by AJ Super
“I have a prediction to reverse.”
“What prediction? This is the first I’m hearing of a prediction.”
Nyx sat hard-faced. It was time to start making difficult decisions. Time to be a queen. Time to be a God. She would save Elysion and Crius, and Crius would thank her. They would all thank her. Then they would join her and her family, and everything would be alright.
“Nyx!” He stepped in front of her. “What do you know that the rest of us don’t?”
“Elysion is in danger,” Nyx whispered with tight lips.
Kai put his hands on the armrests of the captain’s chair and leaned in to face Nyx. “And you think liberating the city is going to change Phoebe’s prediction?”
“It’s not just her prediction. It’s mine, too. I figured out how to use her powers. She’s infected, remember?” Nyx stood and pushed him away. “And if I stop it, Crius won’t betray me.”
“Betray you? Is that what this is about?”
Nyx glared at Kai. “I can’t lose more family.”
“Fine. But going into Protectorate territory without a plan? It’s reckless. And you have no guarantees that you’ll stop whatever this prediction is.”
“It will.”
He straightened and tightened his lips, staying uncharacteristically silent as the Andraste unfolded from jump space. Red lights spilled over reflective surfaces of the bridge and the proximity alarms began to wail.
“Fils de pute,” Kai breathed as he spun to face the view-screen.
Looming on the screen was La Terre as it orbited Elysion.
Kai stiffened. “Why isn’t that beast shooting us out of the black? They clearly have the upper hand.”
Nyx held up a hand. “Wave the other ships to hold their fire.”
The Communications Officer cleared his throat. “They are running passive scans over all our ships. They’re looking for something.”
Nyx’s tendrils pulled on the gold threads of Phoebe’s predictive code, and she spun out an algorithm to determine the goal of the scans. It should have been clear without the prescient talents. They were looking for each of the Stars—the Star of Erebus and the avatar where her central consciousness now resided, the Star of Phoebe, the Star of Adonis which they wouldn’t be able to find, and the second line of the Star of Nyx. La Terre wasn’t firing because they couldn’t afford to destroy the ships which their targets were on.
“Narrow-wave the Thanatos to sit front and center. If they aren’t going to shoot, let them have a big fat target to tempt them even more.”
Kai narrowed his dark eyes. “I don’t understand.”
“They’re still after Erebus, Phoebe, and me. Her avatar’s on the Thanatos. Aren’t you, sister?”
“I am,” Erebus chimed in.
“And here I thought I told you specifically to stay with Matthews on the asteroid.”
“I don’t want you and Crius to fight,” Erebus chirped over the comm.
Nyx pursed her lips. “How do you know we’ll fight?”
“I’ve been talking with Crius. I am Elysion. Elysion is me.”
Nyx tipped her head back. She had forgotten that Erebus had ingrained herself on the planet already. Her presence planetside would mean that uploading Crius, if the option presented itself, would be more difficult. At least Yoon had been willing; that was probably the only reason Erebus hadn’t interfered with his incorporation into her system.
“What is Crius doing?” She rubbed her temple.
“Why don’t you just ask me?” Crius’ figure appeared on the command deck, a shimmering hologram.
“Crius.”
“Nyx.”
“My landing party will be ready to go in minutes. I’ll be seeing you soon.”
Crius shook their head. “I’ve been assured that no one will be landing on Elysion today. I would suggest we have our chat right here.”
Ice traveled up Nyx’s spine. “Assured. I see. By who?”
“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t already know.” Their short indigo spikes bobbed.
“You’re siding with the salope who killed one of my family then?”
“I’m not with anybody but Elysion. Besides, it’s not about that, and you know it. I have family to protect, too. And more than that, I have a planet to protect.”
“How do you even know that Elysion is in danger? Only Phoebe…”
“The human named Isabeau waved me hours ahead of you, along with La Terre. She’s a pretty good strategist; knows how to survive. Knows everything AI lives and dies on Elysion.” Crius frowned. “If only you knew the harm you’re doing just by being here.”
“I haven’t done anything. I haven’t chosen anything. Not yet,” Nyx huffed.
They shook their head again. “Just hand over our siblings and turn yourself in. It’ll be done. You won’t be harmed. All this will end.” Crius glanced off the holo-camera and nodded slightly.
Nyx didn’t need to run an algorithm. She bit her cheek as paranoia swam red through her guts. “Boucher. Boucher is standing next to you, isn’t she? You’re being coached. These are all her words coming from a friendly face.”
Crius paled.
The scarred woman slipped in front of the holo-cam and appeared on the deck of the Andraste. “I’m serious, Nyx. Just end this now.”
The red paranoia churned into rage, and it burned through every cell in her body. Nyx struggled to breathe. She stood, jaw clenched, eyes on fire. “Putain de salope. You expect me to do anything but destroy you?” She strode to the ExO’s console and pushed the Yoon-clone manning it aside. If she couldn’t kill her face-to-face, she would just destroy the entire town that she was in. She’d pull out the putain de nukes and shred Downside, Upside, and wherever else Boucher could be hiding in Elysion.
“You can’t.” Erebus’ voice resounded through the bridge as Nyx keyed the codes to fire up the nuclear weapons systems. “There are too many innocents in that town. And Crius is down there.”
Nyx ignored her.
“Kai?” Erebus begged.
Kai shook his head.
The holograms of Crius and Boucher stood wavering as they stared at Nyx’s vengefully determined actions.
“It’s a bluff.” Crius soothed Erebus. “She wouldn’t. Not knowing Phoebe’s prediction.”
“You’re very wrong.” Erebus begged. “Please. Kai.”
Kai took a deep breath and walked up to Nyx. He put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her to face him, gripping hard. “What are you doing, Nyx?”
Nyx glared at him. She was going to destroy a world. She was going to control the universe. She was going to be a queen. An empress. A God of Gods. She grabbed his hands and smiled softly, reaching her white tendrils into his crimson blaze and wrapping them around the flame joining them. “I’m going to kill Boucher, once and for all. Are you going to stop me?”
“This isn’t the right way, Nyx.”
She tamped down Kai’s flame. His knees weakened, and his grip on her shoulders softened.
“Nyx, please. Think about all the people you’ll kill. Think about Crius’ family. Think about your family. Think about Crius.” He stumbled.
She pressed his flame nearly to extinguished. “You, of all people, don’t get to tell me who not to kill. You killed maman, and you knew about Malcam and papa.”
Kai fell to his knees, short of breath. Nyx released her tendrils and turned back to the console.
“I can’t let you do this,” Erebus whispered.
“And how will you stop me, sister?” Nyx keyed the last safety protocol off for the nuclear arsenal and armed the missiles. “I’ve just bypassed emergency containment. The nukes can’t stay here.”
“Why would you put yourself at risk?” Erebus’ voice shook.
“Make a choice, sister. Me or Crius. Yoon’s bloodline or Elysion.”
Crius’ and Boucher’s holograms flickered as their eyes widened, and they sprinted out of the holo-camera’s range.
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Kai breathed heavily. “Don’t do this, Nyx. This shouldn’t be a choice.”
Nyx pushed him over with a toe.
“I don’t need to make one,” Erebus said sadly. “I am Andraste. Andraste is me.”
Everything went dark. The vents stopped blowing. Gravity ceased, and Nyx lifted gently from the floor.
The crew murmured quietly as they held onto their consoles, tapping furiously at dark screens. Not even emergency lighting came on. Only the light of the two suns came through the tiny windows lining the command deck. The rest of the ship would be pitch black.
What had happened? Why was there no power? Nyx pounded on her console, and it sent her floating higher. She grabbed the edge and pulled herself back, the white of her tendrils snaking chaotically around her, looking for Erebus’ code.
Someone’s personal data pad rang out.
The Communications Officer Yoon floated his way through the dark to Nyx and held the glowing pad out to her. “It’s for you,” he stammered.
Erebus’ face lit up on the pad.
“What did you do?” Nyx growled.
“I danced into the black and took everything offline. Everything, even emergency backups. There’s only twelve hours of air. All of Yoon will float if they don’t start working soon. And without the firepower of the Battle Station, the rest of the ships are target practice for the Queen’s ship. But you should have assessed that by now, since you’ve been playing along the golden threads of Phoebe’s powers.”
Nyx inhaled sharply. “The nukes…”
“Went from green to red when I cut off an arm.”
“Cut off an arm?” Nyx creased her brow hard.
“I am no longer Andraste.” Erebus paused. “The other ships are getting ready to jump out. You have ten minutes to get to the Thanatos with me and Phoebe. We will leave without you.”
“But repairs here. The Andraste. Yoon’s clones. My army.” Nyx gasped for breath. She was going to lose everything.
“I’ll give them the moon rendezvous… if they make it through the barrage La Terre is aiming at them.” Erebus was stone-faced.
The acting ExO pulled himself to the console Nyx had taken over. “Please, Admiral, go. We’ll get this Battle Station up and running in less than a half hour. Reports are coming in that everything just needs a reboot. Nothing more. All systems are already starting their processes. But in the meantime, we have no defenses, and visuals of La Terre report that weapons are coming to bear. I think they don’t care anymore about who’s got what. They’re just going to shoot.”
Nyx shoved the data pad at the ExO. “Fine.”
“You have seven minutes,” Erebus said flatly then the data pad beeped as she signed off.
Nyx used the console to spin herself around to face the free-floating Kai. She grabbed the front of his navy-blue tank and pulled him toward her so he could grab the console too.
“I don’t want you on my ship.”
“I don’t think I want to be on your ship,” he panted and rubbed his ribs.
“Tu n’est pas Malcam.”
“C’est vrai. Et tu n’as pas non plus Malcam. He’s dead.”
“You don’t need to remind me. That salope…”
“Who you almost razed an entire planet to kill.”
“I’ll do what I have to.”
“There are better ways, Nyx.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll take any and every chance I get. And I don’t care who gets in my way.”
Kai shook his head. “The power doesn’t suit you. You shouldn’t be the one with the ability to control the universe. You’re… I don’t know what you are anymore. You’ve lost what makes you Nyx.”
“I’ve found what makes me a Star.” She glared at him. “Take a separate shuttle to the Medusa.”
41
Nyx debarked from the shuttle to Erebus waiting in the bay with arms crossed and brow creased. She tromped down the shuttle’s back ramp.
“Just tell me so I understand.” Erebus let her arms fall to her sides. Her dewy eyes looked like they could shatter tears at any moment, if her Sia had been designed to cry. Her gold-ringed gaze wavered over Nyx’s face.
Nyx glanced at her hands. “She can’t live when Malcam is dead. She just can’t.” She swallowed hard. “I can’t stand that thought. She will never have a peaceful day as long as I breathe.”
Erebus walked to Nyx and ran a hand over her temple. “Vengeance doesn’t mean you need to kill an entire planet.”
Nyx snapped her head up. “The prediction. I almost.” Bile rose in her throat. The vision she had with Yoon. Elysion dying in fire. That was it. Erebus stopped it. She had sworn to Yoon that she wouldn’t go down that path. She had lied. She had almost nuked Elysion just like her prescient, borrowed, ability had shown her.
The gravity adjusted as the Thanatos shifted to jump space.
Nyx looked at Erebus quizzically. “Where?”
“Sarama is taking us back to Yangxi X.”
“Directly back to the asteroid?” Nyx screeched. “What if La Terre follows us?”
Erebus shook her head. “They’re preoccupied with the Battle Station. And none of their long-range fighters were deployed.”
Nyx bit her cheek. “Seems like an oversight. Still… we can’t lead them directly there.”
“Does it really matter? The Protectorate is going to put it together soon enough anyway. If you’re so worried about leading them to the asteroid, the rest of the ships have scattered and will rendezvous at the moon near dark space. After that, they’ll come back to the mines.”
“I don’t get a say in this, do I?”
“No.”
Nyx stomped out of the shuttle bay. “Is Lenus here? I have to have him check my head… The new Yoon-doctor knows nothing about my nanomedics, and I would like a final all clear. A silly little thing like a concussion isn’t going to stop me.” She gripped her sister’s hand, and they walked towards the infirmary.
Lenus pushed up his glasses and frowned when he saw Nyx’s face crusted with dried blood. “Do you never take care of yourself? You’re always a mess when you come here.” Then he brightened. “If you would just let Erebus show me how she programmed the nanomedics…”
Nyx stared at Doc Lenus.
He adjusted his glasses. “Fine. I’ll settle for some more samples from you and the cat.”
Nyx nodded. “That you can have.”
“Doctor Lone.” Lenus snickered. “Funny man. He said you may come by for a concussion check…” He twisted his face. “But why? Your nanomedics should have healed any major injury, barring something that gooed your brain.” He checked the time on his data pad. “Which, I guess, technically, getting your head bashed could do if you weren’t careful. I mean, it’s basically what those damned pulse weapons do… goo your insides.”
Nyx pulled her mouth into a thin line. Was he referring to how Malcam died? Or did he even know? “Just get it over with.”
Lenus brought out a palm scanner and shined a light in Nyx’s eyes. “I also have some preliminary results for you from testing samples from Kai, Malcam, you, and the cat.”
Nyx raised an eyebrow. Still delving into things that would likely get him killed by one Star or another… or by Boucher if she found out.
He looked at the readout on the scanner. “And you’re fine.” He shook his head. “Those nanomedics are extraordinary.”
“So?” Nyx sighed impatiently. If he was going to continue his research, she had to know what it was at the very least.
“So.” Lenus adjusted his glasses again. “Oh. Yes. So, you know how I’ve been researching the Stars. Their powers. How they work. How you work…”
Nyx went cold. Had he discovered some secret of the Seven Stars that he shouldn’t have? Would this be the moment when she had to get rid of one of the few people who she still trusted, at least marginally.
He cleared his throat. “Well, I discovered something interesting… I can remove your AI genes.”
Nyx’s heart stopped. Had she heard right?
Erebus worked her mouth, and no sound came out.
Nyx put a hand on her shoulder. “You can. Remove?”
“Your AI genes,” Lenus finished with a nod. “Yes. It doesn’t seem too complicated. A simple gene therapy paired with a couple electromagnetic pulses. Nothing big, though. What I would call therapeutic levels, nothing that would even, uh, shut down this med scanner.” He held up the scanner he had just used on Nyx.
A way to shut down an AI/human hybrid. Sweat beaded on Nyx’s brow. Was this something that Boucher already knew as the Progenitor’s line and the first line of Nyx? She had access to all the original research and data on the Stars. She had to know a way to reverse engineer each of the Stars so that their powers were ineffective against the new Protectorate.
If Boucher had such knowledge, it would be easy to overwhelm Nyx. But now, Nyx had access to the knowledge… possibly knowledge that Boucher already had. But Boucher was only human, a failed experimental genetic line. She was nothing like the grandiosity of Nyx, the real Nyx. God of Gods.
But what if Boucher didn’t know about this? What if the scarred woman didn’t have a way to combat being turned back into a fragile human being, with no access to the world of the Stars? The world of the Gods.
Nyx felt the heat of anticipation rise in her stomach. She could beat Boucher. She could take away everything that made the woman powerful, lay her low, then butcher her the way she butchered Malcam. She would have her revenge.
Erebus turned to Nyx. “Will you become human again?”
Nyx frowned. It was a good question. When all this was over, would she return to what she was before? But what was she before? She always had the AI in her blood, it merely was dormant, and now she was marked with the black tattoo of the Stars. She let her hand drop from Erebus’ shoulder. “Was I ever human?”
42
Nyx lounged on her long-neglected bed of furry pillows and soft blankets on the Thanatos, and Erebus sat in one of the chairs at the end of the bed by the small table. Both silent. Nyx felt like she was being watched over, kept. But she was tired, and after splashing her face and washing the blood from her shaven head, all she wanted to do was doze. So, she put up with Erebus’ guarding presence and curled on her bed.
