I checked my mobile again and frowned. Still no messages. This time I put it in my bunk with me instead of on the ground so I wouldn't have to reach as far when I checked it in five seconds again.

I laid on my back, looking at the bunk above me, wondering just what the hell Chariot thought he was doing. It distracted me for all of a few seconds before I checked again.

"Are you attempting to be irritating, or merely succeeding?" asked Moon, glaring at me over the top of her book from the next bunk over.

"Sorry," I said, putting the mobile down again. "It's that thing with Chariot."

"It was a prank, I am sure," she said, turning back to her book.

"But who'd prank her? And she seemed pretty worked up about it. I don't know. I wish he'd just reply and let us know he's okay."

I checked again and sighed. AEGIS had reached out to us yesterday about a message she got randomly sent to her mobile. Come or he will die. She assumed it meant Chariot, since he was gone at the moment, helping Jack out with something in New Eden. I hadn't spent a lot of time with AEGIS, but she seemed smart, and if she was worrying about Chariot, I was too.

I'd shot him a message, called a couple times and couldn't get through. Felt like a damn idiot leaving him a voice message, being all like, bro, in case you're not dying or something, call me. Maybe I should've been more urgent about it, he might be busy and just blowing me off.

But it didn't sit right in my stomach. His girls had just flown across the country at a single message, and she'd asked us to come help for reasons of her own…

Moon was probably right. It was probably nothing. And if it was something, those two girls were with him now, in addition to the hunter. In the middle of a secure XPCA facility. Everything was probably just fine.

I took a deep breath and put my mobile down. "Let's go do something, Moon. Get our mind off this thing, huh?"

"I wasn't aware that reading no longer counted as doing something," she said without looking up. "Please tell me, when did that change?"

"Come on girl, you know what I mean. Something fun."

"Reading is fun."

I shook my head. "What are you, crazy?"

"People have been reading for thousands of years, since the advent of civilization," she said, flipping a page.

"And people have been drinking for even longer! Probably. Let's go hit a bar!"

Her book snapped shut in what I think was the only way she knew to convey annoyance. "For what practical purpose would one ever wish to hit a bar?" she asked.

"To...drink? And have fun? And not sit around reading eighteen hours a day?"

"Oh, you meant to go to a bar."

I glared at her. "You know what hitting a bar means. Don't be dense."

"Dense? I apologize. What does the relation of my mass and volume have to do with anything?"

"Okay, you're done," I said, and reached out for her, my hand easily larger than her head. She sighed defeatedly as I closed it around her wrist.

"You are despicable," she said.

"It'll be fun."

She collapsed on the spot and a purple phantom of myself appeared, attached to the front of me, arms crossed disapprovingly.

"You do realize, this constitutes kidnapping," she said through the phantom in my voice.

"I don't think a court in the world would convict me. They'd spend one minute watching you leaf through books and agree that you need to get out more."

"I highly doubt that my personal--"

"It's an exaggeration, jeez. Lighten up. Tem, you should come too."

I looked over at Tem, finding her exactly as she'd been the last few days.

Curled up, fetal position, on Chariot's bunk. Motionless, clenching his blanket like it was the only thing anchoring her to this world. She didn't respond to me, of course.

"Tem, come on. When's the last time you ate? When…" I approached and immediately regretted it. "Jesus Christ, Tem...did you piss yourself? There's a bathroom right there."

Instead of hitting the bar like I wanted, I spent the next hour stripping and showering a scrawny scarecrow of a high school girl who refused to stand or move under her own power, while my own shadow silently watched and judged me. I basically had to force-feed her half a tube of nutrient paste and wondered when the last time she ate could have been.

I sat down with Tem's unmoving body and Moon's unconscious one and wondered again about Chariot. Not so much if he was alright this time, but rather when he was going to come back and save me from this kind of shit. I checked my mobile again, fruitlessly.

"Can we read now?" my purple echo quipped.

"No. We're going to a bar and that's that."

She just looked at me blankly and I could only guess at what was going on behind that face of mine.

One very awkward cab ride later, I was in a booth with Tem collapsed opposite me and Moon sitting more rigidly than a ruler next to her, back in her own body of course. I'd left her book at home so she had no choice but to socialize or drink or something, but as it turned out, her choice in something was just to stare at me with the same obnoxiously blank expression as ever.

This was just the worst damn idea. I could already hear Chariot laughing at me for it when he came back and heard about it. What the hell I thought I was doing trying to have a good time with these two girls, of all the girls in the universe, I don't even know. I should have asked Cosette, rumor was she could drink any guy under the table.

Without much else to do, I drank and looked around the bar. Normal enough place, dark enough to feel cozy, small enough to feel close, loud enough to feel busy, while really being none of those things. I looked up at the holo, too late for any sports to be playing, at least in this time zone, so the news was on.

My brow furrowed when I saw what was on the news. Two boring-looking people having a panel, but what was on the banner under them caught my attention. I tuned out the crowd and tried to listen.

"...have and always will be a danger. Exhumans are like wildfires, earthquakes, and hurricanes. They're always going to destroy everything in their path, no matter what precautions we try to take, and these incidents at New Eden are just more examples of this behavior we've seen again and again--"

The other speaker cut in. "New Eden has been up for months now and the numbers speak for themselves. Exhuman events are at a current all-time low, catastrophic events across the US are shrinking because Exhumans are realizing there's a better option than triggering an event--"

"Right, they're going to New Eden and having their event there instead. The EMP bombings and terrorist activities we saw just earlier today are proof of this--"

"If that's so, then why is New Eden still standing? If there's all these Exhuman events going off there, how does the one city still stand? The answer is obvious…"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Hmm. An EMP bomb and terrorist activity going off right where Chariot happened to be, right when he happened to be there. I'm sure he was fine...any terrorist in the world would find their hands full if they decided to square off against him, but still. It did nothing to reassure the nagging doubt in my mind.

"You having fun?" I asked the girls, already knowing the answer but trying to force the thoughts about Chariot out of my head, even if it meant dealing with Moon.

"You'll have to be more specific," Moon droned at me.

I scratched my head. "Are you having fun?"

"I apologize. I still do not know which of the two of us you are speaking to."

I looked at Tem, the only indication of life in her being the intermittent blinking of her eyes. She didn't even seem to be breathing.

"I'm talking to you," I sighed. "She ain't talking."

"I could very easily not talk as well. I considered that as a strategy, so you know."

"Yeah, really glad you didn't," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Then, no."

"What?"

"No. To answer your question if I am having fun."

"Great. Got it. Thanks."

I shook my head and pulled out my mobile. I needed new friends. Why the hell did Jack still have to be holed up and hurt? Why was Karu also away? Hell, even Athan's sister was more lively than this, and she was just a kid. Being alone with these two was killing me.

Out of desperation more than anything I gave Cosette a ring.

"Hey Tower. What's up?" she asked lightly, sounding like she was doing something in the background while she spoke.

"Not much. Bored shitless with everyone gone and Jack still out of commission. Looking for a drinking buddy. You busy?"

She laughed raucously. "Sorry, have to pass. We're stupid busy today packing and preparing."

"You moving?"

"No, just accompanying Director Blackett on a field trip. Every so often he has to go out to New Eden and do an inspection. Get the stink eye from three hundred Exhumans from behind a thousand XPCA in exosuits basically. I hate it."

"Tough break," I sighed. "Wait, New Eden? Do you know where Chariot is?"

"No. He just requested a few days leave to visit a friend and I've learned not to ask. Something up?"

"No, nothing, never mind," I said.

"Anyway, we're leaving tonight apparently," she said, grunting as she moved or packed something. "Why he can't tell me more than a day in advance, I don't know. The director is so good about planning and scheduling everything else, but then just…"

She stopped for a moment and then began again a little more excited and confidential. "It feels like sometimes we have to drop everything and run over there for no reason at all. Then I wind up handling all the administrative bullshit while he disappears with the base administrator for a few hours. Pretty suspicious, eh?"

I could hear the impish smile in her voice and tried to laugh convincingly, but while that gossip was, in fact, grade-A premium select, still talking about New Eden and Chariot was just making the knot in my stomach worse, and getting away from it was supposed to be the whole point in coming out here.

Finally, I let Cosette go after she promised we'd get drinks some other time and put my mobile down on the table, and slouched until there were three bodies looking passed-out at the table.

"Can we go home?" Moon asked.

"Moon, be serious," I said, sitting back upright. "Don't you have a bad feeling about Chariot right now? You're sharp. You know what's going on, don't you?"

She looked at me in silence for what felt like an entire minute before speaking. "Chariot ran off with Karu. AEGIS fabricated a reason to interrupt them. I fail to see what part of this is confusing, unless you fail to grasp the nature of jealousy in a relationship."

I shook my head. She had a point, maybe, but AEGIS didn't seem jealous when she talked to me. She seemed...scared, almost.

"I don't think she was lying about the message she got."

"You're saying you believe her that a message with absolutely no traceable data mysteriously appeared on her device, giving an ominous, urgent, but utterly vague threat which could only be resolved by her doing exactly what she already wanted to do?"

I looked at her and thought it over. Even when she put it that way…

"I do," I said.

"Then why are we sitting here? Chariot is in danger," she said, with the same flat, detached tone as ever.

"Damn it girl, I'm being serious here."

"And so am I. If you legitimately believe the message to be valid and Chariot to be in danger, I trust your instincts."

I had to stop and blink at her a little bit to be sure of what I was hearing. "What?"

"I apologize. Perhaps I misunderstood. Was any part of my conclusion a rational departure from what you expected?"

"No...I just...didn't expect you to turn one-eighty on me like that. One second, you're telling me for sure it's all a prank or AEGIS is full of it, and the next, you're all gung-ho. Are you just trying to get back to your book?"

She shook her head, her black severely-straight bangs waving. "I am being entirely serious."

I was still mentally stuck and she wasn't giving me a thing to grab ahold of here, and the fact that she had exactly the same tone and mannerisms when being sarcastic as straight wasn't helping. "Okay, can you tell me why you decided to switch on me here?"

"Certainly," she said. I waited and nothing more came.

"Then…"

"I am considering my words. My apologies." She waited for another moment and then continued in the same flat tone. "More than any other person, I have bonded with you using my powers. While I attempt to respect the privacy of our shared mind on those occasions, unfortunately some peeking is inevitable. From what I have seen of the inside of your mind, if something is troubling you like this, there is typically grounds for it. While the possibility of a false alarm remains distinct, if you are still troubled after this long, I defer to your professional experience."

"Wow. Uh, really? Why didn't you just say so?"

"I make a point of not bringing attention to the thoughts and memories I steal from others. It would constitute a breach of trust for me to flaunt illicitly-gained knowledge a person may wish to keep confidential. I believe conclusions I draw about a person's character falls under that purview."

Well, that made sense, I guess, but she was still massively weird. Still, it felt better just to have someone, anyone believe me when my gut had been yelling at me all evening.

"So...we go," I said. "To New Eden. How?"

"I have the finances. If the situation turns out not to be an emergency, I will expect recompense."

"Oh. Sure. Uh, maybe...if it's a false alarm...we go halves? I mean...you're here choosing to believe me too right now, so it's kind of both of us agreeing, right?"

I shot her a grin she did not return.

"By that logic, you should pay me back half even if it is an emergency situation. Or is it possibly that you wish for me to stop agreeing with you?"

I sighed. "Never mind. Chariot, you had better be in hot water when we get there."

"That seems an unfortunate thing to wish on your friend."

"Well it's your fault, damn it! VTOLs are expensive, and I ain't made of money."

I looked over at Tem. If there was trouble, she might be useful. But she also might be even more trouble. And if there wasn't trouble, there would be once she was underfoot. But could I just leave her alone?

I had no idea if I should bring her or not. She could be incredibly helpful, but I didn't like the idea of trying to drag her comatose backside through an airport...or paying for her ticket. I decided to leave it up to fate and picked up my mobile again.

"Jack, how are you buddy?" I asked.

"In an infirmary with biological spikes protruding from my leg which are not of my own biology," he said. "So not great."

"They still won't approve a regenerator for you?"

"Major Dawn has made it clear that the operational budget of the P-Force has been pressed thin by repeated 'idiocy' I believe was her exact word, of our strike lead. I am only to be regenerated in the case of an Exhuman event for which I am needed, and will otherwise have to settle for natural recovery."

He sounded just a little bitter, so I hoped I wouldn't piss him off by requesting more.

"Hey, uh...Moon and I think there's...like, a tiny possibility that something might have gone wrong with Chariot looking after your lady friend."

"What?" he shouted urgently. "What have you heard? Why did Chariot not tell me this directly?"

"Relax, Jack, it's just a possibility something might go wrong," I said. "So...in the event it does, Moon and I want to be on-hand to help. But we can't do that and abandon Tem, and I don't think bringing her is a good idea."

I glanced over at her and she remained, for all purposes, dead. I don't think she even parsed that we were talking about flying out to be with Chariot, or she might have exploded all over that plan.

"I can watch her," Jack said, concern still thick in his voice. "If you feel you can help Steffie...please do so."

"Thanks Jack. Should I...drop her off with you?"

"That would be ideal. An infirmary may be the best place for her anyway, to keep an eye on her physical and mental state. Thank you, Tower. Godspeed."

"No problem man. Get better." I hung up.

"Shall we depart immediately? Or are you still 'having fun'?" Moon asked wryly.

"Hell no, fuck this bar," I said, drawing a glare from the bartender, which changed to a whole different kind of look as I stood and towered over him. I smiled and plunked a chit down on the counter. "Keep the tip."

I didn't know what kinds of finances or connections Moon had, but they worked fast. It wasn't an hour before we were in the air, watching the twinkling lights of the city like stars in the black.

She looked at me and gave me a single reassuring nod. Whatever was ahead of us, we could tackle it. That was for sure. I grabbed her hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

She blinked at me. "I loathe you," she said flatly, and then collapsed in her seat while I panicked and tried to get her back into her body without anyone else noticing.

Whatever was ahead of us, we could tackle it. Just so long as I didn't mess it up first.