As we were dismissed from the meeting, I couldn’t believe the lies that had been put out. For one, I knew for a fact that Alloy had taken the blame for me when it came to the evidence locker. Not only that, but Juliet was very much aware of that fact and yet still chose to lie about it to my face, likely as a slip up. Another problem with the story being put out was the idea that Adonis had any intention of attacking the city or had become a terrorist was pretty ridiculous. He was always obsessing over his automata and whatever machine he had been building in the back of his workshop with the goal of helping people. He was too starry-eyed, too naïve, that to think he could even consider hurting anyone in the Crossroads was outrageous. Finally, was the idea that Alloy had become an alcoholic, and had beaten a commanding officer to death over not getting rank one. If there was one thing, I was sure of, it was that Alloy was fully aware his asshole-attitude was likely to prevent him from ever gaining rank, and he was more than at peace with that as he never attempted to change his behavior. Sure he liked to complain, yes he had his crass outbursts, but it was always a controlled and tempered outburst, consistent even. For it to suddenly escalate after all these years was unlikely.

No, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Juliet had lied, though to what end I hadn’t a clue. Worse yet, she had all but taken over the city, and was walking a path of destruction to destroy Olympus and Atlantis, and neither was prepared for what was coming. Kristoff had informed us that there was about half a million people living in Atlantis, and a similar number lived in Olympus for a grand total of a million. We would be wiping out eighty percent of humanity if she succeeded, and the idea of that was horrendous. On top of that, if she could without a second thought do that, there was no telling what she would do with the people of the Crossroads when she gave her full attention to us. She had the means and authority now, and the previous checks and balances of the city had been thrown in disarray with the auditors seeking the military for help and the CEO waiving their rights for martial law.

I had concluded that, if not for the sake of the Crossroads, at least for the sake of the innocents living in those two cities she needed to be stopped, no matter what. For that purpose, I made sure to help with Juliet’s war plans. By having an intricate understanding of what she planned, I would have the insight needed to delay the attack, if not outright stop it in time, even if the window was tight. I had previously worked out the weaknesses of Olympus and was fully aware of how vulnerable their hydrogen tanks were if one were to be detonated. The position of each of the Alphas would ensure that even if Olympus caught on, they wouldn’t stand a chance in stopping Leviathan getting in range and firing its laser, and the only Alpha even getting in range was his. This also meant there was a clear weakness to the plan, which was if the Leviathan was taken out, we could delay the attack by at least a day while a new plan was put together. Worst case scenario, I proceeded with the plan and disable the Leviathan the day of before it gets a chance to fire. With all our Alphas grouped, Olympus would have a path to escape and regroup their fleet. The problem was I didn’t want to have to harm Logan in the process, it would be better for him to refuse to partake in the mission, though his loyalty to the city would likely trump his loyalty to his friend.

I made a point to approach Logan after the meeting, “May I have a word, sir?” The other commanders were walking out the door of the meeting, and Juliet was discussing with one of the twins some tweaks she wanted done to their Alphas before the mission, giving me an opening. The twins were a bizarre pair of pilots, and their Alphas reflected that, so hopefully their conversation would take a while.

“33, uh, yeah,” his answer was unenthusiastic and he looked disheartened as he got up and started making his way to the door. It broke my heart to see the normally jovial and optimistic man so depressed, but I needed to find a way to motivate him, not console him. “Mind making it quick, the Leviathan has extensive startup checks, and I need to complete them before I go to sleep tonight.”

“Of course, sir, I just wanted to talk to you about Commander Alloy.”

He looked at me with great sadness in his eyes, “I understand, you were with him quite a while, though I have to admit, you seem to have accepted his… I guess mental deterioration… without surprise. I guess you spent the most time around him, I just wish I had seen it coming.”

“Actually, sir, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about that, though if you don’t mind-,” I was interrupted before I managed to finish my proposal to take this to the hallway.

Juliet interpolated herself, having finished her conversation with the male twin, “Logan, 33, you’re still here. Is everything alright?”

I would have preferred we had managed to walk out of the room in time to get out of earshot, but she seemed quite keen on Logan, as that seemed the most likely reason she had ended her conversation with the twin so quickly. She had moved to intercept us before we left. Most likely, she, like me, had realized how integral he would be for tomorrow’s attack. “May I ask what you two were talking about?”

“Commander Logan was just telling me he was preparing Leviathan for tomorrow’s operation. I wanted to check up on his mental state, since his best friend’s recent behavior could obfuscate his judgement, affecting mission success tomorrow.” No point lying, though I could twist my intentions to appear to align with hers.

“Good to see my new commander was thinking along the same lines as me. Logan, please, I know you are hoping to lose yourself in your work, but tomorrow I need you well rested. I insist you go get some sleep and I’ll personally make sure your Alpha’s checks are completed. I’ll have Jason escort you.”

“Ladies, please, I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine,” Logan said forcing a conciliatory smile, though it didn’t hide the sorrow in his eyes.

“Logan, this isn’t a request, its an order. Jason will make sure you get back to your room safely.” Juliet’s voice moved from kind to steel in a matter of moments, and I found myself truly appreciating why Alloy always called her the ice bitch. She didn’t actually care, she just faked it until she determined it wasn’t necessary.

Damnit all! I wished I had the actual liberty Alloy always displayed when he would lose his composure and drop profanities like radiation raining down from the sky. However, now was not the time. I don’t think it was a coincidence either, it was well known that Logan was good friends with Alloy, and she was likely trying to keep him away and under watch until everything had blown over. I, however, could count on one hand the number of times I had interacted with Alloy outside of official meetings since I had made commander. It must have made her lax towards me. For now, that failure to stay in touch would appear to be a blessing in disguise.

Juliet walked us both out of the meeting room, where Jason was waiting, and with a nod from Juliet the yeoman led Logan away. She had definitely set this up beforehand then, as otherwise she would have at least needed to explain the situation to Jason. The fact he knew he was to stay with Logan meant that she was for sure keeping tabs on the commander. She turned towards me and said, “Commander 33, thank you for checking up on your comrades, but let me handle that from now on. Please focus on your own preparations for tomorrow, I believe this is your first mission in the field, correct?”

The woman had talked to me for another five minutes giving me bits of advice to calm my nerves before my first mission. If it wasn’t for the fact I had watched her lie about Alloy during the mission brief and seen how quickly she turned cold with Logan, I may have mistaken her as acting benevolently.

When I finally got away, I made a point to head back to my living quarters, just in case I was being followed. Besides, Caroline would want to hear from me after what happened yesterday. She luckily was able to get away from the twin dogs at her offices unscathed, but she was a complete nervous wreck. When I tried to mention Adonis she would become distressed, and it was clear to me that she like the rest of the city was completely convinced Adonis had planned the attack. I couldn’t blame her, however. She’d watched almost all her co-workers be torn apart in the most horrendous way. She needed something to lash out on, and a foreigner was an easy target.

I managed to talk her into heading to bed early as I explained I thought it best she gets more rest to help cope with everything that happened, and then waited an additional thirty minutes before heading out I looked and down my building’s hallway, searching for any prying eyes that may have been watching, and then headed out the door. I had grabbed my black jacket before leaving, as it was likely to begin getting chilly as the evening progressed. Solar mirrors directed sunlight down shafts into the underground city, which would be used to transfer heat to piping in order to keep the city warm, but when night set we were as susceptible to the night’s chill as the surface. I checked the time before I left as well. It was 2230, and in five and a half hours we would be setting out for the destruction of an entire city. That gave me just a few hours to find out the truth of what was going on, and if possible, stop it.

I started by making my way to the pillar, and briskly walked down the metal grating stairwells towards where I knew they were keeping Alloy. At the very least he may have some answers to some of the questions I had, and hopefully he’d still be well enough to help me. I soon found the road that contained Unit Two, made my way down the bridge where it tunneled into the cave wall, and found the building which would contain the same cell Kristoff had been held in when we first captured him. I was glad I still remembered the way without checking my tablet, as I suspected it might be bugged, though that likely was unnecessary paranoia. Still, it was better to be safe, and had left it powered off.

I stepped into the lobby, where there was a guard behind a reinforced glass window, with steel bars to provide additional protection. He looked up from something he had been looking at to pass the time and his eyebrows raised in slight surprise, “Commander 33, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see the prisoner.”

The guard shifted uncomfortably in his chair while he frowned and looked for the right words to say. I couldn’t blame him, I had never been that fond myself of talking to higher ranked officers, but now I could see that it was tiring when people always acted on edge around you. That was one thing that Alloy’s attitude had always done well to alleviate. He never acted better than you, just spoke like an asshole to everyone, regardless of rank, and as a result you could be candid with him.

The man seemed to have gathered his thoughts, and he nervously played with a button on his uniform while answering, “Ma’am, I’m under strict orders not to allow anyone to talk to the prisoner.”

“I understand that, but I am ordering you to let me speak to him. I have some important matters that only he knows the answers to, that will be imperative for tomorrow’s operation.”

The man looked even more pained as he held under the pressure, “I’m sorry ma’am, this is coming from the Five Star herself. She said no one, not even commanders, could speak to him. No matter what. She made that crystal clear, and I’m sorry, but I’m just following orders.” So Juliet had anticipated someone attempting to talk to Alloy, though likely she had thought it would be Logan making the attempt. The problem was I was pretty sure he would likely report this to Juliet immediately, which was going to cause problems. It was important she stayed unaware of my activities. Still, I had no way forward.

“Understood, have a good evening.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I took my leave and stepped out onto the road to begin making my way back to the pillar, and as I walked along I thought about what my next course of action would be. Logan would likely still have someone watching him throughout the night, and without evidence or knowledge there wasn’t anything I could do that I was sure would help. Worse yet, Juliet would likely be informed of my incursion first thing tomorrow, which meant I was going to have to come up with an explanation. It was looking like attacking the Leviathan out on mission might be my only option and would likely spell my own death. To think, just a couple years ago I had refused to take responsibilities just so I could live a bit longer. I knew now though that there were more lives that depended on my actions, and if it wasn’t for my current position, I wouldn’t be able to save Olympus in the first place.

“33.”

I could head to the Elysium Workshop, but I suspected that it would still be marked off by the police and also have at least one guard watching it. Hopefully he wouldn’t have as unassailable orders as the prison guard.

“33, you there?” I looked up with a jump as I realized I was being spoken too, and looked up to see a giant of a man, with ebony civilian clothing that were too tight and skin that had tattoos and surgical markings indicating he had dermal cybernetics. Kristoff looked puzzled and irritated, and there was an air of determination about him that left me slightly unsettled, but I suspected it was in regards to what had happened to Adonis, “What are you doing out here?”

“I was trying to talk to Alloy of Justice, but the guard wasn’t letting me in so I was trying to figure out what I was going to do next.”

He nodded, as if in understanding, “I’m guessing you also want to see him after what happened.”

“That’s correct.”

“In that case let’s go see him then. I don’t mind doing this together.”

He then walked past me and I stared after him in slight confusion as to how he intended to get past the guard. “I’m sorry, do you have a way to see Alloy?” I called out to him.

“Sure, why not, consider this part of my consulting.”

“Wait, were you asked for consultation regarding Alloy?”

“No.”

“Then explain to me how you plan on seeing him?”

“Shut up and follow me then. I can be very persuasive.” Kristoff opened the door for me, and I stepped into the lobby.

The guard looked up and then said, “I’m sorry ma’am, like I said, no one can… see… what in the world?”

I didn’t need to turn around to know that Kristoff had followed me inside and the man was looking over me at the behemoth, who promptly walked past me and said, “I’m here to see the prisoner.”

To the guard’s credit, though he looked quite small and intimidated, he managed to talk, perhaps due to knowing there were metal bars and a reinforced window between him and the Atlantean, “I am under strict orders to turn anyone away who isn’t the Five Star.”

“That sucks for you,” Kristoff said calmly before jamming a fist between two of the metal bars instantly twisting them out of his way, cracking through the window and tearing the metal that held the glass together like paper, the glass itself shattering. He grabbed the man by the cusp of his uniform and slammed him three times into the glass that had survived his blow before letting go and pulling his hand back, red blood beading where his skin had been cut, though nothing that wasn’t surface deep. The guard slumped back with a broken nose and clearly out cold.

“How was that persuasive!?”

“Fists are a very compelling persuasion. Right, so 33, are there any weapons besides the turrets in the cell that could stop me?”

On the one hand, this without a doubt would make me a criminal if I was joining him, on the other hand, this did technically solve my problem of trying to find the truth. “… No. There should be no more than half a dozen other guards on duty. Just make sure you don’t kill them, or I will be forced to stop you.”

“With what?” he asked rhetorically before going to the magnetically locked doors and kicking them in. One twisted off its top hinge while managing to hold on, while the other swung open and slammed in to the wall with a bang. Kristoff grabbed the handle of the one that had nearly broken off and pulled it out of the frame. “I’ll try not to kill them, but I can’t guarantee they won’t be hospitalized when I’m done with them.” He pulled the door with him, letting it drag on the tile creating a terrible shriek as the metal met ceramic. It had the desired effect.

The first guard came out of a side door, pulled his gauss pistol out of his hip holster, and took shots at Kristoff, who with his free hand covered the front of his face to shield his eyes, and otherwise tanked the bullets like they were nothing. The guard slowly backed away until he hit the wall, looked around as he realized he was trapped, all before Kristoff stomped on his foot, breaking it, and causing him to scream in pain as he fell down.

Another two came out from a stairwell to the building and pulled out batons, as if somehow they could subdue Kristoff that way. He took his other hand, grabbed the door and swung it around striking both guards on their sides as he swung the wide object, and I could hear bones cracking as he let out a low growl. I walked by the injured guards, “I am so sorry.” They moaned in response.

“33, where to next!”

Looks like I was pretty much just assisting in abetting, but than again I don’t think I had many options. “Take the stairs down two levels, make a right out the door, that’ll take you to the waiting room, which connects to a hallway with one last guard who is right outside the cell.”

“On it.” He marched through the path I had detailed to him, and I followed struggling to keep up with his long strides. Each step he took he let the door fall and boom like a terrible rhythm until he got to his level and exited through the door to continue his war path. He finally reached the end of it, and the final guard looked utterly terrified as we round the corner of the doorway. As far as he knew, he had been listening to the metal scream of the door slowly approaching, and likely had only stayed to fulfill his duty of watching over the prisoner.

The guard dropped his baton, which he had initially had at the ready, and just looked on in terror as Kristoff approached. “Out of my way.” The guard nodded and started to run, but I tripped him and then put him into a headlock until he passed out, before ripping off a piece of his clothes, tying his hands up as he regained consciousness, and tied together his shoes.

Kristoff looked back at me in slight curiosity, so I explained, “We don’t need him informing the Five Star. Best we keep our break-in quiet as long as possible. They should be standing a standard eight hour shift that started at 2200.”

“Whatever. How do I disable the turrets?”

“They’re programmed to only shoot the prisoner, if you were to damage them, they wouldn’t defend themselves.”

“Good,” there was a look of utter rage on his face now, and for the first time it occurred to me that it might not be a good idea to have Kristoff talk to Alloy. It was too late however, as he pushed the door forward and it creaked before the hinges pinged and the door fell in.

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“What the actual fuck!?” Alloy exclaimed as he jumped out of bed. The room was soundproofed, and despite the racket he had likely not heard the commotion heading towards him. Kristoff swung the door at the ceiling, breaking first one turret, a second, the third, and finally threw it to take out the last one. Alloy looked at him, and then saw me. “33, what the fuck are you doing? Oh, shit!” He cried out the last part as Kristoff lunged across the room, easily parkoured across the table between them, and grabbed him by the throat so that Kristoff was able to slam him into the wall, hard. He must have held back though, as he didn’t leave Alloy a bloodied mess in the process.

A baritone roar erupted from the man’s throat, something so strong that it made my ears buzz and sent chills down my spine, as it was assisted by his cybernetics to create an inhuman sound that could shake the room to its foundation. Indeed, dust from the ceiling seemed to fall in response to his voice, “Why did you kill him!”

Alloy choked, and attempted to say something while I cried, “Kristoff, let him go!”

“Why did you kill Adonis!?” He squeezed harder, and Alloy’s eyes started to roll back as he continued to struggle to say something. “What was that?” His bestial voice had turned into a low growl as he loosened his grip enough for Alloy to gasp in some air.

“I… said… I… didn’t… asshole…”

Kristoff glared at him, then said, “Who did kill him?”

“… Ju… li… et…” Kristoff let him go and Alloy collapsed to the ground gasping. He lay on the ground before dragging himself to his hands and knees coughing, “Fuck… I could’ve… died…”

“I haven’t decided if I won’t yet. Do you have proof Juliet killed him?”

Alloy continued to massage his Adam’s apple, “I’ve got… video evidence… assuming she didn’t think to destroy it… Fuck, I think you damaged my throat.”

It was my turn to ask a question, “Alloy, please tell me what’s going on.”

“Yeah… I can explain as we go… my throat is fucked… shit… We’ve got to get… the evidence first… Before she finds it…” He had developed a wheeze as he spoke, and I was worried if he would be fine.

As we exited through the building he cursed as he saw the wounds inflicted on the first few guards, but otherwise explained things thoroughly. I on my part told Kristoff we had to gather them all up and trap them in a room, so that they wouldn’t be able to alert anyone of the breakout for as long as possible. After a few minutes, Kristoff had thrown them all into the cell, and had managed to reseal the door to it by wedging the table and broken door he brought into the cell in the doorway so that no one could crawl through. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. Alloy continued his explanation once we exited the building, and by the time we had reached the pillar I finally understood the idiosyncrasies of the mission two years ago. The reason El Dorado seemed like it had been discovered before us, and everything else, was because it had been. Juliet had played everyone for fools, and had been doing it for years.

By the time we had ascended up the pillar to our destination and stepped out onto the bridge he had finished explaining what had happened yesterday, and all the events leading up to it. It was horrendous, but it made sense. Juliet had performed a coup and managed to distract everyone from it by pinning it on Adonis, all while simultaneously finding a way to keep the one man who knew what she had been up to imprisoned. I was lucky that Kristoff seemed to be nodding and accepting it, for if he had decided Alloy was a liar there isn’t a doubt in my mind he would have killed him, but Kristoff seemed quite content accepting Juliet’s fault in this. He was either a very trusting fool, or had already started to catch on to some of the rot that surrounded Juliet.

“Alright, you guys follow me, and Alloy… actually just stay out of sight until I wave you over, you’re kind of the most wanted man in the Crossroads right now.”

“Fair enough,” he wheezed.

I led Kristoff to the entrance to the workshop, where there was police tape over the door and a single guard standing outside of it. “Commander 33, what are you doing out here this late at night?”

“Kristoff,” I said expectantly and sure enough the man took off and tackled the man to the ground while I tore off pieces of his clothes to tie him up and gag him. “Thank you.”

Kristoff held his own head in one hand, “Let’s make this quick, I don’t know how long I can stay in control.”

“Just try to stay calm, if there’s evidence in here we can use it to stop her.”

“Its not a matter of keeping calm. If Tartarus gets taken over by a tyrant like Atlas, I won’t be able to stop myself from doing what I need to survive.”

I looked at him oddly, “You’re not planning on betraying us, are you?”

He shook his head, “No, but I can’t keep control of myself if that happens. Please, we must hurry.” There was something about how he said it that made me believe him, though I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by it.

I waved over, and soon Alloy was running over, wheezing pathetically, “Alright, let’s head… in…”

I walked into the workshop, which was disturbingly quiet with the exception of the pumping in the back of the room. There was normally more equipment running, as Adonis would be absorbed in working on his little machines. Part of me hoped he would be bent over one of his automata, turn up and wave, and start explaining in too much detail something about his workshop. That all of this was a dream.

Alloy walked through the different workbenches and straight up to the AI, Aphrodite, which was quiet. “Shit, they turned her off…” he said with a final wheeze.

Kristoff responded with, “Give me a second, the power cord has been unplugged.” Sure enough he walked over and picked two cables off the ground, plugging them in together, and the computer hummed up while the normally dark screen lit up with a logo I hadn’t seen before that immediately drew me in. It appeared to be a playing card of a queen of hearts, with a knight squaring up against a dragon, but instead of a sword he held one hand out as if for the thing to take his. I saw on his armor there was the word ‘Adonis’ inscribed. The dragon for its part was not monstrous, but was instead a sleek, beautiful, and serpentine thing. There was a banner wrapped around its neck with ‘Aphrodite’ embossed. As I looked at it I realized that Adonis must have designed the logo, similar to our emblems, for his project in the back. I was saddened to realize that he would never see it in person, and I turned away as I started to cry so that the others couldn’t see. It was unnecessary.

Kristoff sobbed for a second, and Alloy exclaimed, “Fuck, both of… you guys. Now’s not the time… to cry.”

The computer stopped its startup procedure, and then a nervous voice sounded, “33… Kristoff… Alloy, you didn’t say you would be bringing others.”

“Yeah, well I kind of got fucking stuck in… prison… but these two luckily broke me out.”

“I see… Do they… know what happened?” asked Aphrodite.

Alloy was quiet for a moment, then said, “Play the video… please.”

The screen lit up, and Kristoff and I forced ourselves to watch. As I did, I felt more tears coming, but I made sure to finish it to the end every second of the sad seen unfolding before me. Kristoff though slowly lost his sobs, growing instead still with rage, loosely bridled but clearly directed at Juliet.

The screen went dark once again, and silence reigned as we all processed what we had seen. I glanced back at Alloy, who had his arms crossed and his eyes closed in thought as he allowed us to process what we had just witnessed.

“We’ve got to kill the bitch,” Kristoff broke the silence.

I shook my head, “Its not that simple. Juliet has taken over the city, and the city is under martial law. The only reason we’ve even had the freedom to move around is right now most of the military is preparing for tomorrow’s mission.”

“What mission?” Alloy demanded. That’s right, he didn’t know. I told them all about the situation and strategy to be used tomorrow.

“That bitch really is fucking crazy… How much time do we… have?”

Kristoff pulled out his own tablet, which he had received since he didn’t report to anyone and therefore had no one to disseminate news and information to otherwise, “0112.”

“Motherfucker!”

Aphrodite spoke next, “We can’t just stop her. Even if we spread the video throughout the Crossroads, by the time it reached everyone and she can be arrested for her crimes, her mission will already have commenced. We have to find a way both to spread the video and stop her control of the military, even though almost everyone is sleeping.”

Alloy cursed more through labored breathing, and began pacing in frustration, with his wheezing still going on, though now reduced. It appeared his throat had recovered a little, though I doubt his venting was doing anything to help.

Aphrodite offered an idea, “Can’t we send the video to the commanders?”

“That won’t be enough, Aphrodite,” I explained, “We don’t know right now who is on our side besides maybe Logan, if we send the video to the wrong source it could just disappear into the ether. In addition message traffic may very well already be under surveillance, so we have to hand deliver the video or we have no way of knowing it was actually received.”

“Then what do you propose?”

I looked down in thought as I simulated through all the possibilities in my head. Juliet was clearly someone who kept contingencies, and was swift to adapt her plans to unpredictable situations. Alloy had made it sound like she had anticipated every move he made, but I doubted that. It would require her to be near omnipotent. No, she merely had backups and multiple strategies in place, so that if one failed, she could deploy the next, like one giant intricate game of chess. Hell, she probably treated it with such frivolous abandon, considering how she seemed to view the lives of those she had to sacrifice to get here.

In that case we needed a plan to counter every one of her goals, and a backup so that if we failed, she would still not stand victorious. “Give me a minute,” I told Aphrodite.

Kristoff looked absolutely pissed, “So what, we’re just going to stand here doing nothing?”

Aphrodite immediately gave a solution, “You could transfer me to my body. I would be much greater assistance from there, and if my body was scrapped by Juliet it would be a huge loss for humanity, and even worse if she realized what it could do.”

What could it do? It was called compressed GEL, and he had said it could store steam as ice… somehow, but I failed to see why that would be problematic if it was lost. “I’m sorry, what do you mean?”

There was a moment of silence, “I’m sorry, I never told Adonis either, he was so obsessed with the concept of using it to freeze things in the atmosphere, he didn’t realize what it actually was capable of. A forest from the trees scenario, and I didn’t want to hurt his pride by explaining it to him. I was hoping to show him… but now I can’t…” The AI went silent.

“Aphrodite, what is it you can do?”

“The Heart of Aphrodite, my heart, it has the ability to store steam and compress it into a very dense form of ice that can only exist at temperatures of a hundred degrees Celsius and very, very high pressure. Normally no piping would be able to hold it, but the compressed GEL provides its own energy to counteract the pressure. When the ice is introduced to atmospheric pressure, it flashes to steam.”

Once again, she stopped, but I urged her more, “Aphrodite, what is it?”

“Do you know what the largest struggle is for long distance space flight?”

I took a guess, “Time, I think.”

“No. Well in a way yes, but it can be countered if you have this. Fuel. While in space you must follow the conservation of momentum, which takes speed and mass. The only way to accelerate you must give up mass in some way and eject it in the opposite direction you want to go. The other way to accelerate is through speed, ejecting a small amount of matter at insane speeds. This is where an ionic engine comes into play, but even then, you are still limited by your fuel. Compressed GEL solves that problem in the most extreme way. Water can easily be ionized, allowing each molecule to be accelerated easily and the condensed volume allows one to store it in a small craft as well. You can use it to accelerate or decelerate in flight so that you can reach relativistic speeds, and still be able to slow down for descent. In addition, water is the most common molecule in the universe, making it easy to refuel.”

I thought about what she said, and then something occurred to me, “Aphrodite, how much time would pass for the passengers if we were to travel to our closest neighboring star using one of these ionic engines paired with your heart?”

“Eleven months.”

My eyes widened, and suddenly Alloy stopped cursing long enough to say, “Great… now, why is your jaw twitching this time, ice bitch?” His voice was recovering quite quickly.

“Kristoff, you’ve been helping Adonis with his project back there, correct? Is it mobile?”

“Hey, don’t ignore me, 33. Why are you so excited?”

Kristoff answered my question, “It should be, yes. Actually, it might be as fast as a Charlie.”

“It’ll be faster now that the heart is fully charged,” Aphrodite corrected.

“Oh, now we’re… fucking ignoring me!”

I nodded and said, “Kristoff, transfer Aphrodite to her body. Aphrodite, are there any data ports around the shop that we can use to copy your video to?”

“Yes, there’s five in the corner bench where Adonis kept his blueprints.”

“I know where that is,” Kristoff said and immediately went to grab them, his face and jaw set in firm determination now that he had something to do.

“Hey, ice bitch!” Alloy took a breath to wheeze, “Answer my damn question!”

I turned to him in exasperation, “Interstellar space travel, Alloy! Adonis invented interstellar space travel. Not just a way off this planet. Not just a way to prolong humanity a little bit longer while we wait for the sun to go supernova. He opened the door for us to reach the stars. On top of that, the chances of it being able to be weaponized like nuclear power is almost guaranteed, and there’s no telling what Juliet would do with the technology. We need to get it away from her, because if she scraps it or weaponizes it, there is nothing we can do to stop her from solidifying her dictatorship.”

Alloy looked at me dumbfounded, and then said, “Alright, for once I’m pretty sure you’re mad.”

“You fucking think, you hot-headed dick!?”

He was quiet for a moment, smiled with pride, and then said, “Commander 33, what do you need… me to do?”

“What do I do next?” I called back to behind the curtain, which had been fully opened so that you could see the shower heads raining water down onto the brass plates of the machine, which were coiled up like a roll, or at least that’s how Kristoff had described it. I personally thought it looked like a spiral.

“On the back of the computer is a switch with a circle and a smaller triangle in it, see it?”

“Yes.”

“Hit that, it’ll commence the transfer.”

I did as he asked and let him know I was done, He climbed up the ladder that lead from the pit where I had originally seen the Heart of Aphrodite. A large data cable was leading down into it, which was connected to the computer. Kristoff said, “That’s it. The transfer will take about an hour, and we have two more until our deadline.”

“Good, thank you Kristoff. I have to head off and start preparing for Juliet’s operation, I have to at least fake it until we start our counter attack. In the meantime, stay low here and try to hide so that if we fail Juliet doesn’t find you.”

“No.”

“What?”

“No. I’m going to be part of this fight, whether you like this or not.”

“Kristoff, there are going to be Alphas. You can’t keep up with those, and I can’t on good conscious let you fight just to die in vain.”

“I won’t die, I made a promise to my mama, years ago. I made a part of myself that will always survive. And that part may be more than happy to run and hide, but I can’t let Juliet get away with killing Adonis. He was the first person in years I allowed myself to open to, and if I let her get away… No, I’m staying in control.”

“You have no way of even keeping up with Alphas. I understand how you feel, but I can’t let you die!”

Kristoff was too determined though, “What if I told you there was a way for me to keep up with the Alphas?”

I stared at him and narrowed my eyes in frustration, “What are you talking about?”

“N.O. Technologies has designed a prototype called the Oso Verde, and I should be able to control it.”

He must have thought I didn’t know what it was, but I had read the weapons report on it and immediately refuted him, “Absolutely not! The AI is still rogue and requires a direct connection to your brain. I’ve read the report, it causes the pilot to have an identity crisis and takes over their mind, leaving them in a vegetive state. If you pilot the Oso Verde it’ll be as good as killing yourself and giving the AI access to a terrible weapon, all at the same time!”

Kristoff grabbed me by the shoulders carefully, but firmly, “If we’re going to stop that monster, you’re going to need all the help you can get. Personally, I just want to kill Juliet, and if that means I have to let someone else into my mind, than so be it. If I can’t contain the AI though, I’ll let you kill me.”

“What?”

“When I connect to the AI, I’ll be paralyzed in the cockpit while my neural network takes control of the Oso Verde. If I can’t stay under control, then you can put a bullet through my eyeball and into my brain. It’s the only part of me that isn’t bulletproof. Please, let me do this. If you don’t, I’m just going to head to the tarmac and attempt to murder her anyway. I need to do this. She needs to die, for Adonis.”

I still had my reservations, but there was clearly no stopping him. I nodded solemnly, “Lead the way.”

The lab was locked, an unsurprising fact considering how late in the night it was. I didn’t bother asking what time it was, I knew we were pulling it closer than I liked. Kristoff used his usual method of brute force to get the door open, and we entered into the lab, which was pitch dark. “Where’s the light?” I whispered.

“Don’t know. Normally its already on when I get here,” Kristoff didn’t moderate his voice at all, and as a result it echoed throughout the space. I imagined the lab was as large as a warehouse, though N.O. Technologies’ bridge was just one large building making it difficult to get a scale of its size. I knew we had walked somewhere near where the bridge should have entered the rock wall, but how deep it went I couldn’t guess.

“Come on,” Kristoff said, and I could hear him walking away, each step echoing in every direction.

“Kristoff, wait! I can’t see.”

“That’s right, you guys don’t have any cybernetics in your eyes. Just use your tablet for a light.”

“I was trying to avoid that.”

“Why?”

We were wasting time at this point, and I swore as I opened up my tablet and powered it up so that I had something to see. At this point I was far enough in that hopefully it wouldn’t have signal, though considering we were in the technological center of the city, that was probably unlikely. Kristoff was about five meters away and was looking back at me, “Was that so hard?” he asked.

“We need to hurry.”

“Yeah, I know,” he responded irately and then took off at a brisk walk down the lab, which I had to jog to keep up. As we walked down, I cast my light at some of the different set ups around me, revealing chemistry sets, blueprints, and pieces of half-finished machinery that the scientists were working on. It took about five minutes to eventually come upon some scaffolding, which led up into the air. It was next to something that appeared to be made of a brown epoxy that you could make out metal just underneath. I placed a hand on it, and then ran up the stairs as Kristoff scaled each step two at a time.

Eventually we came to what appeared to be an open cockpit hatch, and he ducked inside while I followed. The room was surprisingly spacious, and I looked around in slight confusion. “Where are the controls?” Why make such a large room if they weren’t going to use it? All that was here was a chair, with some black spines coming out the center of its back that would clearly dig right into your spine. There was appeared to be some sort of headpiece that came out of where the headrest was, and I could see two more of the spines coming out where your temples would be if you put it on.

“The only control is the AI. The way its designed to function is that the AI is supposed to work in tandem with the pilot, but as you seem to be already aware, we haven’t finished programming it.”

“So how do you plan on controlling it?”

“I’m going to make a contract. Unmute.”

I was unprepared for the terrible voice that suddenly erupted in all directions, as if it was assaulting you by words alone. It’s voice was robotic, yet at the same time you could feel the malice in its words. It was an effect that caught me off guard. “LONG LIVE ATLANTIS, DEATH TO THE TRAITOR!”

“I’m here to make a contract, Ursa Minor.”

“STATE THE TERMS OF YOUR CONTRACT THEN YOU MAY GO DIE.”

“I’m going to connect to you, and you’re going to listen to what I say.”

“AFFIRMATIVE. LET ME TAKE CONTROL. DEATH TO THE ENEMIES. DEATH TO THE ENEMIES.”

I looked at Kristoff and said, “That’s your contract? The thing is going to take over your mind right away! How will you make it listen to your orders?”

Kristoff shook his head, “You’re assuming I’m going to let it take over. Besides, I think it’ll be more than happy to assist me. We are looking at taking down the leadership of the Crossroads with it.”

“YES. DEATH TO THE ENEMIES. LONG LIVE ATLANTIS. LONG LIVE…”

“Mute. So yeah, I think this will be fine, do you have the gun ready?”

I stared at him, and then pulled out the pistol we had confiscated from the guard at the workshop and gave him a nod. Kristoff sat in the chair, and as he did the spines seemed to become like liquid as he leaned into them, and they flattened. I guess I had assumed they would puncture his skin, and I was glad to see they didn’t. He grabbed the headrest, and began to slowly lower it to his head, one hand seemed to shake, and he grabbed it muttering, “I am in control right now,” probably to reassure himself that he would not let himself be taken over by the AI. I pointed the gun at his head, and he made eye contact with me before giving a nervous smile and continuing to lower the spines towards his temple.

The thing became like liquid again and began to flatten. I was mildly confused how it was supposed to damage the mind, when suddenly the things contorted into a drill like spike and extended rapidly into his skull. The scream was immediately, and his vocal cybernetics strained as he began to scream. Louder. Louder. So loud I had to cover my ears, and I inadvertently dropped the pistol on the ground. He bellowed violently, and when I thought it would never end it finally did, with my ears ringing from the sudden deafness.

I looked at Kristoff, whose eyes had turned black in the poor lighting, and blood poured down his face from his punctured temples as his mouth moved noiselessly, as if he was talking to himself. I realized that was exactly what he was doing, as slowly my hearing restored, and I realized noise was coming from him.

“... have to survive, survive, survive. DEATH TO THE ENEMIES. Shut up, both of you, I’m in control. Get the fuck out of our head, we should never have done this! WHY ARE THERE TWO OF YOoo- I don’t know, why don’t you two hash it out while I take control,” and with that Kristoff’s eyes came back into focus as his sclera whitened.

I grabbed the gauss pistol and pointed it at him, “Kristoff?”

“Hey.”

“Is that you?”

“Yeah.”

“What about the AI?”

“He’s in a very circular argument in my head with my will to survive.”

“What?”

Kristoff let out a relieved sigh, “I survived, cause that’s what I do, whether its what I want or not. You can lower the gun.”

I lowered the gun carefully, then asked, “You know what the plan is then?”

“Yeah, stay here until 0330, then head to the lowest level on the pillar. Easy day.”

“Are you going to be alright waiting that long?”

“Don’t worry about me, listening to these two argue is honestly very entertaining.”

I hesitated, then asked, “Listening to who fight?”

“The AI is arguing with my alter.”

I cocked my head to the side, “I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to. Just know that I’m strong enough to hold off the AI indefinitely. Hurry up, you must get ready, its already 0230.” I considered arguing with him that being strong wasn’t going to do anything to help him with his current mental battle, but then again he seemed to be mentally strong enough to have won the battle with the AI for now.

I closed the blast door behind me, sealing the hatch on the cockpit so that he would be ready to leave as soon as it was time, then ran as quickly as I could down the stairs of the scaffolding, and then back out the lab.