Calibrated.
Optimized.
Stabilizing…
Unable to stabilize.
Warning: Thirty minutes until maximum destabilization.
While her friends slept, Rayne read Nox’s Verse. The nano computer in her chest translated the ancient script and pictographs rapidly and stored everything within its perfect memory. She needed answers, and he gave them to her. Bleak, terrible answers. They warded her with a steeled resolve for the next excursion.
Andrew and Kyle went ahead to meet Tumu at the Martyr Complex. Tameka, Rayne, and Sagan flew to the highest mountain on Cinder. Clouds surrounded them way up here. Nox’s castle looked like a model in the distance. Umbra’s Spire a black smudge. The air smelled a little cleaner with an edge of smoke to it.
This was all avoidance, of course. The traditional rock totem stood taller than the girls. Maybe as tall as the Icarus who placed them. Korac left a marker for Xelan, and it broke Rayne’s heart to look at it.
“I don’t understand.” Tameka sat in front of it and stared at the beautiful gesture with naked grief. “Why would Korac make this for someone he let Nox murder?”
Rayne read a hint of the answer in Nox’s Verse. It wasn’t her place to tell, and she worried it might create some discomfort for Tameka. Instead she said, “They lived so much longer than we can understand. Relationships shift as often as the wind carries a grain of sand. They’re dynamic. It’s hard for us to process that maybe once Korac and Xelan were friends.”
Sagan glanced over at Rayne. Maybe it was the pretty furrow, the clench of her jaw, or the twitch of her lips, but it was there. Sagan knew the truth about her lover and their guardian.
Tameka admitted softly, “This was a beautiful thing for him to do.”
Sagan stepped up and planted a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll never really know.” She kissed the woman’s red twists. “But it’s nice to have places to pay our respects to him.”
Recommendation: Attain minimum safe distance.
Unable to stabilize.
Warning: Fifteen minutes until maximum destabilization.
Rayne waited too long. She grinned to herself. Always pushing the envelope. Maybe one day she’d outgrow her stubbornness. As she gazed out at the beautiful planet under her charge, she knew that was a lie.
“I have to go. I don’t have much time left.”
The group tried their best to make the last few days perfect. They said goodbye to their family and sent them on their various ways.
Matt and Lucy decided to finish the remaining CoN facilities. When Rayne offered help, they shared a look no one but them understood. Then insisted they worked better, just the two of them. But they would check in with the Progeny to turn over the archives they hoped to salvage.
Most of the group went with the caravan. Cypher, Colton, Smith, and Six—Xelan’s original crew—accepted various titles as part of the new world council within The Brethren.
Lynn and Pablo, along with his mother and stepfather, would work closely with Tempest and Dolor on exploring medical and weapon research involving nacre technology. They would travel with the caravan until The Brethren established a proper headquarters. Starting on the train allowed them to collect talented members for their teams from across the country. As for the couple themselves, they offered to wait until Rayne served her sentence to get married so she could be a bridesmaid.
“That’s sweet, guys, but you need to do this as soon as possible. We learned in the last four months, our entire worlds change in a short time. Take what you can when you can get it.” She beamed at them both. “But thank you.”
Lynn promised, “We’ll renew our vows when you’re done.”
Pablo nodded insistently, “She has this great idea for the photos that involves Night Killer.”
The woman holding his hand nodded emphatically.
“Absolutely.”
Rayne assigned Caedes to the desert fortress until he went to Enki with Tameka. His uncanny ability to balance grumpiness and usefulness inspired Rayne. Especially while he made glances at Tameka. Harmless, warm glances. Her best friend confessed to Rayne that he swore his fealty to her. Good.
It reminded Rayne of when she took him aside to ask why he saved Tameka from Frullop’s bullet. “Caedes, I have to know your motivations for saving Tameka.”
Caedes growled, “I don’t see what—”
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“Don’t waste my time.”
He confessed begrudgingly, “I have a thing for redheads. That’s all.”
At the time, Rayne grinned, and she did every time she recalled it. “...She’s truly something special, isn’t she?”
“No one like her in the Vast Collective.”
She patted him on the arm. “Callahan.”
His frown could win awards. “What?”
“You’ve just upgraded from General Callahan to Callahan. Now suit up. You’re leaving in thirty minutes.” She gave him a sympathetic smile at the softening of his perpetual frown.
Fealty accepted.
Before they left Iona-29 for Xelan’s house, Rayne said goodbye to Jack, Chris, and Karter. It was bittersweet, and she supplemented hugs with cake.
“I’ll be all right, Rayne,” Jack promised. He pointed to Karter and Chris. “They won’t let me out of their sight so there’s no chance of me getting into trouble.”
At which point her brother licked his lips and glanced over at Ross on the other side of the dining car. She played cards with Kyle as they said their farewells. Her brother finished his point, “Besides, I kinda hope things will stay quiet for a while.”
After many “I love you’s” and a few promises on what they’ll do once she’s free, Rayne said goodbye to her last blood relative with no idea what might change in the next fifty years.
She desperately needed a hug.
As Rayne dressed that morning, she willed her armor into a simple and comfy set of lingerie. Then she covered it with a loose black linen button up she found in her closet. Beach wear. She left her hair down, and her face clean. Seemed stupid to do herself up before swimming in a pool of her own blood for five decades.
The three girls flew into the square chamber that acted as her prison in Nox’s Castle. Sleeping bags, cots, and pallets covered the floor. Makeshift couches stuffed with pillows and blankets. They installed a modest kitchenette along one wall. An Enki-tech screen projected onto the northern wall beyond the lake. A speaker and stereo system sat near the skid. The place looked pretty homey.
Rayne stared at them with an eyebrow raised. “What’s going on?”
Sagan smiled at her. “We’re your volunteer guard.”
“I—Is this allowed?”
“As Earth is my jurisdiction, your sentence falls under that. I select your guard.” Tumu walked down the ramp into the pit and tried for a smile. It was mostly sad. “Won’t do us any good if you get assassinated in your sleep by a foul-meaning Lyrik or Tritan. I’d hate to say it, but you’re not safe from anyone. I trust only your Shadow.”
Andrew diverted the subject a little, “So, you said once you could hear in that device, right?”
She nodded, unable to speak.
He displayed the stereo system. “So, we’ll play music for you.”
“And watch movies with you,” Tameka added.
Kyle offered, “I’ll read books to you. And I’ll keep Night Killer nearby.”
“Of course, we’ll keep you up-to-date on any news from Jack,” Sagan promised.
Andrew said, “All the news. You won’t go a week without hearing how everyone is doing.”
“Thank you so much, guys…” She choked back a sob. “I wish I could hug you. I wish—”
Recommendation: Attain minimum safe distance.
Unable to stabilize.
Warning: Three minutes until maximum destabilization.
“—I had more time. But I have to go now.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and approached the lake’s shore. The Progeny followed behind. The lines in their faces drawn tight with concern and uncertainty. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Tameka insisted.
Rayne smiled at her before staring over at Sagan. The blond girl hung back a bit. One hand gripped the other arm like she needed something but was afraid to ask. “Can you guys let me and Sagan go to it alone?”
Tameka smiled sadly. “Yea. I’ll yap your ear off soon enough.”
Andrew and Kyle took a step back with silent nods.
Sagan and Rayne rode the skid to the island. They faced each other, almost touching foreheads. Both girls cried and sniffled. Sagan whispered, “I can’t believe we went through all this… for…”
Recommendation: Attain minimum safe distance.
Unable to stabilize.
Warning: One minute twenty-eight seconds until maximum destabilization.
“Shh… We both know this isn’t the end. We’ll make it right.”
Sagan nodded. “I wish I could kiss you.”
One time. One last time.
Rayne pressed her forehead to Sagan’s with a wince as the light flared from within her, and the countdown diminished. “Take from me what you need.”
Sagan’s breath hitched as she gasped at the contact.
“Give to me what you want.” Rayne cupped her face with both hands. Her eyes squeezed shut at how much she missed this and how much it cost her.
Li flared in her eyes and her voice layered as she whispered, “Until eternity takes me. I’m yours.” Shockingly, Sagan spoke the words in Atramentous tandem.
Soft and brief, Rayne pressed her lips to Sagan’s, whose opened with a gasp.
Destabilization Imminent.
The light dissipated color from Rayne and her surroundings. Everything filtered over in gray tones. Like… the Seam. Her eyes burned, and she knew she waited too long. As she collapsed, Tumu shouted in alarm from the shore.
Sagan held him off. “I’ll take care of her! Stay there!”
Rayne’s identity sapped away. Whatever made her “her” soaked through the seams and poured onto the floor. Empty. She went empty.
To her dismay, Sagan lifted her. Why couldn’t she bear her touch? Why did Sagan have to be the one lowering her into the box? The fire, the light burned through her skin, splitting it apart. Her heart pounded. She needed the pain. Needed to stop this. She spared a cursory thought that she hoped Sagan didn’t look too hard at the complex. Through the sun alive inside her, Rayne spoke up, “Don’t watch once it starts. Promise me?”
She sensed Sagan nod.
Afraid of blinding her, Rayne kept her eyes closed as Sagan engaged the complex. The familiar whir of the exsanguination mechanism blared, and Rayne experienced a bizarre sense of relief. Soon. Sleep. Stabilization. Soon.
The blades drilled into her. She couldn’t bother to mind it as her body unraveled. Her blood pooled around her, flooding the prism. When it reached her face, she already longed for the anesthetic. The pump of the drugs went into her like the plunge of a syringe. Painful pressure.
Calibrated.
Optimized.
Stabilizing…
Unable to stabilize.
Warning: Thirty minutes until maximum destabilization.
Worth it.
As the sedatives carried her into darkness, she found no comfort in the solitude. That brief, sweet kiss hurt so much. Her friends watched over her while she secluded herself away for the sake of Cinder. No one to hurt her. No one to touch her.
“King Rayne.”
While slipping into the abyss, a silken baritone entered her head. Like the devil sent to seduce her, he sounded too pleased with himself.
Unafraid and unexpectedly grateful for the company, Rayne responded, “Nox, I want to hear your Verse from you. Here. Where I can feel what you feel and detect any lies. Then we can begin.”
She would bridge the worlds and serve her time. Building a resistance in her sleep might seem like a difficult task, but as Nox was about to learn, given enough time Rayne could do anything.
And fifty years was a very long time.