CARL

“He can’t hear us, right?” Lisa said. “Decha can open portals, not read our minds?”

Carl sighed, he had been surprised by her humanity, but sometime she was kind of stupid, having to have obvious things explained to her. “Yes. He can only open portals.”

“Then he will not hear us,” Lisa said. “But what if he opened a portal in our vicinity, would the sounds we make not be sucked into it?”

Carl smiled. “Yes. That is true, but we would notice one of his portals.”

“We need to take him down. I have watched how you react to him, how you relate to him. You want him gone, too, but you are too proud, too loyal to admit it,” Lisa said.

“We are part of the vanguard. We don’t go up against each other,” Carl said. “You are talking about mutiny.”

“He is the problem. He went up against your leadership. He murdered your dear Amanda. He did all those things, you should be teeming with anger. I know that I would. And I do. The things he had done against me are far less serious than what he has done to you. And I want to shove my icy fingers into his eyes,” Lisa said.

Carl shook his head, these ideas that Lisa tried to shove into him, it made him feel dirty. “It is treason. He murdered Amanda, that is correct. But.”

“But, what?” Lisa asked.

“I get your point. But Decha outranks me and the rest of the crew. He stood by Saif’s side for a long time before committing to the long sleep. And there is something I have thought about,” Carl said.

“Stop this bloody meandering. Forward, fast and distinct. No blabbering around. Get to the fucking point,” Lisa said. “We need to keep moving.”

“Decha is mad in his head. Saif knows this, so why would he be chosen for this mission?” Carl said. “I think that Saif is afraid that Elizabeth and her friends will be able to achieve their goal. To ally themselves with the aliens, or parts of them. Then it might be game over, because what will we do? Even with a handful of manifestees, what can we realistically do against that threat? You met the aliens on the Au-delà, so you know what I am referring to.”

The concept of aliens was still a bit jarring for him. The vanguard had always listened to Saif’s lecturing and what not, but they had never heard or seen the aliens for themselves. But this woman, Lisa Rands, that sat in front of him, she had fought them and won.

“They are clever and powerful, I will give them that. But we are determined,” Lisa said. “We would have destroyed bone bag and her friends if Decha would not have screwed things.”

Carl frowned. “Bone bag?”

“Elizabeth is a bag of bones. Bone bag,” Lisa said, her hands shaking. “We would have annihilated them.”

“I am not so sure about that. The trap they set was elaborate. Without Decha we might not have gone as straight into it as we did, and thus not losing our drive cone. But, I think we would eventually have run into a similar trap. They are resourceful,” Carl said. “I think that Decha was chosen to spark the war. Create conflict and chaos, in and between man and alien. They are fucking aliens, they must have differences and subcultures, I am sure of it. Maybe not all of them are as keen to take in humans under their wing. Not after what Elizabeth did against them. Then Decha swoops in and drops our manifestees and combat suits into their home. Man versus alien. Alliances and friendships at risk. Maybe, just maybe it will be enough to put a dent into bone bag’s plan. But Decha, he has no care for our lives or wellbeing. He takes risks when it is not necessary.”

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Lisa nodded. “A cluster grenade in a conference room. Decha is a cluster grenade.”

“What?” Carl said.

“When you are unsure what to do, when your hands have been emptied and the odds have been stacked against you. You toss in a cluster grenade. Pain and anger, but who to blame? Old grudges surfaces and mended scars rips open. Actually, not a bad plan,” Lisa said.

Maybe he had judged her too quickly, even though he thought he had not. She had more analytical skills than he had expected. When you got inside that initial barrier of cold and ice, she transformed into a different person.

“Oh shit. I think you are correct,” Carl said.

“Of course I am.” Lisa wore that smug face she did everytime she was right. “You will want to strike down Decha because all the bullshit he has done to you, I know you want to, so don’t fucking lie to me. Fuck this mission. Do you think Saif expects you and this crew to survive? No. Do you want to live? Yes. Do you want vengeance for Amanda? Yes. Then we need to take Decha out. It will improve the chances for our goals. I am going to have my hands around Beth’s neck before this is over, I promise you that. Are you with me?” Lisa said.

Lisa could be menacing when she wanted to. Revenge, mutiny, they had never been his style. He had stood by Saif’s side for a long time and served in the vanguard since his manifestation awakened. Could this really be the best plan? He made his choice.

“We will show Saif that we can do better,” Carl said.

Sweetness flooded along his tongue, with his mind made up his body followed, anticipating the battle. The change had occurred, the decision had been made.

”That’s the right spirit!” Lisa said. “Together.”

Carl remembered what had happened with Amanda when they had shared a similar moment. But forward, it was all that was left. “Together.”

He fell. Landing his butt on something hard. Floor. He looked around.

The bridge.

Decha stood by his side. That bastard.

“What do you want now?” Carl asked, getting to his feet. He wanted to leap for the Asian’s throat, but it would not make anything different. Decha’s portals were too quick. They needed better timing.

Decha smiled, there was something unpleasant about the way he did it. “I found it. I reached into it. I did it.”

“What are you talking about?” Carl said, his sweetness trickled down on his tongue.

“The blood deposit. I know how to fuel with it,” Decha said, sliding his fingers through his white hair.

Well, fuck. That had been his one advantage over Decha and now that was gone too. With that added power, what in the world would his portals look like? Bigger and quicker? Reach longer distances?

“I see it in your face that you are speculating,” Decha said. “Let me show you the wonders instead. You remember that I left half of Amanda’s body back in the Final Sight? We can locate their ship. You manifestees are all chipped, and we are close enough to get a fix on their coordinates.”

Carl shuddered at the memory. This damn bastard was mad and deserved whatever punishment they could come up with.  If only they could circumvent those portals of his.

Another portal opened, Lisa landed on her butt on the floor besides him. They shared a glance.

“You will also witness. The first of my wonders. The first of many. So, given the blood fuel and the location of their ship, I have engineered a test. This,” Decha said, raising his closed fists. “I am the next step.”

Carl let his own sweetness flood his mouth, molten rock flowed over and across his body, given him that relaxing protection. The bridge’s main view screen turned transparent, showing the space in front of the dreadnought. A giant black spot had swirled to life, darker than space itself, hiding the stars behind it. Decha opened his hands, the cloud expanded and opened. A portal the size of The Breach.

Their ship moved. Without its engines or reactor core, it was being pulled in by the portal itself!

Decha was mad. Carl turned to him, looking for an opening while the magma pooled inside his fists.

Too late. The dreadnought went through the portal, Carl falling backwards into a different, much smaller portal.