Somehow, she felt the little chip slide inside her skin. “Ouch!” She stumbled away from him, her head beginning to swim. “What was that? What did you do to me? Why… would y-” the little room faded and fell away.
+++
QX849-LF, Dead Rock, Deep Space
Bentley sat next to the little fire in the cavern, sweat soaking her clothing and dampening her braided hair. Her entire body hurt, from the emotional strain of the work they’d been doing and from sleeping on the rough excuse for a bed at the back of the cavern. It was made from cobbled together bits of wood and metal with a pad that felt more like a blanket than a mattress.
She missed the comfort of the pod: not just the amenities, but Svend’s company too. It had been such a simple pleasure lying next to him in bed and drifting in and out of sleep together. Legba was not exactly bad company, but he was a little odd, and he wasn’t always around. In a way she even missed the sensation of not knowing what the future held. Now that she was in the situation she’d sought out, it seemed like an endless task. Push the boulder up the hill, and watch it roll back down.
It had taken days and much energy, getting her memories back one fragment at a time. Without Legba’s breathing exercises and soothing words it would have been impossible. Together they had delved back into her mind, pulling up one piece after another. It had been like learning to read braille. At first she’d had no idea what she was experiencing or feeling, but Legba had guided her hands steadily, and it all became familiar.
The little fire kept the cavern nice and warm, and fortunately, it was almost smokeless due to the dryness of the wood. What little wispy gray smoke it did produce seemed to funnel itself almost unnaturally out through the entrance.
Legba was sitting across from her, watching her, a concerned look on his face. “You are not enjoying your stay here, are you?”
Bentley pulled a wry face. “Am I meant to? I mean, this is all about learning to be like you, right? I assumed it had to be this rough. If we could have met up at a luxury resort somewhere, I’d be all for that.” Her sarcasm hit him hard, and he cast his gaze downward.
“I see I have harmed you. I am so sorry, my child.”
“Harmed me?” Bentley shook her head violently. “I’m fine. I’m just getting warmed up.”
Legba took his turn to shake his head. “The sword has specific instructions. It and that chip I placed at the nape of your neck work in tandem. They would have needed hours, even days, to properly download to your corteX. We did not have hours or days, but we had seconds. I was wrong to try to force them on your mind, but well, I’ve never met a human with such strong instincts.”
“Instincts?” She scrunched up her nose. “For what, swordplay?”
He shook his head. “You know what I refer to. To that which is beyond this realm. Namely, the Unseen World.”
“Oh my god,” Bentley stood up and paced the length of the cave to shed some of her frustration, “the Unseen world again. When are you going to tell me exactly what that is? What I saw that day on the LaPlace ship?”
“Bentley, sit down,” he instructed. He gestured to her spot next to the fire. She shook her head and crossed her arms defiantly.
“Maybe I’m through doing what you say,” she growled. “Every time I think we’re getting somewhere you unveil another layer to the mystery, and I just feel more and more lost.”
“The mist only lingers when it has a strong reason. Explaining this to you is what I’m trying to do. Please just sit down and listen, and I'll do my best to make things clear to you.”
She hesitated, arms still crossed, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.
“Do you promise?” she asked.
“I promise.” He smiled as eyes twinkling darkly. There was always a danger in those eyes, next to all the friendliness and goodwill there was a presence of power both great and terrible. The man was an enigma, certainly, but still a friend.
“Fine,” Bentley sighed. She trudged back to the fireside and sat down cross legged. “So? Let’s hear it.”
Legba leaned back on his palms and looked at her down the length of his large nose. “I had been watching you for quite some time when we first met. I made many mistakes at that moment, such as forcing that chip on you and frying your memories.”
She started to interrupt but he held up a hand and continued.
“…but seeing your potential was not one of those mistakes. You are special. I see in you what some call destiny.”
A long silence passed between them, during which the fire crackled and popped as it began to die. A breeze moaned at the mouth of the cavern.
“Let’s circle back to you frying my memories for just a second. So that was you. Why? And don’t tell me something as vague as destiny.”
Legba pulled a dry branch from a nearby pile placing it slowly among the glowing coals to feed the flames. “Sure… If you are not ready for the truth, I suppose I can start all over from the beginning.”
They stared at one another. His eyes were warm, if a little sad. Hers were hot with anger she was trying to suppress, but as they looked at one another her emotion dissolved. Instinctively she was practicing the deep breathing exercises he drilled into her.
As they say, Bentley reached back carefully through the jagged edges of her memory, retrieving everything she could recall about Legba. She arrived quickly at the conclusion that she could trust him, that she should trust him. She let the last of the anger go, watching it drift out an open window in her mind, and gave Legba a small nod.
He smiled. “So now it is time for your training.”
“Why? Training for what? What about telling me…” Her voice trailed off as her motivation to close that loop waned. It didn’t really matter anymore. He was right: training seemed more important now.
His dark eyes bored into her as he leaned forward, seeming to grow to thrice his normal size. “This is what you came here for. Even if you tell yourself that you came here for me to disconnect you of all responsibility. You came here so that I can help the chip in your neck complete its integration.”
She clapped a hand to her neck and bit her lip but kept listening. Could that thing still be inside of her?
“You came here so that you can use the sword. You wish to use the sword so that you can defeat a threat that is coming that will alter the way of life for humans across the galaxy.”
“Shiiiit….” Bentley breathed, looking at the sword where it stood propped against the rock wall. “That’s pretty heavy, Legba.”
He smiled. “A burden is only as heavy as one’s perception dictates.”
Bentley hung her head. “Fuck me,” she muttered under her breath as she accepted the fate that she had already guessed was waiting for her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Aboard the Geburah, in proximity of the Android Base, Orion Sector
Amroth strode onto the bridge. This day would be special. This was the day he would personally bring down Captain Blackfriar and his band of glorified large appliances. This day called for his presence among the highest-ranking officers on the ship. This day called for him to take the chair again.
He recalled the last time he had sat in the wingback captain’s chair. It had been during a routine meet and greet with a visiting politician from a distant sector. In order to provide the right ambience when he greeted the senator on screen, he had taken the seat in front of his crew for the conversation. It had been a dry day, but a triumphant one, because of the success of their dealings. Even so, it would not match the triumph of this day.
The Geburah’s bridge was as modern and state of the art as a ship’s control center could be, at least with the knowledge pool of the people of that galaxy in that universe. A moving ramp quickened Amroth’s stride as he climbed to the main level of the tiered room, which was surrounded by banks of monitors and control panels, as well as more rudimentary buttons and switches intended for compliance with backup and reserve power systems.
T
he ranking officer vacated the captain’s chair as Amroth approached. Amroth sank into it, trailing his arms along the padded rests. He could see the stress that his presence applied to the crew on the bridge. Lately, he was certain, their gossip would have taken a turn. They would no longer be bitching about his moods. He’d given them something to really talk about, with the disappearance of their crewmate.
He could still feel the fresh warmth of the woman’s soul residing in his amulet. To his touch it seemed to glow beneath his tunic, almost like a second heart. It gave him power, strength, and confidence. All of which he had already had, but could never get enough of.
Wiseman stood in attendance on the bridge. If she was at all bothered by the loss of her friend, she did a good job hiding it. Then again, there was a reason he’d appointed her as his assistant.
Fourier arrived at his right hand and came to attention. “Sir, we’ve almost arrived at the android home base. Shall I give the order for us to advance?”
“Not yet,” Amroth stated flatly, gazing out through the wall at the empty space separating him from his prize. “There’s no need to go storming their base with our one little ship. In particular because-”
Wiseman interrupted from a few feet away, half mumbling. “Because their machine learning algorithms have us at a disadvantage, sir?”
“Careful, Sergeant Wiseman,” Amroth growled, stroking his amulet, “You are valuable to me, but not invaluable.”
She held her tongue. Though she was upset over the loss of her friend, Nancy, she also knew that Amroth had probably wanted her soul. He didn’t dare remove her from her position, though. She was invaluable, for now, even if he refused to recognize it verbally.
“What is the status of our fleet of battleships?” Amroth demanded.
“They’ve only just left Dacca Noir,” Fourier reported. “They won’t be long getting here though, with all the volts we recently poured into retrofitting their FTL engines.”
“Good.” Amroth leaned back in his chair and rubbed his palms together. “Good.”
Near the back of the room, two technicians had their heads together consulting over a malfunctioning panel.
“Hey Ned,” the first whispered to the second. “You heard about what happened to Nancy?”
“Soul sucked,” Ned replied grimly. “I tell you, Amroth is becoming more and more like an evil overlord every day. I think I might just have to get out of here, Jeff. I’ve got a family to think about.”
“Oh yeah? You never said. Where are they stationed?”
“Just two sectors over from Dacca Noir. Of course, it’ll be difficult to keep us there without this salary, but maybe we’ll just have to find a way.”
“Do you think Amroth will just let you leave?”
Ned glanced at their boss uneasily. “Maybe I’ll wait until he’s in a good mood to bring it up.”
Jeff scoffed. “When was the last time you saw him in a good mood?”
“That office party, where he got really dru-”
“What are you two whispering about back there?” Amroth shouted.
“Nothing!” Ned peeped.
“Just going over this faulty panel here, sir,” Jeff added. “It was spitting out some strange feedback code, but it all appears operational now.”
“Good,” Amroth replied. “Then prepare yourselves. We attack when reinforcements arrive. The sword is close at hand.”
+++
Captain’s quarters, Android Base, Orion Sector
“You mentioned something earlier,” Blackfriar recalled idly as they sipped their third cups of tea.
Barnabas had left to attend to his duties, but the rest of them were enjoying the quiet ambience of the quarters and the warm luxury of the locally grown tea. “Loco, you said it wouldn’t be the first time that you thought Legba was dead. I presume there were other occasions?”
“A few,” Loco confirmed, looking up from nursing the arm he had strained while wrestling Shango.
“Legba is a wily character,” Olofi explained. “We’ve never really been sure where his morals lie, although he seems to be for us and against Amroth and Malleghan, which I guess is good enough.”
Shango frowned, bobbing his head as if deep in thought. “He’s definitely willing to fake his own death,” he confirmed. Then he chuckled. “Remember that time on Osiron-3?”
“Of course,” Olofi laughed.
“What happened?” Jade inquired.
Blackfriar leaned forward. “Yes, do tell.”
“I hate this one,” Loco muttered. “Why can’t you all just shut up and drink your tea.”
“It was years and years ago,” Shango began, placing his mug down so he could illustrate with both hands. “We had a simple smash and grab job on a planet called Osiron-3. Legba had set it up for us while he was doing something or other in the area. The job seemed easy; we were supposed to break into a building, grab a safe, and bring it back to the client, who had hired a third party to crack it.
“The only problem was… do you want to tell it?” he asked Olofi, who was practically bouncing up and down in his seat.
“Yes!” the baby faced god exploded. “Alright, so we show up at the building to break in, and it turns out that the building is the safe. We couldn’t break in because none of us is a safecracker and we didn’t have the tools anyways, and we couldn’t exactly stick it on the ship and fly away as planned. The place was heavily guarded too, and we barely got away with our lives.”
Shango picked up the tale again. “Loco was livid. I mean, what you saw earlier was nothing. He was just being a little surly. This was full blown rage. He wanted to strangle Legba with his bare hands. Olofi managed to send a signal ahead to Legba, who you’d think would just have run, but being him, he had to get more theatrical.”
“He slaughtered a goat!” Olofi interjected, “and staged a struggle in rooms he had with its blood. Mind you, it worked perfectly. Loco was convinced someone had kidnapped him, and spent the next week struggling to retrieve him so he could murder him. Meanwhile, we didn’t see Legba for years after that. Who knows what he got up to.”
“Fascinating.” Blackfriar wiped his lips with a plant fiber napkin and then returned it to his saucer. “Could you tell me any more about Legba’s exploi-”
The door whispered open and Barnabas strode in, concern creasing his face and weighting his gait. “Sir!” He came to attention, reporting to Blackfriar. “Amroth has arrived. With an entire fleet of destroyers.”
“Oh good,” Loco said scrambling to his feet, flexing his sore arm and grinning. “He brought friends.”
Blackfriar stood up in a more dignified manner, but with no less haste. “How close are they to attack?”
“That’s just it, sir,” Barnabas glanced upward. “They've already begun.”
A distant explosion permeated the walls, and the teacups rattled in their saucers.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
QX849-LF, Dead Rock, Deep Space
“You don’t have to make that face every time I bring you breakfast,” Svend pointed out.
“Sorry.” Bentley groaned, still stiff from her night’s slumber on the hard bed at the back of the cavern. “It’s just, to be honest, I think it’d be better if the autocook didn’t try to make it taste like scrambled eggs.”
“I’ll admit, I don’t envy your constant need for calories at this time,” Svend admitted. “You should try to eat it though. You need to stay healthy.” He sat down next to her and rubbed her shoulder.
“I guess so.” Bentley pushed the food around her plate and then forked in a mouthful of the pretend fried potatoes and forced herself to chew and swallow. She even managed to get down a bit of the rubbery ‘eggs’ before passing the plate back to Svend and shaking her head. “I’m sorry, that’s all I can manage.”
“If the autocook gets depressed, it’s your fault,” he teased as he stabbed some of the eggs onto the fork and shoveled them into his mouth. “Ugh, you’re not wrong.”
&nbs
p; She smiled. “Look at you, concerned over its feelings. Are the two of you getting close with all this quality time spent together?”
“Could you really blame me?” he joked back quietly. “You’re out here having fun with Legba while I’m stuck in that pod. It’s even worse than the trip here because well…”
“Yes?” Bentley grinned.
“Because you’re not there.” Svend returned her smile. “But I guess I can survive it a little while longer. I’d probably go crazy without these trips to feed you. You look so stiff, are you sure you can’t sleep in the pod?”
She stared into the flames. “Legba says that staying here is part of my training. He doesn't want me distracted by any other technology.”
“Other technology?”
“Other than the sword.”
“Oh, right.” He narrowed his eyes. “Where is it, anyway?”
She shrugged. “Legba took it for a walk.”
Svend sat in silence a while and then opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of footsteps interrupted him.
“Hello, android boy,” Legba said as he entered the cavern on light feet.
“Hello, tech wizard human,” Svend replied without missing a beat.
Legba chuckled. “Tech wizard? Is that how she explained me? Hah!” Legba clapped a hand to his belly and chortled.
“Well, what would you call yourself?” Svend asked.
“I’d call myself just about anything, including late for breakfast.” Legba winked and chuckled again and patted Svend on the back as he moved past. “Not to worry m’boy, I’m not hungry.”
“I guess that’s my cue to leave?” Svend said, looking at Legba, who was humming away contentedly while he warmed his hands over the fire. Bentley shrugged and blew Svend a quick kiss, which he pretended struck at a high enough velocity to knock him out of the cave.
“Are you ready?” Legba asked, suddenly alert.
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