way around. She was no innocent nineteen-year-old girl. She was a succubus sent to lead him astray. She and Apollo had helped him rise through the ranks of Jericho Corp. Ensuring they had a puppet on the throne.
Please, Caleb. Forgive me. I did what I had to.
“Go to hell, Rebekah. If that’s even your name.”
My name was Naamah. And I … you don’t understand, Caleb. I didn’t have a choice. Apollyon is my master. We cannot control the Beast. We cannot live without the implants.
Naamah. Had he heard the name before? Maybe if he’d paid more attention in history class he’d know. Void, Rachel probably would. Was it possible she meant what she said? That she truly loved him? Or could this be yet one more manipulation?
But … it seemed she had nothing left to gain by it.
He was broken. Powerless.
As she claimed to be. Powerless to fight against Apollo and his commands. Powerless against the Beast. Because of her implants … the cybernetics?
Which explained why he was as damned as she was.
Caleb …
“Stay out of my head!”
He beat his fists on the floor until his strength was spent, then collapsed onto his arms.
And he wept.
13
“Each human has such a brief window to perpetuate their kind. It is a joyous time, three decades at most to bloom and blossom, to spread their seeds upon the galactic fields. Do not waste those years in naught but toil and conflict. Let any who would let their lands lie barren reap the nothingness they’ve sown.”
The Codex, Book of Sariel
PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
Knight sat with his back pressed against the wall, Phoebe in his arms, leaning against his chest. They were naked, and the extreme heat of her body was like a sauna, relaxing away all the tension in his muscles.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said.
“Mmm.”
“How about Ekron? My family is there. We could afford a nice condo, something with a view.”
Knight rubbed his hands over her shoulders. So smooth. So hot. He dipped his fingers lower, to trace a line around her nipple. “You want to settle down?”
“Yup, I think so. And if you don’t stop that, you’d better be prepared to finish what you’re starting, or I’ll make you pay for it.”
He laughed and kissed her ear. Once, he had dreamed of retiring to New Rome. But it was gone, and one day he would need to find a home. But Ekron was a ball of ice. What the void would he do there?
“It’s kind of cold, Phoebe.”
“Yup. But I’ll keep you warm.”
Sounded pleasant enough. “Rachel and David still need our help.”
Phoebe snorted and jerked free of his grasp, then scooted away to face him. “Really? You have to go running every time they say so? Can you think about our future for one second, Knight?”
He leaned his head back. “Future? Ekron is in the NER. You know sooner or later the angels will come for it. Unless David wins, our home would be …”
“Haven’t we done enough?”
Had they? He’d fought his whole life, and for what? Even following Rachel around, aiding her crusade, he wasn’t sure he could say the universe was a better place. He was a better person—he had to believe that—but sometimes it just seemed like they’d fucked things up even worse.
“I don’t know,” he said.
She folded her arms and stuck out her lip. “We said we were going to make babies.”
Probably his best plan ever.
And maybe it was time. Maybe he had done enough. But how could he leave like this? How could he leave Rachel and David to face such threats without him? He owed it to them to see this through to the end.
“I’ll talk to Rachel. Maybe we can just take some time.”
“Fine. Better than nothing, I guess.” She rose and began pulling her clothes back on.
Knight sighed and did the same, then left to hunt down Rachel.
He found her in the mess hall, staring at a tablet, fingers hopelessly entwined in her hair.
Knight sat across from her, and she looked up.
“Hey. Glad you’re here,” Rachel said. “I’ve got something I need you to do.”
“Well, I—”
“David and I learned some things from Caleb, Knight. About the angels, about the Adversary … I need the truth now. All of it. Without that, we won’t be able to decide how to face things. We need to find out who the angels really are and what the Adversary really is.”
“You told me it was another universe.” Which would have made absolutely no sense if he hadn’t seen the thing himself. Knight was no scientist, and his education was limited. He knew nothing about theories of the Conduit, and until he’d met Rachel, he’d never even considered the idea of other universes. But there was something out there, beyond the reality he knew. And it was not pleasant.
“It is. And Raziel has to know more about it than that. He’s been keeping secrets for far too long. It’s become force of habit for him. It’s time that changed. Humans are no lo
nger children in need of protection.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe the angels had done all they had done because they thought of mankind as children. They had tried to protect humanity from the terrible truths they could not understand and the horrors they could not face. Like the truth about Eden.
But if the angels were no longer the defenders of humanity, Sentinels had to be. He’d sworn an oath as a Sentinel. He’d promised to become a guardian against the night … he who had once been one of those very threats in the darkness.
“Phoebe and I were planning a trip to Ekron.”
Rachel waved her hand. “Okay, sure. But first I need you to go to Gadara and meet Raziel.”
“Gadara.”
“He’s there, and frankly, I’d like him back here with us. We need to have a long chat.”
“So call him on the fucking Mazzaroth.”
“I doubt I’ll convince him to open up except in person. And David is too busy protecting NER worlds and recruiting more to take the Sephirot to Gadara. But he said he could arrange to meet the Wake of Stars this afternoon. Hannah Hertz could take you there.”
Knight ran a hand over his hair. It had begun to grow out, and he wasn’t sure whether he’d have Phoebe reshape it again. He clucked his tongue. “Phoebe and I were hoping to take a break from all this …”
Or she was.
And he could not blame her. This ship was no place to raise a family.
“Knight. I need you. You’re the only one I know I can trust with this kind of thing.”
Funny. He was the one people used to trust to maim and murder. Now he was the only one they trusted to save the holy universe. Void.
He had become something beyond what he had ever dreamed of.
A Sentinel.
And Rachel was right. People did need him. It was bigger than his own hopes and dreams. Even those he shared with Phoebe. Besides, after all Rachel had done for him, he could not let her down. Not ever.
“All right, Rachel. I’ll get ready.”
14