Chapter 17: Failure

“Failure." Otto Abeir Algreil.

“Disqualified," Commandant Efrem, Etemenos Military Academy.

“Conduct unbecoming an officer." Instructor Borel, Federal Mechaneer Training Station.

“Striking a superior officer." Professor Slade, Fort Raypoint Academy.

“Second Place." Etemenos Cup announcer.

“Crimson Chicken." Some wise-ass covering the Etemenos Cup.

“Second, third… top ten." Chloe Hughes. Not even a fan.

“Failure."

Rudy swam through a thick morass of voices and images. He tried not to breathe, fearing they would drown him. He knew he was dreaming. At least, he hoped he was dreaming. If death was an endless parade of wise-asses dissing his performance, he had some serious shit to sort out with the Almighty Principle.

He saw the Epee, emblazoned with the flaming bird insignia of the Crimson Phoenix. The mecha's featureless red visor lit with a cyclopean light, as though it were staring at him. As he watched, its metallic lines curled and twisted into sleeker, smoother curves, almost like the carapace of some gargantuan red arthropod. Its visor split as if to admit him to its cockpit, but it opened like a pair of mandibles.

He tried to swim away from it, but the sludge of memory and impression pulled him in.

He thrust up his hand to ward it away – but he didn't have a hand.

He tried to kick – but he didn't have a leg.

He looked down at himself. At the ruin of his lean, lanky frame, twisted and mauled beyond recognition.

He tried to scream.

The sea of thoughts filled his mouth, choking down the sound, choking him.

Failure! The thought rebounded through him, Otto's voice, the voice of every instructor he'd ever had, even Chloe's. He tried to grab at the impression of Chloe. At least she sounded sympathetic.

But when the image of her formed before him, hovering in front of the monstrous Epee, it was with her hair long and curly, unbound and undyed, noble's hair, an ocean of billowing raven curls offset by sickly pale skin. Her face curled into a sneer. She looked down her nose at his outstretched remaining hand and laughed in his face.

Rudy's hand fell away.

He tumbled toward the Epee, looking back at the noble girl who watched, cruel amusement twisting her mouth into a mock smile.

“Failure," she said.

The cockpit-mandibles slammed shut around him.

Rudy found himself seated, but the chair wasn't the impact chair of his mecha, and he was not himself. Not as he was now, anyway. He felt dwarfed by the gargantuan throne, red with blue trim. He wanted to leave. He wanted to go home, but home was here!

When he tried to sit up, he discovered the straps holding him to the chair.

He cried for his parents – but they were dead, so after a moment, he cried for his brother.

Otto was there, standing beside him, grinning down and patting his arm.

“This isn't going to hurt," Otto said, “so just sit back and quit your whining."

“But –"

“Listen, kiddo, you should be thanking me." Otto's grin widened. “We're gonna make you –"

The lights went out. Lightning flashed. Rudy caught glimpses of strange machines and bubbling tubes of stranger fluids, of Otto's face and a dozen other, older faces, weirdly illuminated by the crackling light.

Then…

“Failure," Otto spat. The word echoed through the room, either repeated by the other figures hidden in the shadows or echoing from the curving walls.

Rudy, himself again, whole again, surged toward the image of his scowling brother.

For a fraction of a second, he saw Otto, not framed by strange devices, but by a tall, muscular blond man, a felid redhead who clung to the man, and the shattered window of the Algreil Aerospace box at the Wellach Cup arena.

Then Rudy's eyes opened and he realized it was Chloe leaning over him, and that he'd been about ready to throttle her.

He dropped his hands to his sides.

“You're awake," she said. Her voice sounded shaky. Maybe she didn't want him awake, at least after the greeting he'd almost given.

Rudy peeled himself from the soft, welcoming gel of the couch. He looked around his suite, confirming the walls and the boring-as-hell screens on them and the fish swimming outside – and, thank the Principle, his alcohol globes. Unless he missed his count, Chloe had broken down and popped a few.

“What am I doing here?" he asked.

“Boss and I got you to a cab," Chloe said. She rubbed the back of her neck. “He said you'd just gone into feedback shock and needed to rest, so we brought you here."

“Boss…?" Rudy shook his head. It felt no clearer, but he did manage to send a shooting pain across his cerebellum. “Oh. The tournament."

The tournament he'd lost.

Again.

“When we left, the arena was still holding," Chloe said, apparently misunderstanding his frown. “The Reformer was overhead. It looked like its shields were propping the place up."

“Marcel spread his shields with a nob on the loose?" Rudy shook his head again, gingerly this time. “He's even dumber than I thought."

“He did it to save people, Rudy," Chloe snapped. “The news said the arena would have collapsed otherwise. There were two hundred thousand people in there!"

“You sound like a regular little recruiting poster," Rudy said. He swung off the couch; the gel sloughed from his body to return to its inert form. “I can see it now: you posed in a slinky little green-and-gold number, a big 'I Want You – for the Federal Navy' scrawled overhead. All they'd have to do is dub your voice so you didn't sound like such a nag."

“So what would you have done? Let them die?"

“Same thing Marcel did," Rudy said. “Except I would have gotten drummed out for 'risking my ship.'"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“You've got a lot of nerve, Rudy Kaine Algreil," Chloe said.

“You just noticed?" He scooped up a globe of wine and popped it in his mouth. “Anyway, I'm not the one snapping at a guy who just regained consciousness. In his own suite, no less."

Chloe's mouth dropped. She stared at him.

She looked like she'd have slapped him right back into unconsciousness but for the cast of hardened medical nanopaste on her arm. Instead, she spun, fixing her gaze on one of the Wellachan plated fish drifting past.

Rudy blinked. Cast on her arm?

Oh, hell. She'd probably hurt herself getting him out. Suddenly, he felt guilty for snapping at her about Avalon – and he hated feeling guilty. Felt too much like obligation. “What happened to your arm?"

“Nothing."

“Chloe, I didn't mean to snap at you."

She did a great impression of someone who hadn't heard him. Stiffly, she said, “Before he went to check on your brother, Boss asked me to tell you to call in when you woke. Do you remember the channel?"

“I'll call when I'm good and ready," Rudy said. “Right now, I want to –"

To apologize, he thought.

He wasn't good at 'sorry.'

Chloe waited, head cocked expectantly, her eyes still on the fish but her thoughts obviously not.

Rudy opened his mouth. Shut it again.

Probably just end up with his foot in it if he said anything else, anyway.

He spun and stalked into the bedroom and pulled his mask up. At a thought, his flight suit placed a call to the Algreil Aerospace arcology on Wellach.

He heard Chloe moving around in the entertainment room. He took a step toward the bedroom door.

“Mr. Rudolf?"

Suppressing a curse, he focused on the semi-transparent screen his mask's eyepieces had become. A clerk in an Algreil Aerospace jumpsuit nodded a greeting.

“Speaking," Rudy growled. He cocked his ear. Chloe was still on the move. Hopefully, she wouldn't do anything stupid. “What do you want?"

“Um, you contacted us, Mr. Rudolf," the clerk said. “I assumed you wished to apprise the company of your health. Which appears good."

“A little feedback shock never hurt anybody," Rudy said.

“I'm sure you're right, sir. Did you want to be put through to Mr. Algreil?" 'Mr. Algreil,' of course, being the Algreil, the elder Algreil.

“He's back?"

“I'm afraid not, sir," the clerk said.

Something else to worry about, Rudy thought. Just like Otto to get himself killed and dump the company in his little brother's lap. “Have you heard from him since the mess at the arena?"

“He is currently assisting Admiral Avalon's efforts to stabilize the Wellach Cup Arena."

Making his time and fuel tax deductible, no doubt. “Call me back when he shows," Rudy said, and killed the connection before the fussy bureaucrat started unloading responsibilities on Algreil the younger.

He strode back into the hallway.

Chloe stood at the door. She had a bag braced on her good arm. She had to stretch her fingers around it to the door controls.

Rudy slid between her and the door. “Where do you think you're going?"

“Out," she said. She sidestepped him and leaned closer to the controls. The door slid open.

Rudy wished he hadn't gotten her imprinted to work the suite. Of course, if he hadn't, he'd have woken up in the hallway. He spread his arms across the doorway. “No you're not."

She set her jaw. “Don't make me push you out of the way. You're a feedback shock patient and my arm's broken. One of us is liable to get hurt."

“Chloe, I'm…" Rudy heaved a sigh, clenched his fists. “Dammit, I'm sorry about what I said earlier, okay?"

“If you think you made me mad," she said, “well, you're right, actually, but that's not why I'm leaving."

“Oh, you just up and decided to, huh?"

“I only stayed till you woke up."

Rudy blinked. “What?"

“After all the trouble of saving you, it seemed wasteful to let you die because nobody watched you."

“Doesn't explain why you're leaving."

“Because I caused this," she said.

“You lost me."

“Nobles, Rudy!" She pinched a strand of her straightened, blue-dyed hair and twisted it into its natural curl. “You know why the Black Rook was there, and the Animus Hunter, too. If not for me, none of this would have happened. Nobody would have gotten hurt, Mom and Dad would be safe back on the Goose – heck, you would have won your stupid tournament!"

“You blame yourself for what happened back there? Bull. For all you know, that damn nob just wanted to smack down some 'garch trash and show how great he was."

“You know better!"

“I don't know a damn thing," Rudy said. “You ask me, nobs are all a bunch of crazies."

“I'm a 'nob,' as you put it."

“I rest my case."

“Then why don't you let me leave?"

“Because you took care of me and you're in no condition to do the same for yourself," Rudy said. “Also, because even if you're right about why those guys decided to make Wellach ground zero for an old fashioned Civil War-style monster mash, you still shouldn't blame yourself."

“Never said I did," Chloe said. “Principle knows I didn't ask for any of this, noble blood and the powers supposed to go with it very much included. The people who are fighting over me are to blame – but it still wouldn't happen if I weren't the cause of it. Whoever is around me will get hurt –"

“That settles it," Rudy said. “I want a rematch with the Black Rook, so I'm sticking with you."

“You can't fight a noble, Rudy!"

“Wanna bet? If I'd known what to expect, I'd have smacked that stuck-up Rook back down to earth. Or water, anyway."

“Bully for you," Chloe said. “Now get out of my way."

“No chance, sweetness. You're going nowhere."

“If you keep me here, Rudy, so help me, I'll call it kidnapping. Bring scandal to your house or whatever they call it in the Oligarchy."

Rudy laughed. “In Algreil Aerospace, that wouldn't even be much of a scandal. Besides, who're you gonna call? The Feds?"

“Yes."

“See, that's what I'm talking about. You're obviously in no condition to go out on your own."

“I'm going to turn myself in, Rudy," Chloe said.

“You're what?"

“Admiral Avalon seems like an honorable gentleman. He'll let my parents go once he has no reason to hold them. They'll be free, and nobody else will get hurt."

“Marcel!" Rudy's face darkened. “So help me, Chloe, I ought to let you go. It would serve you right."

“Good." She took a step forward.

Rudy deftly avoided jostling her injured arm as he angled her back into the suite. “I ought to. For Principle knows what reason, though, I'm not gonna. That 'honorable gentleman' will break your heart – right before, in your case, he breaks your skull open so you don't threaten 'the peace and equality of the galaxy.'"

“You're wrong –"

“Principle, Clo, didn't your parents warn you about slick operators like Marcel?"

“Not half as often as they warned me about wanna-be rebels always ready to throw a grin or a punch and so hot-headed they'd jump at a hint they weren't patterned to be the greatest thing since gravitic drive." She huffed. Then, quickly, she added, “Also, you're wrong about why I trust the admiral. Risking his ship to save a bunch of civilians goes a long way toward convincing me of his good intentions."

“Listen, Clo," Rudy said. “Say you're right about Marcel – which you aren't, by the way, 'cause he only does crap like that to sucker innocent young women into thinking he's some kind of hero. Even so, you'll be putting some people in plenty of danger."

“Like who?"

“Like yours truly." Rudy jerked a thumb at his chest. “I stuck my neck out hiding you. With all the heat the Feds brought down here, especially with a nob after you, too, that's probably treason."

“I'll say… um…"

“That you seduced me?"

“Well, something –" She blushed. “Rudy!"

“They might actually buy that one…"

“I'm not going to say that!"

“Fine. Say whatever you want. It won't change the fact that you'll be so pumped full of Indicators you won't be able to lie about your weight, much less who helped you out."

“You really think so?"

“I know so. The Feds use 'em to check you for cheating on tests, for Principle's sake."

“Did you?"

“Cheat? Of course, but that's not the point. What is, is this: they'll find out who helped you, and they'll use that as an excuse to nail all of Algreil Aerospace. You'll get me killed, probably my brother, too, and the whole company nationalized."

“They wouldn't do that," Chloe said.

“Wanna bet?" Rudy tapped the sceen beside him. At a thought, it displayed an internal company report from four years earlier. Everything Algreil Aerospace had on the fall of Kalder-Black. “You seem to like watching the news. Maybe you should sit down and soak this up instead. You can get back to me on what the Feds 'wouldn't do.'”