“So, you’re a healer come to heal the sick, eh? And how exactly do you intend to do that?”

“It’s a cure I developed alongside some friends of mine at HQ. It’s a liquid injected directly into the body through a sharp needle.”

“Show me,” he said, waving his hands impatiently.

I reached into my coat, pulling out the few syringes I had on me. As expected, he paid attention to the right things.

“That enough to cure everyone?”

“No, it isn’t. PanTech took my supply I was bringing to your zone to do just that. I had plenty enough to cure everyone, and children born for a generation after.”

“What do you suppose they plan to do with it?”

I frowned. I wished I could’ve said that they would vaccinate everyone themselves, but most Adversity Management teams weren’t like that. And considering they didn’t even try to talk to me, I expected these would be the worst of the worst.

“Probably vaccinate themselves and let the virus weaken the two other islands.”

“Hah!” Jeremy laughed. “Do you really think Redbank poses a threat to anyone?”

“No, but do you?”

His lip curled into a snarl. He leaned forward, but only managed to burp loudly before he could say whatever he wanted to say. I waved my hand, trying to fan the alcohol vapors away from my face. It was a miracle this man was still standing.

“What’s it to you? You wanting us to go over there and get it back for you?”

“That’s exactly what I was hoping for,” I said.

“You went to Redbank first. Tell me, what did the great and wonderful Lunaria have to say about reclaiming this cure of yours?”

I was warned not to talk about her here, but since I wasn’t the one to bring it up…

“She’s praying on it, I suppose. She believes the stars will either claim them when their time comes or deliver them the cure if they’re meant to have it.”

“Coward’s talk, as expected,” Jeremy sneered.

I narrowed my eyes, locking my gaze with his.

“You think I might be some kind of spy. You seem to be holding back.”

Jeremy banged his fist on the table, looking around the room.

“Gather round. Gather round. It’s been a while, and we’ve a guest. Many of ye’ve heard the tale of Captain Markus, but it be a tale that must be told and retold again, lest we forget the lessons.”

Markus… I knew him as General Markus. Not a man I’d look up to, but a person can change a lot in a hundred years, I suppose. They certainly seem to think highly of him here. Especially on Rockport.

“Jonas, what do ye remember of ol’ Markus?”

A younger man stepped forward.

“When I was young, my father told me stories of Captain Markus’s great battle against PanTech. The first and only man in history to seize a PanTech vessel and unite the islands. He was a fierce pirate, and a prodigy of naval warfare.”

A prodigy of warfare. Now he was starting to sound like the Markus I knew.

Jeremy shook his finger. He almost seemed to be playing a character, taking on a different style of speaking.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Alas, ye were not told the full truth. Ol’ Markus was good at all those things, aye, but they weren’t what the man was best at. Markus was a fine diplomat. The islands hated one another, far more than even now, but it was Markus who gave them common ground. He visited them all in secret, away from PanTech’s prying ears. A pact was formed. An alliance unlike any other. It wasn’t the war strategies of Markus that brought the PanTech vessel to its knees. They weren’t at all prepared to face down a unified force, attacked from all sides by those who previously wanted nothing more than to kill one another.”

Jonas nodded, but wasn’t sure what to say.

Jeremy slapped the tankards off the table, standing atop it, looking around the room with his hand above his eyes. It was like he was standing on a ship, scouting the horizon.

“And how do you reckon ol’ Markus, the great Captain Markus, might fare today?” He leaned over, pointing to Jonas. “Would he… bring Redbank to the training grounds? Light the fire in them and make them salivate at the thought of war? Would he travel here, delivering supplies and men for our ships, a sword for one side of every man’s hip, a pistol for his other?”

Jonas opened his mouth, but didn’t answer.

“Would he sail over to PanTech’s island, drive them out to the sea, so we could populate it again, making our two thirds forces whole again? So, then, we might be prepared to face them. Would he convince Redbank to chop down their fruit trees and build a fleet unlike any we’ve ever seen, so we might wipe them out with a force so overwhelming they’d never see it coming? What say you, Jonas?”

Jonas was silent, searching for the right words. Do you choose hope, or do you choose to live in reality?

“Believe it or not, I know a Markus story too.”

Jeremy looked at me, narrowing his eyes.

“Is that right?” he asked, his voice quiet.

“It’s the story of a man’s rise to the top. His sacrifices. His triumphs. His fall.”

Jeremy climbed down from the table, and I took his place.

“The man you knew as Captain Markus, taken and delivered to PanTech HQ against his will, eventually became General Markus. The commander of PanTech’s entire military. His armor was solid black, like his hair, contrasting the white standard-issue. Made just for him, outfitted with the finest technology PanTech had to offer. He was one of the first men equipped with a brain implant, called an enhancer. He’d reached the peak of power. He was invincible.” I looked to Jeremy. “What do you think happens to a man when he reaches such heights? A hero of his people. Will he remember who he is, who he was, and where he came from?”

Jeremy nodded along. It seemed we were on the same page after all. At least partially.

“The highest cliff overlooking the sea is a long fall to the water.”

“Paranoia filled the man’s mind. Who was conspiring to betray him? Who might be secretly building an army to challenge him? Who was forming bonds in hidden rooms, plotting his downfall? In time, a solution came to him. What if… he were to be able to monitor every word spoken? What if there wasn’t a single movement that didn’t escape his sight? What if he were to remove the few individuals with more power than him, so that he alone stood at the top? What if his army controlled everything, so that the sliver of hope the citizens of the world had to rise up became nothing but a distant dream? Their waking lives, a nightmare.”

Jonas’s face seemed to contort in realization. “Is that… story true?”

“He was stopped by others. New heroes, only to be replaced by worse villains still. His face isn’t important, but the path he traveled in life is. We don’t need Captain Markus!” I growled. “We need Captain Jeremy. We need Jonas. Resnir, and Gregory, and all the others here. Markus isn’t here, and let’s face it… I’ve heard it often said that you should never meet your heroes. Markus is a good example of that. What he did here was amazing. He inspired generations. Became a symbol of hope. But what he did after leaving here was nothing short of evil. Everyone here is capable of being a hero themselves. Better than the ones who came before them.”

Jeremy was silent, looking down at his interlocked hands on the table in front of him, deep in thought.

“Nothing about your story surprises me. It wasn’t exactly the message I was going for, but you have a way with words, Taylor.”

“So, how about it? Will you help me get the vaccines back so we can cure the disease on these islands?”

Jeremy sighed, looking up with a weak smile.

“Missy, not even ol’ Captain Markus could win the odds we face now. That was what I wanted everyone to understand. A great man, but still just a man. They destroyed every vessel we tried to build for the longest time, but allow our ship to stay docked now, untouched. Care to speculate why?”

“They don’t see you as a threat,” I said.

“Close. We aren’t a threat. And they know it.”

“Use that against them. If you act, they won’t be expecting it. They’ll never see Captain Jeremy coming. They haven’t realized who I am yet. I can fight on the level of a commander, and if I can catch them by surprise too…”

Resnir raised his hand. “I’ll vouch for her there. She took me down like I was a small boy playing with a wooden sword. She speaks the truth, at least on that point.”

Jeremy’s brow only furrowed more.

“We’ll… discuss it. I can’t make any promises. We’ll put you up in a room here, and we’ll all get together and talk about it tomorrow. I’d rather be sober when deciding when and how I want to die.”