Ashby Virtual Hotel District, The Ephemor Federation

2027

Back at the Ashby hotel, Rory placed a hand to Jace's arm. "Let me talk to Rolan alone for a few minutes. Your intensity will stifle the conversation."

Jace looked hesitant but then smirked. "I suppose I can glare from across the room."

She bit down a smile, remembering how much she loved when he teased, and how handsome he looked with his sly grins. It gave her that fluttering feeling in her stomach to hold his gaze now. So many years without this.

When Jace ambled away, Rory turned toward Rolan and walked closer. "When does Vehru plan to let us go home?" she asked.

Rolan eased a hand into his pocket and settled one shoulder against the wall, watching her for several seconds. "When Vehru decides she's ready, I would imagine. I suppose you're going to ask me to convince her to free you."

"Why do you need to be asked? You've positioned yourself as an ally and as morally superior to Vehru. Your objections to her methods might be soft and honestly underwhelming, but you've clearly signaled that you consider yourself to be a better person, or at least to value other people more."

He nodded slowly. "You think I'm a hypocrite. A coward, perhaps."

"I think you're safe and you don't know what it feels like not to be, because you're confident that you can avoid the danger you've put yourself in with your secret dealings."

"You're right. I am safe. I take great care to ensure that my family doesn't suffer for my work."

"I don't fault you," Rory said. "It's just that you're not like us. You won't sacrifice the way that we do because you don't feel the urgency. It's not a matter of willingness but of perspective. The way you see the world when your family is safe is different than when they're in danger. There's no changing that."

A look of discomfort clouded his expression, though Rory couldn't quite place what he must have been feeling, until he cast his look away and she realized he was frustrated.

"You really do want to help," she said.

"There are times when I feel as if I am fortunate to have all the power I do and I know I can change the way everything works. Then others, I realize I am small, that I am only one man, that I am lost in the magnitude of my sense of injustice. The saddest part is what do I know about injustice?" A sad smile lifted one side of his face. "How can I know the right path to take?"

Rory took a step closer, curious about the life he'd lived. "We do need people like you. If we were all in danger, if all of us had families in peril, we'd been too busy trying to protect them. It's a powerful thing to fight for your family, but some of us have to have more power than that, and the consequence of power is that you lose our perspective."

"You're trying to comfort me."

"Yes. More than that, I'm trying to connect with you. At some level, you don't believe there's hope. You're striving for incrementally better because you understand that it's better than the same or worse, but you've seen too much, and you can't believe in a miracle."

"You believe in miracles, Rory?"

She chuckled. "I believe in something better. That if you split a person's spirit just right, it's like splitting an atom, and the power of that can shake entire worlds."

He blinked a few times, studying his feet for several seconds, before meeting her eyes again. "Tell me truthfully. Is there any way, no matter how remote the odds, that the Earth can win the war against the federation?"

Her heart burned with sorrow. The answer was clear. With so much at stake, Rory couldn't yield even to certainty and reality. Without trying to hide her anguish and her disbelief at her own words, she still managed to speak resolutely. "I may not understand how it could be possible, but I'm telling you that we can win this war."

Quiet hung between them for a long while. Long enough for her to notice the shades of green in his eyes melting into one another the way the blue of the ocean gradually deepened away from shore. He had kindness in his eyes. She wanted to believe him and he wanted to believe her.

"You'll make sure Jace and I make it home soon." It wasn't a question, nor a demand. Not a threat. Rory simply acknowledged a certainty she felt. "I want Trin to come back with us."

"What about your bodies?"

"We need them as soon as we can get them. Do I have a say in that?"

"I don't believe you have a say in any of this, but you seem able to command reality based on your faith. I thought I'd at least ask the oracle."

She smirked and looked over to Jace, noticing his suspicion. He wouldn't trust Rolan and that was good because Rory found that she did. She needed Jace to balance her out.

"Before I continue with helping you to get these bodies," Rolan said. "I need to know if you can fulfill your duties if all else fails. If you don't find a way to prove us all wrong and save Earth, can you be commander?"

Rory's stomach clenched tightly. Of course she couldn't do that. But then couldn't she do anything for her family and her world? If Rory couldn't save Earth by getting a synthetic body, then she never had hope of saving Earth in the first place. Either way, they would lose. So Rory needed to give Earth its best shot, which meant taking the body. If they lost, it was better for Rory to have this body and this relationship with the federation than to not.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Still, Rory couldn't bring herself to commit. "That's a battle for another day."

"But you're a good soldier."

"I am."

"You're a unique soldier." Rolan looked over to Jace. "Your husband is expected. You are not."

"It's why I'm the witness."

"I'm going to ask you to be careful. I realize we don't know each other. I feel responsible for what happens to you and your family, especially if I help you obtain these bodies. So please, be wise."

She nodded. "I will. Will you do something for me too? Will you not let yourself float too far away from the Earth so you don't forget about how it feels to walk on the ground like us?"

Rolan smiled. "I can do that." He took a step backward. "You have fifteen minutes before time resumes. I suggest that you find your way back to Trin so she isn't confused when it looks to her like you disappeared.

----------------------------------------

"What do you think?" Jace walked down the hall at her side on their way back to Trin. Rory had slid her hand into his, needing desperately to feel a kiss of normalcy, despite how confusing the situation still was with Jace and Theo.

"I think he wants to help."

"But is he capable?"

"I don't know," Rory whispered.

"We need to think through all of this, Aeryn, including the things we don't want to think about."

Her steps slowed as she looked up at him. "That sounds loaded. Just say it."

Jace faced her. "We should brainstorm every potential outcome and discuss worst case scenarios."

"What about the scenarios where we win?"

"Aeryn." He clasped both her arms and spoke in a softer voice. "Before we take these bodies, we need to confront what the future might hold. There's something to be said for perseverance. We won some battles just because we were too stubborn to acknowledge we couldn't win, and then somehow, we did. This is much bigger than any of those battles. If we take those bodies, we're making promises they won't let us go back on."

"Failure isn't an option."

"Failure is always a possibility," he said. "This thing you're doing where you're forcing a way through sheer willpower is admirable and brave. Don't let it be stupid."

She closed her eyes and lowered her head against his chest. "I know."

"We might not know what we should do until the time comes. We need to know enough to strategize. What if Earth really can't win? Shouldn't we help position the planet for the best future?"

"I don't want–"

"Come on, Aeryn." His hold on her tightened. "You're stronger than that."

When she met his eyes this time, it felt like she was crumbling on the inside. "I don't want to overthink this. I won't do it then. I'm not strong enough right now to face every bad thing that might happen. This is the best option we have. We do it and we deal with what may come."

"Then you're accepting what you may have to do. Something I already told Morfrain we wouldn't do and paid for it in blood."

"I'm accepting that the future me will have to deal with it and trusting her with those decisions. It's not time yet."

He tilted his head slightly and finally nodded. "Fine. I can't tell if that's the wisest thing I've ever heard you say or if you're living in some weird form of denial, but I'm going to trust in future us, as well."

If Rory paused for long enough, she could hear Jace's labored breathing after Morfrain nearly killed him. "What you did when you refused Morfrain was incredible. It was courageous and good. It made you into something more. It's one of those moments that counts and will forever be a part of you."

"So it's not in vain if I one day say yes."

"I don't know, Jace. I just want you to know that no matter what happens, you did exactly what you should have done. We change over time. Situations change. You needed to show Morfrain that you've decided to be incorruptible. Whatever we do, we do it on our terms. Not his."

The way he looked at her shifted and his touch eased over her shoulders. Though he didn't move further, Rory could remember the feel of his hands working over her, his arms tightening around her, their body melting together. His mouth hot on hers. The intimacy between them the deepest of wells. They did none of these things and yet she knew the movements so well that she could live it without it happening. When they returned to Earth, Rory needed to work this out with both men.

Longing filled Jace's eyes as his gaze briefly stole to her lips. It wasn't lust. It was the need to return themselves to being one soul. The tattered edges of her heart cried out for his so that they might mend themselves and be whole again.

Rory felt like Aeryn in that moment as she melted beneath the warmth of his gaze. "Let's promise each other something. Whatever happens, we won't lose ourselves in this war."

Jace nodded. "I might lose sight of myself, but I'll never lose sight of you. We can keep each other in place."

They continued together until they came upon Trin still frozen in the same position that they'd left her in. Rory wasn't sure how much remained of the fifteen minutes, but she did know that she didn't want to waste anymore time here. If Rolan couldn't come through on helping them return to their bodies on Earth, with Trin, then she'd consider him a waste of time. Hopefully, he would sort this out with Vehru in no time.

They couldn't rely on that, though. Trin said that they had access to information here that they hadn't on Lumiea. After meeting with the other Witnesses, they all needed to buckle down and try to find a way out of this hotel. Trin was smart and Rory knew she would have spent her time here working on that. At some point, she may have given up hope. Together, they could build on the research she had already done with renewed strength and escape.

"I know you don't want to work with Vehru, Jace. We need to use her if we can."

"She can't be trusted and you can't assume we can outsmart her."

"You're limiting yourself and us. Vehru put us here with all these Witnesses she collected. There's something she wants us to figure out that she can't just say."

"Or she simply tossed us in with her collection of toys."

"Maybe. I don't think you really believe that, though. Vehru always is up to something."

Trin stepped forward as if she had never stopped. It jarred Rory to see her moving now. Should they tell her what had happened? Not yet. They had so much to discuss. This could wait a few hours.

The three of them stopped at the end of the hall and entered a conference room where men and women Rory didn't recognize sat around the table, all waiting.

In all of her life, she had never met another Witness. It had always been just her.

"You're the one."

Rory couldn't imagine how many stories each of these people had. Vehru had conquered all of their planets and stolen their lives from them. "Hi," she said.

Several of the other witnesses nodded at her.

"Hello, Rory." An older man at the far end of the table spoke to her in a gentle voice.

"I understand that I'm the only Witness to ever come here while the invasion is ongoing."

Several exchanged glances. The same man spoke again. "You're right. We figured that we've all had a long time to talk to each other and you probably have things to say. Questions to ask." He gestured with his hand. "Take a seat and let's start the conversation."

"I do have many things to say and many questions to ask." Rory walked to the head of the table and touched her fingertips to its cool surface. "Only one thing really matters though." Her glance traveled from one person the next, seeing eyes brimming with lives that had been full of war and impossible decisions. "We need your help to escape from this hotel and save Earth."