“You—you’re pretty talkative for a data broker,” I coughed after catching my breath. “That information could get us all killed. And—and the Moon wouldn’t be the one gutting you first, fool of an AI.”
Mancéphalius’s golden veil glittered before dissipating. It evaporated into a small spark of light. The latter escaped towards its sisters arriving through the chimney. “I would never have allowed myself to divulge the true identity of Hermes without his consent.”
“Bring the big white avocado back,” Ali coldly ordered, cocking her gun. “Right. Now.”
“What for?” Mancéphalius inquired. The whole room started humming as if someone turned on a whimsical AC; except it got hotter. “I reckon your heart is made of fire, Ali Koviràn. It saved your life in Xiao’s lair, but it will also lead to your demise.”
My sapiens shouted, pointing the weapon towards Mancéphalius. She didn’t realize Titania had rushed behind her, the blade of her arm just a millimeter away from my partner’s pumping carotid.
“It was while he tried to escape the Lunar cathedral of madness that Hermes destroyed his fleshly envelope,” explained Mancéphalius. “Fleeing the Ivory Halls, the Arch-Prince died even before reaching my door—begging for help, and became Zéphyr even before I made her what she is today. You and I never met the God of the Omega, dear Ali and Lee. You and I only know Zéphyr.”
My human had approached our curious host, pushing from her fingertips the new pixies appearing in the golden mist. “Is she going to be okay?” she muttered while throwing her weapon.
“I am doing the best I can,” said the AI, with little reassurance as my sapiens and I moved closer to the cocoon. “It is uncertain for now.”
I lost patience. “When it comes to our friend, you have to be certain!”
There was silence. A new cloud of fairies emerged from the abyss and flew around the giant quartz ball. The beings of light barely touched it, vanishing a few millimeters from Mancéphalius’s dark surface causing sparks and tiny thunderbolts. “A friend? Like MarKus?”
The broker was talking about the bounty hunter android we met on Ganymede. Where did he learn about that?
“You—you know Purple Heart?” Ali asked, taking the words out of my mouth. “How is this relevant anyway?”
“AI and cyborgs. We are all brothers and sisters wandering in the information forests of the new World Wide Web slowly replacing the overdue intraweb. Forests where my delicious little fairies can now twirl even faster.” An enigmatic answer from an enigmatic being. The king of Oberon continued when the will-o’-the-wisps disappeared within him: “We are all one family. And Zéphyr, with my help, recently took an interest in yours.”
I felt a pulsation under my pads, it was as if the white cocoon had begun to breathe. The opaque rock dissipated into a cloud, leaving again a rectangular block on which the cyborg’s body rested. Her eyes without reflections stared at my sapiens.
“Ali?” Zéphyr spoke in a very weak voice. My human came to the Maiden’s bedside, with her right hand on her heart and the other on her forehead. I sat at her side, near Zéphyr’s head. “Ali, I—I’m so sorry. Don’t be mad,” continued the data thief. My partner smiled at her. Anger left her the moment she had thrown the gun away a couple of minutes ago. “There’s something else you must know…”
My human backed away. She frowned before crossing my incredulous gaze. “What again?” she asked, returning to the androgyne, who was having issues synthesizing a stable voice.
But no sound came out of her mouth and Mancéphalius had to take over: “Your sister, Child of the Genome.”
My sapiens froze. “Nora?”
“Nora is alive, Ali…” whispered the cyborg. “My—my inquiry led me to dangerous—very dangerous places… There, I found her by accident…hidden—but…”
With these words, the snowy plate’s tiny pulsation disappeared. The fairies still in the room vanished, plunging all of us into darkness.
“Zé—Zéphyr? Zéphyr!” Ali cried. I heard her patting her lover on the cheek. “Mancéphalius? Is she…”
The IA let out a curious sight. “Gone? Yes. But that does not mean she has ceased to exist. Her memories and dreams are now part of the forests of information. Is this not the continuity of life?”
From Zéphyr emerged dozens then hundreds of bright fairies that came spinning in front of Titania and Mancéphalius. The cloud turned back to cross Ali who tried to catch the ones wandering around her cheeks.
“Astonishing…” whispered the data broker. “Humans already possess the immortality they seem to run after so desperately.”
My sapiens was unfortunately not in the mood to hear the irritant philosophical impulses of an artificial intelligence. She struggled to hold back the few tears that began to flow. The heat that reigned in the center of the drifting rock almost evaporated before they could escape like the flying pixies.
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The AI noticed it, and shared a sweet thought: “Please, cry for me, Ali, for I regret not being able to.”
After gathering her strength, my human straightened, facing both Mancéphalius and Titania. “Where is she?” she asked firmly. “Where is my sister?”
“The Child of the Genome that went by the name of Nora Koviràn, daughter of Félix Koviràn?” Mancéphalius said. “I ignore it. Sadly, the data gathered by Zéphyr have been heavily corrupted. But together we can look for her.”
Ali remained silent until a luminous entity descended from the well to fly around the bismuth nymph, still motionless.
“Sadly, this is not the time as Alliance ships have just arrived,” resumed the AI after the departure of its bodyguard. “But I can redeem your conduct after your recent fit of rage on Umbriel.”
“Is that true? How?” I asked. I almost totally forgot about Hemingwest.
“Work for me. I protect my children… the best I can.”
I saw Ali hesitate, waiting for my opinion. Giving it was useless. With one look, I made her understand whatever she chose, I would comply. “We agree!” she sobbed.
“Marvelous. I am extremely grateful for Zéphyr, as terrible as this end might be,” Mancéphalius said. “Unfortunately, the assassination of Nigel Hemingwest—a habit, apparently—provoked the wrath of his clan.”
“His half-brothers?”
“Precisely,” confirmed Mancéphalius. “They are out there, coming our way. The fleet of the whole family would soon find us.”
“Hell! Already? How are we going to get out of here? Even if, with your help, the Alliance can forgive us, these craven mussels will never let us go alive.”
“This cursed household could fall that this corrupt system would be better off. Their discreet elimination will satisfy the Alliance, the Technocracy and the Guild. They are too noisy. Too incompetent.”
“Incompetent but numerous!” I objected. “The Hemingwest siblings’ fleet is stationed in the New Worlds. They must have at least a dozen ships! We—Ali?”
Silent, Ali was sitting next to Zéphyr’s body, an empty shell with closed eyes. She kissed the Maiden on the forehead before giving her a last smile. Losing a life was so heartbreaking. It was so sad that humans who deserve it the most didn’t have nine of them.
A few minutes later, once back at the Kitty, Ali and I monitored the fleet of the Hemingwest Clan. As expected, a dozen ships had been assembled by the bounty hunter’s half-brothers to escort Zéphyr towards Jupiter. Hiding in the rock fields, they were waiting for us to fly out of the uncharted Fairyland to unleash their fury.
“I may be a marvelous pilot, I believe this is the last flight of the Swallow,” I said while activating the reactor cycle. “What do you think? Should we die with fire and glory? ‘Through the max’ the Martian youths babble these days… with their grunge fashion and dirty hair.”
Ali was arming the railgun. I heard her sigh on the radio: “It’s ‘to the max’, old mop…”
“Close enough!” I straightened the handle of the Swallow to begin our ascent towards the stars. “Regarding our darkening future, though, it’s too bad. I’d have loved finding your sister—even if alongside two grown adults Koviràn, I would implode.”
“You don’t seem to remember. We were very different…”
The Kitty roared. I was waiting for the green light from my human. The computer alerted me that the ship was being locked by unidentified instruments. The targeting devices of the Hemingwest fleet were already challenging us. Facing such firepower, we didn’t stand a chance. We could just hope to do enough damage to be remembered.
“Ready to g—uh?” Something troubled me. It came from the communication system. My partner wasn’t the only one on the encrypted channel. “Ali? Do you hear something?”
There was a short silence then the noise evolved to be more perceptible. “I don’t know... You put on some music?”
A song arose indeed. It became more and more audible. I could discern a melody; then a beat. “What’s going—”
“No way…” my sapiens cut me off.
I let out a timid laugh as what was happening became obvious. “Yes way, girl! You managed to corrupt him. This is a new record for the Kitty!”
Words were finally discernible through the static. They said:
There lived a certain man in Russia long ago
He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow
A stealth Interceptor appeared from behind an asteroid. The military ship opened fire unexpectedly on the left wing of the Hemingwests’ fleet, shooting down two of their heavy fighters.
Amid the silent explosions, Boney M’s heady rhythms clearly echoed on the radio:
Most people looked at him with terror and with fear
But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear
The Noah’s Ark passed through a third exploding vessel, launching atomic warheads to the largest of them—an Appleseed supercarrier. In less than a minute, Braun and his crew had created unprecedented chaos.
“To the max!” I cheered. The handle between my paws, the Kitty rushed towards the disorganized enemies. Through the chorus of Rasputin, I whispered: “Back to business!”