I’m too restless to wait until Sunday. I knock on Felix’s door, and like last time, he yanks me in. Surprisingly, the scent of alcohol is mild, and his room is uncluttered, clean. Not an empty bottle in sight. In fact, it’s almost barren.

“You just can’t stay away from me, can you, love?” Felix teases.

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” I say.

“Yeah? Thought you might. You didn’t seem all that comfortable the last time you were here. What do you think of my fastidious attire?” He gestures to his clothes—a navy, silk blouse and black slacks. His eyeliner is flawless, and the whites of his eyes are actually white today.

“You… look good.”

“Brilliant! Because I feel like shit.”

I analyze his steady posture and acute gaze. “Did you quit drinking?”

He nods. “It’s been an atrocious week. I cannot wait until we’re finished with all this NeuroQueue crap, and then I can go back to destroying my liver.”

I hate the lackadaisical way he says that, as though he doesn’t care about his own health.

“I want to give you something,” he states, walking to his nightstand. He picks up a bronze necklace off the table and slowly approaches me. Keeping his eyes on the floor, he swallows. “This was my mother’s.”

“Your foster mom?”

“No. The one who gave birth to me.” He lays the pendant in my open palm, and as he lets go, the thin chain spills over the side of my knuckles. The pendant consists of a tiny ring in the middle, a large ring encircling the smaller one, and a total of eight spokes holding the two circles together.

“A fancy automobile wheel?” I guess.

He chuckles, but it’s more of an apprehensive titter. “Uh, it’s a steering wheel… from a pirate ship.”

I tilt my head. “I thought Cosmics didn’t consider themselves pirates.”

“We don’t, but my mother was obsessed with those movies. She’d tell fantasies about us living during a different time period, where a pirate lord would whisk us away on a wild adventure.” He laughs. “We stirred up so much trouble in those stories.” The laughter dies out.

“This is beautiful…” I search for the right words, “and I appreciate the gesture, but this belongs to your mother. I can’t take it.”

“Well, no,” Felix argues, “it belongs to me, because she’s dead, and now I’m giving it to you.”

Three seconds pass. His gaze is still on the floor. I ask, “Why?”

His coffee liqueur eyes finally meet mine, and a wave of sadness hits me. “A token to remember me by.”

A lump forms in my throat, and suddenly I’m the one looking away while my eyelashes work overtime to beat back tears. The silence becomes stifling. I don’t know why, but the idea of never seeing Felix again makes me want to disappear into the ground. “You know, Felix…” I start, “you can come with me. We’ll convince the IF that you were abducted and sold—which is true—and you’ll make a life for yourself in the UE. A life that doesn’t involve piracy.”

He smiles humorlessly. “There’s absolutely no possibility of them believing us. Even if they did, perhaps they’d forgive a couple years—five years—but twenty-two years?” He snorts. “I don’t think so.”

“As you’ve pointed out, Cosmics aren’t the only ones who are corrupt.” I cross my arms. “Maybe I’ll slip up and say it’s only been two years. I’m the Admiral’s daughter. I have sway.”

Felix looks amused. “And your Liansan boy-toy? What will he say?”

“Timour will say whatever I want him to say.”

His smile morphs into a giant smirk. “I’m sure he will. But Ailee…” he sighs, “what about my subordinates?”

“What about them?”

“Technically, I’m their leader. I look after them. They’re lost without me.”

I smile crookedly. “You have quite a high praise for yourself.”

“Well,” he shrugs, “it’s true.”

“We’ll figure it out before we leave. We’ll find someone capable.”

He doesn’t respond, contemplating.

“Just… Please think about it, Felix,” I beseech. “You can live far, far away from where you were born if that’s what you want. The UE is an enormous country spanning continents. You’re guaranteed to find a place you love.”

“Where are you from?”

“Glory,” I answer.

His face lights up. “Ah, I know where that is. Of course that’s where you’re from. Fantastic weather. On the other side of the planet from where I was born.”

I smile. That’s good news.

“You’re there often?” he wonders.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Whenever I’m not in space.”

He stares at me for a few more moments, scanning my features. What for? I don’t know. Eventually, he nods. “Then I’ll think about it.”

Tracing the pendant in my palm with a finger, I state, “By the way, I’m not giving this back. I still remember that particular Cosmic custom.” The one about marriage.

He rolls his eyes, raising his voice mockingly, “Damn, my master plan has been foiled!” Reaching for the jewelry piece, he offers, “Here, let me put it on you.” I turn around so he can clasp the chain at the back of my neck. Although I’m wearing a sweater dress, it’s low-cut enough that the metal of the pendant is cold against my skin. The bronze necklace hangs right below the gold Eye and above my neckline. Felix spins me around so he can get a good look. “Stunning.”

His hands are both comforting and alarming as he grips my upper arms. I almost don’t tell him what I’ve learned, not when he’s studying me like that. Perhaps I don’t want to ruin the moment, or maybe I’m not ready to let Huxley go. But I have to. “I need to tell you something,” I announce, stepping back. Felix’s arms fall to his sides. “Boss pulled me out of NeuroQueue.” And then I apprise him of my discoveries regarding the use of fibronium, my conversation with Leonid, Leonid’s suspicious death, and Huxley’s hatred toward Liansans. “NeuroQueue isn’t for Cosmics. Sure, he’s using the patients as guinea pigs, but ultimately, he’s creating a weapon to control the people of Liansa.”

Felix is a statue. “I’ll play devil’s advocate. Why Liansa? If he can control anybody he wants—any nation he wants—why choose Liansa?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know. He’s prejudiced against the country, I know that for a fact. But I could be wrong about who he’s targeting. Either way, he’s definitely building a weapon.”

“I didn’t wish to bring this up tonight, but…” He reaches into his pocket and takes out his portal. Turning it on, he hands it to me.

“What are these?” I ask, flipping through the documents.

“Proof,” he answers. “Read each one carefully. Take your time.”

Some of the decrypted files are dense, but I do my best to skim through them: Correspondences with rebel organizations and criminal factions in Liansa; order receipts from Mars, listing stealth tech, fibronium, nukes, modified secure cargo spaceships, and DEWs. “What is ‘DEW’?” I question.

“Remember the order of ‘mildew’?”

Weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon. “Yeah.”

“‘DEW’ is the name of the true import. What does it stand for? Beats me. I think the other evidence is incriminating enough.”

“Then it’s confirmed,” I say when I’m done inspecting only half the documents, handing the portal back to Felix, numb. “He aims to crown himself King of Liansa.”

“Bloody hell,” Felix whispers.

“We already knew we’d uncover something like this.”

“Boss isn’t the most noble person in existence, but he’s not evil. While it might appear that this plan is evil, he must have a sensible rationale.”

“Or he’s just an insane sociopath.”

“But it doesn’t make sense,” states Felix, frustrated.

“It doesn’t have to make sense,” I counter. “I’ve spent plenty of time with him these last two months to know how unhinged he becomes when he doesn’t get what he wants. I won’t lie and say that he doesn’t have his moments, because he does. Or that I don’t care about him, because I do. I worry about him constantly. But I can’t fix him. There’s nothing I can say that’ll convince him to change his mind. He’s been planning this for years. Felix, we can’t fabricate excuses for him. We need to be on the same page. We have to stop him.” I take a shaky breath. “And frankly, he terrifies me.”

Felix closes his eyes, and when he opens them, they shine with resignation. “I figured I’d be able to spare Titan, perhaps even Boss himself if I could persuade him to abandon this ridiculous ploy. But you’re right. He’s not going to change his mind, and now… a lot of people will die.”

* * *

Aerial Robotics. That’s my new department. My job is training drones to respond to verbal commands, for example, when the drone needs to deliver an object or land safely. The more complicated drones can perform heart surgery and defuse bombs, but my new manager is trying to ease me into the position.

I think I might adapt a couple robots for my own personal use.

* * *

After dinner on September 5, I enter my room. Timour is already inside, pacing by the foot of the bed. His head snaps up, and his frenzied eyes meet mine. He takes two giant strides toward me and lifts me up, spinning me in a circle.

My arms wrap around his trapezius for dear life. “Hey!” I protest, yet I’m laughing. “What’s going on?”

“I’m celebrating,” he states, permitting my feet to touch the ground. His back is to the door, and his smile is wide.

“What’s the cause for celebration?”

He lowers his voice. “I’ve set up a way for us to leave. There’s a dropship on the outer level that I’ve been reconfiguring for several weeks now. I finally worked out how to operate it manually and detach it from Titan without a trace.”

“And you weren’t caught?”

He shakes his head. “Felix gave me access. He erases the security feed whenever I work on it. I wear a specific uniform too.”

“Why didn’t he tell me about it? Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“We weren’t sure if it would pay off, and we didn’t want to get your hopes up.” His expression grows perturbed. “Are you angry?” He runs his fingers through my hair. “We’re going home.”

“I can’t.”

His fingers in my hair still. “What?”

“I can’t go home, Timour. A month ago, I would’ve been ecstatic. But with what Boss is planning to do to Liansa… your country… it’s not just about saving us anymore.”

“Why does it have to be you?” he questions, incredulous. “You don’t owe them anything. Felix can handle this on his own.”

“Can he? What if something happens to him?”

“What if something happens to you?” His hand fists around my long strands. “Okay, how about we get off this ship, and then the IF can deal with it.”

“They’ll be too late. Titan will sense them coming hours before they arrive.”

“Then they’ll be too late,” Timour repeats simply, shrugging. “It’s not like my country doesn’t deserve it.”

Watching him uneasily, I twist out of his arms. “You don’t mean that. Your parents live there.”

“Yeah, and my sister was murdered there. I can think of worse things than euthanasia.”

I stand immobile for minutes, forming a million different conjectures as to why Timour is acting this way. Sometimes, it’s as though we share the same mind. And other times… I have no idea who this person is.

“If you want, you can go,” I tell him. “But I’m not coming with you. Not until I’m done here.”

His handsome face warps into hideous fury, the veins in his arms bulging as he clenches his fists. I take a step back. He doesn’t notice. “You think I would leave you here?” he queries, the soft voice contrasting his outward manner. I don’t respond. “You’re really not coming?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

He unclenches a fist to wipe his palm down his face. When he looks back up at me, his eyes are wet. I don’t react, and he scoffs, nodding to himself a few times. And then he walks out.

He doesn’t return.