Wings of Saturn

Part 2

"Or as short as a couple hours." Jenny added pessimistically. "Hand me an oar."

The two of them paddled in what Jenny hoped was the same direction they had started. If so, they would eventually reach the other side, and with any luck find another beach.

As they paddled, Jenny stared moodily out at the waters, her foul mood now even worse. Her empty stomach's complaints were growing louder, and her mind was being boiled by the unholy concoction of anger and confusion that sizzled in her brain. She was barely 24 hours off the sleep ship, and she was so tired that if it weren't for the storm of emotions raging through her she might have dropped off again right here and now. She was glad that Terri was here, and that she wasn't having to face this by herself. But...

Her thoughts were interrupted when Terri reached over and poked her in the cheek.

Jenny's eyes popped wide. She slowly turned to look at the angel in disbelief. "Did...did you just poke me in the face?"

Terri shrugged and smiled. "Sorry, but you just looked so mopey that I couldn't help it."

"You...you poked me," Jenny said flatly. "In the face." A pause, and then, "Do you wanna die or something?"

"It's kind of late for threats like that, don't you think? Besides, you really should cheer up a little. Sure, things are weird and confusing, but at least we got away. And who knows? Maybe this place won't be so bad after all."

"When the hell did you get so cheerful?" Jenny muttered as she resumed rowing. She scowled at the sky, and then glanced over to Terri. The angel was leaning slightly over the side of the canoe as she paddled and dangling one of her wing tips into the water. Jenny envied Terri's ability to just relax even in the middle of all this. Maybe Terri was right. No point in declaring the situation hopeless until it was. For now, while there wasn't a whole lot she could do about the pit that was steadily growing in her stomach or the loads of unanswered questions in her mind, she could do something about the fatigue that had set deep into her bones.

"Yo," she said, turning her head towards Terri. "I'm going to close my eyes for a bit. Wake me up if we reach land or if something tries to kill us."

Terri's response was to splash her with water cupped by her wing tip. "You're going to just let me do all the work?"

"Bitch, bitch, bitch," Jenny yawned. "I saved your ass today, and that's the thanks I get?"

Terri was about to remind Jenny just who saved who, until she noticed that Jenny had already slumped over and appeared to be completely worn out. Terri took the other paddle, changed her position a bit, and continued to move the boat forward.

* * * *

Colonel Barza had no illusions what awaited him and his team when they arrived back at Constantin City. The rain continued to fall as it always did, the canals that served as streets continued to rush angrily between the buildings, and the symphony of chemical lights continued to give him a headache no matter where he looked. It was far from his favorite place to visit and having to return with the threat of future unpleasantness hanging over his head was bad enough.

Unfortunately, Defense Coordinator Reed had a mean streak. In addition to the verbal abuse he'd subjected Barza to before the mission, Reed had also made his displeasure that Barza's unit was assigned to the task known by the "backup" he had chosen to accompany them. Namely those infernal battle droids nicknamed the "Great Balls of Zeus". Barza had learned to dislike them almost the first time he was assigned to go with them a few years ago. They were almost all gleaming metal of one alloy or another, but still managed to give off a tone of smug superiority. He suspected that to civilians the tone was supposed to add to the fear of being chased by the units, but as one of their minders, it was nothing but irritating. Barza wasn't the only one to find them annoying. Most of his unit had dealt with them either with him or on other assignments, and to a person seemed to agree they usually would have preferred knives to having to use the battle droids. That the droids got all the credit whether they were even deployed on a mission or not, did nothing to endear them to their handlers. That they would not take any of the blame for this failure didn't make it easier either.

While Barza respected Reed as his superior, he had to admit to harboring no small amount of resentment toward him for saddling him with those two. After a thorough dose of abuse with his unit present, Reed had then brought Barza in for fifteen minutes of more personal abuse before sending all of them, including the droids, back out with an order to finish the job, or be prepared to take part in some of the experiments that their target had been wanted for.

Barza and the rest of the unit reviewed the logs of all the domes and islands in the sector where Jenny and the angeloid had been seen. Barza was disappointed that there was no sign that Jenny had activated her Deus ex Machine mode, as they likely would have been able to triangulate her position based on when various assets in the area had been scanned. Fortunately, the timing of a shuttle report of a dome in the area having a small depressurization issue gave him a lead.

Half an hour later, and Barza and crew were walking along the same artificial beach he was now convinced that their target had been on. Jenny hadn't left much trace of her presence behind. His top advisor, Captain Evans, snapped a quick salute as she ran up to him, and then guided the Colonel to a section where there were some small drag marks.

"Looks like they found a boat of some sort, sir." She added.

"I would agree." Barza replied. "Nice work, captain. I don't suppose the Zeus units can float?"

"Negatory on that. In fact they have already asked that we requisition a couple small motorized units for them."

Barza stifled a laugh. Boats weren't that uncommon, but generally missions that would involve them were on smaller domes where no motor was really necessary. Units that could handle the "Great Balls" would probably take a day or more to arrive. They could all get back in the shuttle they arrived in, but it wasn't designed for flying around slowly enough to maneuver in this type of environment. He could probably go above the dome and find the targets quickly enough, but it would take twice as long to then find a place to pierce enough of the dome to reenter without depressurizing the whole unit. He briefly considered stripping down to his underwear and just swimming out after them, and then sighed.

Of course he could just destroy the dome. The defense ministry would barely notice the cost to replace it, and it appeared to be old enough that the owner might even appreciate the budget to redo the place. But if they were going to get the generals and politicians back on Earth to drop their case that the Outer Planets had been in on the whole thing, and even now were just pretending to try and recover the Deus ex Machina, he'd have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Deus and it's host Jenny were killed in the blast. Proving you had killed someone who had already escaped death twice would be unlikely at best.

Without turning, Barza could feel the Zeus units approaching. He suspected it was a bit of static electricity generated by their movements, but it could have just been a vague premonition of disdain.

"Colonel," Unit One began in a monotone that still managed to convey a smirk, "it's obvious that our subjects are on the water somewhere."

"Is it?" Barza asked lightly. "I seem to recall Unit Two mentioning some sort of recreational island in the center of this dome."

Unit One paused, as if surprised that Barza had actually paid attention. "While I agree with Unit Two's report on the map we obtained for this dome, I find it highly unlikely that our subjects would have been able to float that far in the approximately two hours since the incident was recorded for this dome."

Barza privately agreed it was unlikely. Still, trying to pluck them out of the water would not be easy, and perhaps if they could just wait there for the targets to arrive, while leaving one or two unit members here in case they doubled back... Barza looked up at the artificial sky, and then a thought slowly formed in his mind.

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