The Breadth of Creation

by C. S. Johnson

  Just one hit, and then we’ll have the upper hand.

  Exton nodded approvingly, and missiles were loaded.

  With the shuttle’s tracking and navigation equipment, they’d picked up on the Craftcarrier easily, even if it had been a surprise.

  “We’re losing Aerie’s ship,” Emery said. “It looks like they just took a hit.”

  “Is she okay?” Exton faltered and headed over to see the monitor. “Phil, see if you can aim for the reverse stabilizers of the Craftcarrier. Once your shot’s clear, let’s head out.”

  “Why do you care so much about my sister?” the pilot called, obviously disturbed by the information. “Are you trying to kill her yourself? She’s not worth it. She’s an enemy of the State now.”

  Exton ignored him. Aerie had been more than willing to leave her world behind and stay with him. From what little she had said about her siblings, and what he had been able to deduce, she didn’t fit in with her unit at all, and they didn’t seem to care much. In fact, he had the direct impression that they were eager to keep her that way. Her brother, whatever his name was, lived up to that expectation.

  A burst of power let out from the forward portside. “Missile’s away, Captain,” Phil called.

  As the missile hit its mark, Exton felt a surge of satisfaction, despite the gasp of surprise on the pilot’s face.

  “How?” he asked. “How did you do that? That was only one shot, and you disabled it ... how?”

  Phil spoke up. “I can take our new guest into the back if he’s upsetting you.”

  “He’s fine,” Exton muttered darkly. “For now.” As much as he hated dealing with him, he wanted the pilot to see with his own eyes that they weren’t trying to kill Aerie. And it was nice to hear it confirmed that Aerie was on the cargo ship.

  “The cargo ship is headed down,” Phil called. “Seems it had its main thruster taken out. It won’t last in the air.”

  “Follow it,” Exton ordered.

  “What about the other fighter?” Thora said. “It seems to be attacking the carrier still.”

  “Leave it. We’re more concerned about the other ship.” He came up beside Emery. “See if you can catch up. I don’t want to lose sight of it.”

  “We’re coming up on the southern bend of Argentina’s old borders,” Emery said, glancing at the coordinates. “There should be plenty of open space for them to land.”

  Exton nodded. He turned his attention back to the pilot. “We’re headed for landing,” he said. “We should be able to locate your sister’s ship.”

  When the pilot just stared back at him, angry and silent, Exton was strongly reminded of Aerie’s own defenses when he first met her. What is Osgood teaching these people?

  “You might as well kill me now,” the pilot said. “I’ll tell you nothing.”

  “I didn’t save you just so I could kill you,” Exton told him. “And I don’t want any information you’re not willing to give. I have other ways of getting what I need concerning the States. If there is something I’d like to know, it’s only your name, so I can call the other ships and let them know we have you.”

  The pilot considered this for a moment before he resisted. “I won’t have you use me as bait.”

  “They already know you’re here, most likely. We were able to get a partial signal from them a few moments ago.” Exton gripped his hands together. He’d been hoping to hear something from them, but just as he’d answered it, the signal died.

  Probably cut off from all the fighting and interference.

  “Landing in three, Exton,” Emery called back. “Buckle up.”

  Exton hurried and took the seat in front of the pilot. As the shuttle landed, Exton felt a wave of nervous energy wash through him. He could see the cargo ship less than a hundred yards away.

  He turned back to the pilot. “Want to go over to their ship with me?”

  The pilot scoffed, but said nothing.

  Emery smiled at him. “Maybe I can get him to talk, Exton. Thora can help me while Phil does the after-flight inspection.”

  “I’d rather help interrogate,” the older man muttered as Exton passed him.

  Exton grinned. “Maybe next time, Phil.” He clapped a hand on his shoulder, and then headed out of the ship, barely pausing to zip up his warmer jacket.

  The moment he stepped out of the ship, he saw someone running toward them. His heart lurched; he would recognize those golden ginger locks anywhere.

  “Exton!”

  Disbelief struck him, but dispersed a second later, as the shock of hearing her say his name dissolved into pure joy.

  Once more, he had his miracle.

  “Thank you, Lord,” he whispered, overcome.

  He shook it off a second later. Exton took off, heading for her. “Aerie!”

  Every step over the rocky dirt and the stilted grass brought him closer to her seemed too surreal. After the weeks of missing her, it seemed more like a lifetime had passed, yet nothing had changed. The wave of pleasure, the surge of protectiveness—all of it rushed out of him, as he finally reached out and took hold of her again.

  Exton crashed into Aerie, already grasping for her as the force of their collision nearly toppled them over. Exton wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against him, reveling as the wave of warmth passed between them. He felt her stumble and he moved to catch her, keeping her close.

  The rest of the world around him seemed bitter and cold, but he had his sunlight back.

  “I can’t believe it’s you,” she said, her breath warm against his neck.

  “I can’t believe you remember me,” he said, allowing his hands to get lost in her hair. He smiled at the small braid, recalling how proudly she’d worn them in her hair on the Perdition.

  It was too perfect, he thought, to have her in his arms once again.

  “I can’t believe it,” he said, hugging her again, overjoyed and overwhelmed to have his Aerie back—all back.

  She gave him a small grin. “I remembered you after I heard your voice again, when you were at Chaya.”

  Exton felt a rush of gratitude for Merra’s decision to fight for the first time, finally glad he had been insistent enough to go.

  Anything, he thought. Anything was worth it, for this moment.

  “I’ve traveled and fought all around the world,” he told her. “And all of it was worth it, just to get back to you.”

  “I know how you feel,” Aerie said. “I’m so happy my coma and my amnesia wore off.”

  “Coma?” Exton stepped back from her. “Is that what they told you?”

  She frowned, but after seeing his expression, Aerie sighed. “I should’ve known that was a lie,” she said. “My father told me some of it after I began to remember on my own.”

  “He injected you with Memory Serum at Nova Scotia,” Exton told her quietly. “He was hoping you would forget everything entirely.”

  Aerie’s eyes glittered as she reached for him. “I couldn’t forget you. I swear, even if it took me some time to remember your name and your face, you haunted me.”

  Exton laughed. “That’s a switch. You haunted me from the moment we first met.” He glanced down at her lips, watching as they trembled. He cradled her face in his hands as he drew her mouth to his, giving her the kiss he had been contemplating since he’d lost her.

  Aerie responded to him at once, pushing up onto her tiptoes to meet his kiss with her own. Her hands tugged at his shoulders as she relaxed into him.

  How did sunlight have such a potent taste? Exton wondered as he held onto her and the warmth between them exploded, encompassing them, allowing the dark of the night and the chill of loneliness to be vanquished by their age-old nemeses of light and love.

  “God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

  “I’m missed you so much, too.” Aerie’s fingers tightened, burrowing into his jacket as he held her. “This feels like coming home after a long trip.”

  “You are my home,” Exton told her, kis
sing her once more. He felt her shiver, but he knew it wasn’t from the cold.

  Voices from the cargo ship called out, interrupting their reunion.

  “Aerie!”

  “Aerie, what do you think you’re doing?”

  Exton barely heard them at first, but when they grew louder and more insistent, he reluctantly pulled away and glanced over Aerie’s shoulder to see two other people headed toward them.

  “Sorry.” Aerie flinched. “That’s my friend Brock, and my older sister, Serena.”

  “Brock Rearden, by any chance?” Exton asked, arching his brow down at her.

  “Yes,” she admitted. “I didn’t tell them the truth about us. They’re probably wondering who you are and—”

  “And why I’m kissing you?” he asked, giving her another quick kiss before more than reluctantly pulling back.

  Aerie smiled and flushed red, while Exton felt a rush of pleasure. “I’d almost forgotten how fun it is to make you blush,” he told her.

  “Don’t tease me in front of my family,” Aerie said. “They tease me enough.”

  “Don’t worry.” Exton kept his arm around her protectively as the two others from her ship approached. “I’m very happy you’re here, but I know we have to take care of other things.”

  “I know.”

  There were legitimately several other things he had to tell her. With his decision to take on the URS directly, aided by loyal dissenters and volunteers from the Ecclesia, war waged across the world. Aerie’s mother, who was not only not dead, was leading a league of troops. And he would have to tell her about his old friend, too, Exton recalled.

  As if she knew of all the trouble he had to report, Aerie nodded. “It’s not going to be pleasant.”

  “Duty first,” he told her. “We can revisit this conversation later, when we’re alone.”

  Her face burned red, all over again.

  “Speaking of unpleasantness,” Exton said, “I have one of your brothers in my shuttle. He’s not talking to me, so I might have to get you to get him to disembark.”

  “How did you know he’s my brother, if he’s not talking to you?”

  “He looks too much like St. Cloud,” Exton admitted with a grimace. “And he wanted to know why I was so concerned about your ship. Emery’s in there with him now, trying to get him to open up some.”

  “Emery’s here?” Aerie’s eyes lit up with happiness. “I’ve missed her, too. Serena—”

  “—wants some answers,” Serena said as she came up and stood behind Aerie, her free hand planted firmly on her hip as her med pack sat squarely on her shoulders. “What in the world do you think you’re doing, Aerie?”

  Exton almost laughed at her irritated expression. “Well, you’re definitely Merra’s daughter.”

  Aerie and Serena looked shocked, before Exton realized neither of them likely knew the truth about their mother, or how he knew her.

  He glanced over at Aerie apologetically. He didn’t want to be the one to tell them about Merra’s choices. He also had to tell Aerie about his past—all of it, including the parts he didn’t like to think about.

  Before he could explain, Brock stepped forward. “Take your hands off Aerie,” he snarled.

  Exton instinctively and intentionally tightened his grip around Aerie. “I don’t believe we have been formally introduced.”

  “I don’t care who you are,” Brock snapped, stepping forward angrily. “I know you’re the enemy.”

  “Brock, I told you before, he’s not our enemy,” Aerie said. “Please.”

  “Well, he’s clearly not your enemy,” Brock grumbled. He glared at Exton.

  Beside him, Exton could feel Aerie stiffen.

  “Brock, Serena, this is Exton,” Aerie said, her voice clearly strained as the tension around them increased.

  “And he works with MENACE,” Brock said.

  “No.” Aerie shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. Please—”

  A beeping noise came from Exton’s pocket. As Aerie tried to assure Brock and Serena he could be trusted, Exton slowly backed away from the ensuing argument and turned his attention to his comm.

  “Exton, we have a ship approaching,” Emery said. “It seems to be the other fighter from before.”

  “Can you establish a hailing frequency?”

  “No, he’s flying silent.”

  Exton frowned. “Keep the shuttle’s shields up to maximum,” he said. “I’ll see if we can’t contact him from Aerie’s ship.”

  “I’ve already sent a message to Tyler updating him,” Emery said. “Now that we’re out of the cloud cover, interference is minimal.”

  “Good.”

  “Roger that,” Emery said.

  “Is that Emery?” Aerie asked, as she turned her attention to him.

  “I’ll check in with you again in a bit, Em,” Exton said, before he turned off the comm.

  “I can’t wait to see her again.” Aerie clapped her hands together happily before she turned to the others.

  Exton saw Brock and Serena still looked angry and doubtful, but he knew he had to find a way to work with them. He had a feeling it was going to be significantly harder to convince them he could be trusted than it had been to convince Aerie.

  “There’s another fighter headed this way,” he told them. “It’s your other escort.”

  “Dorian,” Serena murmured. “He followed us, but our comms are down. Our ship will need some significant repairs.”

  “We can try to communicate with him from my shuttle,” Exton offered.

  “No thanks.” Serena gave him a sneer. “We don’t want your help.”

  “If you’re going to get the ship fixed, you’ll need his help,” Aerie told her, surprising Exton with her sharp tone. “We don’t have any support this far out. We need to work together right now. The least we could do is try to contact Dorian.”

  “We just need to make sure he’s not hostile,” Exton said. “We don’t want him blowing up either of our ships.”

  “He should blow up your shuttle, after all the trouble you’ve caused,” Brock said.

  “Brock!” Aerie admonished him. “He picked up Cal for us, remember? And he’s still on the ship right now.”

  “That’s the angry pilot I caught earlier, I presume?” Exton asked.

  “That’s not the point, Aerie,” Brock said, charging onward, ignoring Exton. “Cal knows it is better to die in the line of duty than to live through the torture of captivity.”

  “There is no torture on the Perdition,” Aerie shot back.

  “I suppose you’re going to tell me now that no one ever died from fighting MENACE, either?”

  “I can promise you that my team doesn’t cooperate with MENACE,” Exton said, stepping forward. He didn’t know much about Brock, but it was clear he was fixated on MENACE, and he had a temper.

  “I don’t trust you,” Brock yelled.

  Exton frowned. “The feeling is mutual,” he said. “But that’s not going to get us anywhere right now. Can we at least agree to a temporary truce for now?”

  “Yes,” Aerie insisted. “We can.”

  Serena rolled her eyes. Brock grumbled, but said nothing. He glared at Aerie bitterly. Exton knew he was as upset as he was confused by everything.

  It was, he decided, best to keep Brock preoccupied with other matters. Exton didn’t want Aerie to worry about Brock causing further issues.

  “In the meantime, how is your ship? Can you fly at all?” Exton asked.

  “Not at the moment,” Serena said. “We have severe damage to the lower compartments, and our fuel has been depleted from the last burn. Fighting the Craftcarrier was—”

  She was interrupted as Dorian’s fighter came rushing past them, sending up a large dustbowl of wind and dirt before landing about a hundred yards away.

  Great, Exton thought, as he and the others started coughing and covering their faces.

  He had Aerie back, but there were still plenty of problems­, and more were steadily
approaching.

  ♦17♦

  The world had never seemed to be more filled with possibilities, Aerie thought. With a content smile on her face, she snuggled further into Exton’s embrace. His arm tightened around her in response. It was harder to walk, but Aerie didn’t mind.

  “This is a miracle,” Aerie said, as they continued to head over to his shuttle. The chainsword décor winked at her playfully in the light of the setting sun. She turned back to see Serena and Brock were clearly arguing as they walked several steps behind them.

  “I never really believed in miracles until you came into my life,” Exton told her. “I always thought that was something more for Emery than for me.”

  “You just needed a different kind of miracle,” Aerie told him. “I did, too.”

  He shrugged. “We might need a couple more if we’re going to get to Petra in one piece.”

  “Is that where you’re going to take us?” Aerie grinned. “I can’t wait.”

  She’d wanted to see Petra before, and she thought she would never get the chance. But now, here in this place, she was safe from the General. Or at least, she could believe it.

  “We’re not too far from Petra,” Exton told her. “I’m not sure what we’ll do. Your family members pose a threat to us, as does your bodyguard friend.”

  “They can’t be any worse than I was at first, can they?”

  Exton chuckled. “Hard to believe it, but yes, they can.”

  “Why?” Aerie asked, slowing down her pace some.

  “You were always a bigger threat to my heart, and by extension, the crew onboard the Perdition,” Exton said. “Down here, it’s Petra that’s more vulnerable.”

  “Oh. That makes sense.”

  He gave her a charming grin. “You weren’t worried I thought you were weak, were you?”

  “No,” she said.

  “I know you’re lying,” he told her, before he leaned down.

  Aerie sighed as she reached up to meet his lips with hers again. He was a head taller than her, but he still made her feel comfortable in his arms as he held her.