When I exhale, my breath bounces off the solid face of the Xani.
Of Moon.
Of Moon as a Xani. I don't know which is the real face anymore. All I know is that this same visage has surfaced in all my darkest hours.
I feel John behind me as unmoving as a wall. Knuckles is there too. The world dissolves.
Is this why Moon's first reaction was to slice off my Xani friend's head? Lady Almighty, overreact much?
Staring into the same upside-down orange eyes of the hostile Xani, I don't feel fear anymore.
There's sadness, a hint of irritation, but mostly, it's an all-encompassing wave of pity for the face contorted in agony. I didn't recognize the pain at first, but now that I know what the features look like without the flakey, phyllo outside, the misery is as clear as a beam of light in the dark.
I take one step back.
The Xani steps forward with me, invading my space. It's ooze dribbles on my shoulder, slips down my chest, and slides down my front.
I take another step back.
It follows me.
We're face to face, it's upside-down nose scraping mine. The whirl of its blades ring in my ears.
One more step.
I drop and grab the long spear, lean back and thrust the point and pole into the creature's head.
Just like when the Crust had captured John.
When I imbed the spear into its temple, the spearhead pierces something within its jelly skull. I twist. It shrieks and crashes to the ground. I dash out of the way before its claws can slash my guts and disembowel me in its twitching.
Kai and Nuna follow my lead. They grab fallen spears to pierce the heads of the other Xani.
With three writhing on the blood-soaked floor among the other fallen Guilded, the other three Xani who escaped our spears scuttle toward the terrified mass of Olypmian citizens cowering in a corner of the port.
"Run!" I scream and wave my arms around, but the people are immobile.
The Xani approach, but they don't kill them. They corral them. They squeeze the people into a corner and prod at them with their spinning claws to usher them away.
"They're wrangling the people," I say into my PAHLM. "Pierce their temples. They have critical hardware in their head."
"Roger," Coodi says. I watch her pick up a spear and rush toward the three Xani shoving the terrified people away.
Just as she approaches and prepares to impale the Xani on the right, John springs into movement. He leaps over the injured on the ground and drops between Coodi and her Xani victim.
Using the blunt end of his blades, he shoves her away.
She smacks against a marble pillar and slumps forward.
I scream her name and rush to her side. She's breathing But knocked unconscious by the impact. Shaking her is useless—she's completely unresponsive.
"What have you done?" I scream at John.
He stands guard as the other Xani remove the people from the room.
Twisting the spear out of the hands of a fallen Guilded clinging to it, I aim for one of the escorts who remain unscathed before they take the people away to some unknown doom.
John titters and thrusts his body between me and my target.
"What are you doing?" I shoulder him out of my way.
He returns the shove with greater force, flinging me off my feet.
"John. You're on my side. You're with me. Not them. Me." I scramble to my feet and try to push through his block. He doesn't move. When I try to dodge around him, he blocks that path too.
"What are you doing? Get out of my way."
He raises a blade, aiming for my middle. I lift the spear toward the space where his head used to be. In the tiny, perpetually bubbling center of his neck, I notice a tiny valve. This is why he's been gurgling—his mechanics. I point the spear directly at it.
We stand off.
"This is stupid." I throw the spear down.
He doesn't drop his claw.
"I can't hurt you, John. Whatever's happening, shake off their hold. You're your own unit now. Like me."
I approach slowly. When I press my belly up against his blade, he doesn't relent. I step farther into it, the cool metal slicing through my jacket and touching my bare skin. It would take one inch of force for him to gut me and end this nightmare for good. But I know he won't do it. I don't know how I know, but I know.
"Lorn, what the hell are you doing? It doesn't understand you. It's a monster, not a rational being." Knuckles is behind me. I can't see him, but the fear in his voice is loud and clear. I ignore him.
"We're one unit now, John. You and me. We are in this together. I'll prove it to you."
I lean forward. I feel the blade break skin.
He backs up.
When I step closer, he moves away farther and drops his claw.
I look down. A streak of blood trickles from the line he sliced into my abdomen through my jacket. He could have killed me, but he didn't. I pressed my body up against him, gave him every opportunity to kebob me, but he didn't. Just like I could have skewered him in his neck-hole, but didn't.
I back off to put more space between us and kneel, the pool of blood from my Guilded victims soaking through my pants. He lowers his body until his stumpy neck is at eye level with me. I rest my hands on it and drop my forehead down. It's the first time I've really touched this part of him.
"It's you and me," I say closing my eyes for a second. "We've been through too much to fall for anyone else's commands. It's just you and me."
He shrinks, covering me with his body.
My second of peace is disturbed by the Olympi quaking from shots fired.
I leap to my feet to stand, but John pushes me back down again. He covers my body with his as the stones holding the ship together cracks. Dust particles rain down and blanket us in white dust.
"What the hell! I thought we just talked about this." I scramble to stand, but John latches himself to my leg.
"Janika!" Nuna rushes over, but John halts her with his claws raised, spinning them in the air like drills.
She and Teeno watch helplessly as I try to pry John's hold off me. "What the hell, John!" I scream as the metal digs into my ankle.
To my horror, he leaves the battle, literally dragging me behind.
I try to claw at posts, but it's no use. My hands are slick with sweat and blood. The bodies that reach for me are too injured to be of an assistance. Nuna and Teeno have turned to battle their own enemies.
The fight rages on around me while I'm helpless to join. I struggle in John's grasp, thrashing, screaming, pulling against his effort to take me away. More Guilded rush in without noticing us. As we leave the port, Kai attempts to throw Coodi over his shoulder to take her to safety as he fends off another golden soldier with the tip of a broken spear.
"John, let me go. They need me."
He drags me through the halls, up the pillars and on the ceiling. I dangle from his leg and have to grab my holstered pistols before they fall out and are gone forever.
When the ship rattles from another strike, John stops. Scoping out the area, I notice we're back in the long corridors.
That's when I realize—he's taking me back into the ship. Deeper. Farther from battle yes, but John seems to know exactly what route to take.
I hear it. Quietly at first—like the buzz of an insect across the room. It grows louder, more pained, more frightened. It's the people of the Olympi—the ones that the other three Xani had taken away. They were taken to a an enormous set of heavy golden doors that extend as tall as the pillars.
By the looks of it, I know exactly what's behind those doors.
John has brought me to Juno.
"I'm sorry I doubted you," I say, patting his leg. I curl into him, latching my legs to his underside. I get it now. This is something he knows I need to do. Follow the people. Free them.
As the door opens and the Xani usher the terrified people through, John and I slip in undetected from the ceiling. He finds the darkest corner in the farthest reach of the throne where I'm sure Juno is obscured behind the hundreds of yards of luxurious silks. It's extravagant beyond anything my piddly imagination could have ever contrived. I don't have anything in my memory to compare it to.
John takes us to the floor and releases me. I land on light feet and lurk in the shadows watching the people approach the stairs that lead up to a golden dias. The people, dirty, hungry, bloody, and desperate juxtaposed against the ornate pearlescent mosaic of the golden steps brings me back to the URE. I remember the happy moments playing on the Rotunda, chipped cement and exposed wires were my playground. I made my hell a heaven and I've now seen what kind of opulent perdition these poor people have had to endure .
It's time to change that.
In the shadows behind the sheer drapery that are as thin as mist, I see Juno lean forward in her bulky throne. Her dark skin contrasts the white shimmer of her luxurious drapes like a shadow piercing the light. Fire red hair tops her head in the shape of living flames. It's all I can see from my vantage while hiding in the corner of the enormous throne room.
The people drop to their knees, cowering before her as she sits above them like a god. Remembering the white marble figure of the Lady of the Impenetrable Heap, I see Juno in a similar stance.
"You have betrayed Juno," she says. "Your poor-decision has caused great displeasure."
They groan—all of them. The man whose questions Nuna had put to rest is among those voices. He drops his head to the cold floor in supplication. Their misery reverberates off the stone and metal—in warbles until I want to join them in misery. It's so pitiful, I ache to rush to them, hold them, tell them that this is not the end—it's going to be okay.
But Juno cuts them off. I tense, waiting for her to bring the hammer down on their thin bones.
"Enough. There is no need to despair. You have done no harm to the Olypmi."
I raise an eyebrow.
"You have been led astray by Commander Janika Lorn. She is sick and full of lies. She has manipulated many to do her bidding and she has worked her charms on you as well, poor children."
You have got to be kidding.
She raises her hand, palm up as if waiting for something to appear in it. "Isn't that so, Juno's love?"
Moon appears. He is still in his leather jacket and full Captain's regalia, but there's something different about him. His demeanor has shifted as if he's changed coats for a warmer season. His face doesn't have the hard lines from before. If I could put a word to it, it would be 'peace'—he looks at peace.
And it's a good look for him. His features are softer, gentler. With the hard edges loosened and the hint of a smile on his lips, he truly is handsome.
Fuck him and his peace. I squeeze my fist tight. My fingers itch to grab my pistol and aim between his eyes, but I know how fruitless that would be. I have to wait.
She strokes Moon's cheek with a finger. "Tell them, Love. Tell them what Janika Lorn has done to you and Nuna Kinnwah."
He faces the people who timidly gaze up at him at his position on Juno's dias. "It's the truth."
"Juno's Moon has talked about her lies. He has told Juno about her manipulation of the crew—using her pathetic plight to gain love and attention. You all are her victims. You are not to blame."
Red. Fire. Hot red fire is all I see.
My manipulations?
My pathetic plight?
My need for attention?
I gnash my teeth, squeeze my hand into a tight ball and promise that some way, somehow, I will find a way to murder Captain Shin-Hyun Moon. Later.
John nudges my shoulder.
I know. Calm down. Focus.
Juno sits back. "When Juno saved you from a life of slavery or slaughter, your loyalty was all that was required. Why have you forsaken your promise?"
"We didn't know," one man moans.
"Forgive us, Empress," a woman says. She puts her hands together as she pleads.
"It was that intruder. She told us. She said it was an opportunity."
With a bang, Juno slams her fist against the armrest on her throne. "And what opportunity can this woman bring? What can she do that Juno cannot?"
No one responds. They sink lower into their fear.
After a few seconds of absorbing their whimpers, Juno rises. When she stands, I'm struck by power in her stature. She is regal in every curve of her body. Magnificent, thick, shoulders lift the swell of her heavy breasts. Her taut middle flates out to her substantial hips and thighs.
She is stunning. Her profile emerges from behind the sheer curtains. With her chin up, her perfect posture keeping the coiled red braids piled on her noble head, I feel the need to bow in her presence as well.
"Children," she says.
They raise their gaze to her.
"What opportunities has this vile Earthen rat falsely promised you? What lies has she whispered in your ear? Tell your Juno. Tell your empress and be rewarded."
"Steal the Olympi," one woman blurts. "She wanted us to help her steal the Olympi from you, Empress."
Juno smiles. When she reaches the woman in the blood-soaked tunic, she holds out her hand to help the woman up.
My blood boils and my muscles tense. I fear for the woman as Juno touches her chin, lifting the woman's gaze to Juno's. She touches her cheek, her lips, and pets her hair as if she was a favorite dog.
"No one will ever take Olympi from Juno." She releases the woman, smiling at her. She taps the woman on the nose with one long finger and retreats to her throne where Moon watches the scene. "Olympi is Juno's kingdom and Juno's home. It is your home too, my lost children. She can never take that from us."
Great. Now she knows the plan. I curse Nuna for thinking that telling the people would be a great idea. Fuck this plan. Fuck this stupid plan right to hell.
Someone pounds at the massive golden doors of the throne room. Juno tilts her head as if curious.
One of the Guilded soldiers jogs over, clicks into a perfect line, taps his spear on the floor and bows. "My Empress. We have apprehended the trespassers and the traitor Nuna Kinnwah."
My gut twists. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is going fuck-all wrong and I'm cowering here in the shadows doing nothing. I shift to prepare to bust out, but when Nuna, Teeno, Kai, Cambell, Coodi, Umpire, and Ledi as Dean are dragged into the room, their hands restrained and their bodies beaten with blood soaking their clothes, I sink lower into the pillar.
Wait. I have to wait for the right time.
Juno frowns. Her brow furrows. She tilts her head and stares at Ledi. "Commander Freyer... why have you returned?"