Between

Episode 38

Episode 38

Trixie fought to keep her eyes open as she held the image of the Junkyard in her mind. Fatigue was a tricky thing in The Between. Vigorous physical activity took a toll, to be sure, but a few minutes to catch your breath were typically all it took to restore yourself. Travel, on the other hand, had a way of genuinely taxing the brain in a way that no amount of relaxation could cure. Magic usage was another thing that sapped one's strength, which until recently she'd not had to worry about because she wasn't capable of it until she got her hands on some decent artifacts back at the Heartcore storehouse.

She was at the limits of her mental endurance now, and the featureless white expanse of The Between wasn't helping. It was mind-numbing in an almost literal way, and letting her concentration flag for even a moment would extend the journey considerably. There wasn't much of a threat of her becoming marooned en route. If worse came to worst, she would lapse into unconsciousness and awaken sometime later, refreshed and restored. But time was a factor, and she couldn't afford that level of delay.

Back at Shard, both Duke and Stubbs were no doubt plotting. The threat of the Overseer's reprisal would only keep them from her tail for so long. If Philo's potential capacity to produce a way out of The Between had been able to get those consummate loners to work together, threat to life and limb wouldn't mean much.

"Focus... You're so close..." Trixie mumbled to herself. "You falter now and you lose Philo. You lose Philo and you lose everything. Find him. Find the device. Find out what needs to be done to get it going, get it going, get out. The end is in sight. Don't. Screw. Up."

A gray haze, one she wasn't even certain was real at first, appeared ahead of her and she realized she'd reached the first checkpoint on her journey. A few more seconds of flight brought her to the edge of the Junkyard. She flew in a near daze, flitting between abandoned hulks and trying to remember how to reach the forgotten corner of the grid of junk that held Philo.

Ahead, bits of debris were twisting and turning in a way that seemed unnatural in the otherwise orderly layout, evidence of a recent and major disturbance. It was the sort of carnage Philo had the special knack of leaving behind. She angled herself toward the disturbance and along the way saw the telltale signs of recent scavenging efforts. She tried to keep her eyes open and her mind sharp as she followed the trail of breadcrumbs until a voice cut through her near trance.

"Trixie," came Philo's harried cry at the very edge of hearing.

She turned. A tiny, flailing form caught her attention and she shifted toward it. After a minute she closed the distance between them. He was somewhat more beat up and ragged than when she'd last left him, but he was in one piece. He was also flipping slowly end over end on a trajectory that wouldn't intersect with anything solid for quite a while.

For an instant, her body acted without her brain's consent. She threw her arms wide and embraced him, the pair tumbling forward for a few moments as he hugged her back.

"You're alive!" she breathed in utter relief.

"You're alive!" he replied, his voice a bit strained.

They held each other tight until Trixie's mind politely reminded her that they weren't exactly on friendly terms at the moment, since he'd learned that she'd stolen his memories. The ones that were hanging around her neck. She released him and pulled away, both now flying more or less straight.

"How did you survive? Where's Brankle?"

"Dumb luck, and locked in a train somewhere over there. At least, I hope he's still over there. He went nuts. Tried to kill me."