Thomas choked as he was slammed into the wall, Sebastian’s arm pressing into his throat, as he snarled, “You knew.”

Thomas shook his head weakly but didn’t try to fight him.

“You had to have known. These things don’t just happen. You watched him do it.”

“I didn’t.” Thomas coughed. “I never saw him build the android. I swear.”

“Sebastian, enough.” Brie said.

“I didn’t know.” Thomas repeated. “I didn’t think he’d go this far.”

Sebastian let him fall to his knees, gasping, and stalked back to the table. Rowan was still and quiet now, his eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling, one hand still reaching out for him. His other hand and parts of his arm had been taken apart, revealing smooth white bones and the remnants of sludge amidst the remaining wires. Bits of a body, decomposing and years’ old. Rowan’s most likely. The idea sickened him.

He had sounded so afraid, a voice whispered in his head. His heart sank as he stared at that hand still reaching out. The flip of that switch had been as sudden as a gunshot, and Rowan had been so afraid. Sebastian looked away.

“Sebastian? We need to turn him back on. We need to explain to him what’s happened, at the very least.” Brie said.

He shook his head. “No. No, we just...this ends now.” He looked up at Esi who had crept back to the table, still visibly shaken. “Can you remove the rest of the body? It doesn’t matter if R--if the android can be salvaged.”

“You can’t be serious.” Thomas hissed with a hand to his throat. “You’re just going to abandon him? After all of this?”

“And what would you have me do?” Sebastian growled. “Just pretend this never happened? Let an android be your brother’s tomb?”

“Of course not! But you can have him repaired. It’s what we came here for, isn’t it?”

“That was before.” Sebastian turned away. “This is more than I can handle.” He strode out of the room without a backwards glance.

Lyra and Kenan were sitting cross-legged on the bridge, little cracked chess pieces scattered between them when Sebastian returned. One ignited just as he entered, but he barely acknowledged the game when he saw the inventor watching nearby. “Everything okay, Captain?” Kenan asked, looking up.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“You just couldn’t let him stay buried, could you?” Sebastian advanced on the inventor who stood, ready to defend himself. “During which part of this did you convince yourself that this was right?”

Kenan scrambled to his feet and placed himself between the two men. “Easy, Seb. What's happened?”

“We found a body inside the android. Pretty obvious that it’s your dead son.” Sebastian snarled. “Why go this far?”

“I promised her I’d protect them.” The inventor said, tears streaking down his cheeks as he didn’t bother denying the accusation. “It was the last thing my darling wife asked of me, and I couldn’t let her down.” A sudden flame ignited in his eyes. “You ask when I decided it was right? I never did. But I decided the moment I found him dead that I didn’t care what anyone or even God thought. If there was any chance of having him back, I wanted to take it. Have you ever loved someone so much that you’d do anything for them? Sacrifice anything?”

Sebastian thought of Rowan lying on that table, cold and alone, of the smashed remains of Neo on that forsaken planet. Of Brie standing at the altar just before he ran away. Again. “I wouldn’t do this.” But as he said it, he knew it was a lie. He had traveled halfway across a galaxy just so he could rebuild his dead boyfriend, all while using others and committing his own mess of crimes. He deflated and turned away.

“Where is he now?” Lyra asked. “The android version of Rowan.”

“He’s gone, Lyr.” Sebastian ran a tired hand over his face. “I told Esi to hit the kill switch.”

Lyra went as still as stone. Her voice, a quiet symphony of anger, rang out around them. “He must have been afraid. I wonder, if he had known what you had planned, would he have begged for his life? Or simply accepted his death?”

“Lyra.” Kenan admonished as Sebastian flinched. “Androids don’t die like humans do.”

“Are you sure?” She turned away.

“What was I supposed to do?” Sebastian asked. “He’s got a corpse tangled in his circuits, and even if I could leave it there, even if it wasn’t a friend’s body. The damage is still there. I don’t...I don’t want him if this is the price I have to pay. I should have let him go years ago. I should have never gotten Rowan involved.”

Lyra only shook her head at him. “Do what you will, Captain. We will not change your mind.”

Kenan watched her go, the door to the hallway closing quietly. “I suppose you’re upset with me too?” Sebastian asked, wiping away the tears and ignoring the inventor who sat down once more on the floor, defeated.

“I’m more upset at the situation.” Kenan said with a shrug.

“You can be honest with me.” Sebastian sat down heavily in his chair.

“It’s just...I told him you didn’t abandon people. I didn’t think it’d be a lie. You’ve never abandoned any of us, and you kept Alyssa even though she’s stone. You keep runaways and murderers, but you can’t keep one android...”

“What would you have done?”

“That doesn’t matter. It’s all down to you, Captain. What are you going to do?”

Sebastian didn’t reply as he stared out at the brilliance of the sunlight against the swaying trees. Distantly, he could hear the hum of cars passing and the singing of birds; it all sounded too peaceful for his current mood. He felt it should be raining. Or lightning. Something to reflect his pain and grief. A sudden tempest or monsoon. He stared until eventually, Kenan left, taking the inventor with him. Then, only then, did Sebastian put his head in his hands and cry.