by Luigi Robles
“Alright, I’m ready,” Fain said as he came out of the restroom.
“Fain Jegga,” Kya said as she got up from the couch. “You clean up nice, not that I mind what you were wearing or even your captain uniform.”
“We’d better get going,” Fain said as he nodded towards the door.
Kya nodded as she walked towards Fain and the door.
“So where are we going, Mr. Jegga?” Kya asked once she was standing next to Fain.
“There’s this fancy restaurant that I haven’t been to that seems to be the talk of the city. I figure we’ll go see what the fuss is all about.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Fain led the way to the building’s garage, where he had a hover of his own. Unlike when he had explored the city with Pycca, taking several forms of transportation during their date, this time it would only be one. He had decided they would go straight to the restaurant at the top of Neo LA, since it was a long way from his apartment building.
“So, a great pilot and a driver at the same time?” Kya commented when Fain pulled out of the garage as if he was tracing a line in the palm of his hand.
“Doesn’t it come hand in hand?” Fain asked as he got on the fast track above his building.
Amongst the array of routes a commuter could use to get around Neo LA, the fast track was the fastest, hence the name. On the fast track, hovers could easily reach speeds in excess of two hundred miles an hour. The only catch was that an A-grade hover license was required to enter the track.
“I wouldn’t say hand in hand, but it’s closely related.”
“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” Fain said as he reached for the radio and began to raise the volume of the music, but the volume wouldn’t increase. “Is this thing not working?”
For a second, Fain thought the worst, and he was getting ready to veer off course to head towards Ouranos, but then he saw a glint from the corner of his eye. When he turned towards Kya, he saw her smiling, and he returned his hand to the steering wheel.
“Don’t put music on,” Kya said, still with a smile on her face. “I want to talk.”
“Sorry, I guess it’s a habit of mine. For a second there I thought it was them. I was getting ready to head back to the space elevator.”
“They’d be sorry to ruin my evening with you.” Kya tittered. “But in all seriousness, I don’t think they’re capable of self-control.”
“What do you mean?”
“They would have just broken the radio to achieve the same goal, which was to control the volume. They’re the definition of monsters. They know it, and they aren’t afraid to use their power. Their goal is clear, and small things don’t matter.”
Small things don’t matter to them. Fain made a mental note of that phrase as he hummed in agreement.
“But let’s not ruin my night thinking about those things, let’s ruin your night.” Kya chuckled.
“What do you mean?” Fain asked as he chuckled together with Kya.
“Is Pycca still not talking to you?”
“Nope,” Fain said, emphasizing the “p” and “e” in the word. “She’s a stubborn one. She’ll come around soon, I hope. She just takes a little longer to gather her thoughts. I think that if we had talked right there and then, there would be no more us.”
“And what about you? I’m sure that you don’t like what she’s doing now, just like she didn’t like what you did. Where does that leave you?”
“I don’t like it, but I’m trying to understand.”
“Always putting others before you,” Kya said, pursing her lips. “But I guess that’s one of the things that make you who you are. You want to know what I think?”
“Well, why not?”
“I think that if she’s not careful”—Kya raised her eyebrows—“she might end up losing you to someone else.”
“I don’t think so,” Fain said as he shook his head. “Lose me to who?”
“To whoever puts you first before them,” Kya said.
Fain was quiet for a moment and nodded slowly.
“But how about we stop ruining my evening and just try to enjoy the night?”
“I just wanted you to know that in my world, you come first. Even though I have to turn down the radio to let you know. And no matter what happens, what we face, I’ll be by your side.”
“Thank you, Kya,” Fain said, feeling his voice coming from his chest. “It means more to me than you know.”
“I do agree with you though,” Kya said with a smile as the radio’s volume began to rise. “Let’s enjoy the night.”
Minutes later, they reached the fancy Italian restaurant, La Grande Torre delle Scale. As they pulled up to the valet parking, Fain saw many famous people getting out of their hovers. Paparazzi swarmed the valet parking with their photographic orbs, despite security’s many attempts to disperse them. Fain knew that he and Kya would be instantly recognized. He thought about leaving, but there were already a few hovers behind him.
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all,” Fain said as he held on to the steering wheel.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re with me, remember?”
When Fain pulled up to where the stacker and greeter were standing, the greeter opened the door for Kya, and she got out of the hover. Based on the paparazzi’s excitement, Fain half-expected thousands of flashes in the first few seconds that Kya got out of the hover, but there was nothing.
“Is that who I think it is? Holy smokes, wow,” Fain heard as he handed over the keys to his hover and a hefty tip so that the hover would be parked nearby.
“I thought she was some kind of AI. She looks human to me. Elegant, gorgeous, one of a kind. Jorge, you better make this POS work right now. I need to capture this moment.”
“Why aren’t these things working?”
“What’s happening to the photo orbs? Are all of them not working?”
“Who is she with?”
“Is that…? Is that Fain Jegga?”
Fain wanted to bury his face in a hole in the ground as he made his way towards Kya. A large part of him was relieved that Kya had done something to disrupt the photo orbs.
“Saved the day once again,” Fain said as he extended his elbow so that Kya could hold on to it. As Kya got near him, he got a whiff of her perfume; its smell reminded him of the ocean breeze and cool seawater, flowers and woods.
“You can count on me,” Kya said as they began walking.
“Will the photo orbs work again? Or are they broken for good? I think a small part of me would actually feel bad if they were.”
“No, they’ll work again. As long as they’re not near us. Although, if they decide to point them in our direction once again, I’ll have to consider disabling them for good.”
“Let’s hope they are smarter than that.”
Fain and Kya got seated promptly once they entered the restaurant, although Fain found it odd that the hostess seemed a bit nervous.
“So, what are we eating?” Kya asked as she held up the menu in front of her.
“Whatever you’d like,” Fain said as he skimmed over the items.
The prices for a single serving cost an entire month’s salary for the average worker, but Fain paid no attention to that. He more than expected the prices to be outrageous, given the reputation of the restaurant.
“Can’t be whatever,” Kya said as she put the menu down.
“Have you already chosen?” Fain asked as he flipped through the menu.
“Not at all. I’m just reading the reviews, seeing what their best-tasting food is.”
“That might not be the best idea. Some of those reviews can be bought and are misleading.”
“I’ll be able to tell which those are and which are organic.”
“Still, there’s nothing like experiencing something yourself without bias. How about we order pizza? There’s probably no Italian restaurant in the world that doesn’t make good pizza.”
“OK, let’s do i
t.” Kya smiled widely.
Fain placed the order with a nearby waiter, and the pizza arrived minutes later. To La Grande Torre delle Scale’s credit, the pizza itself looked and smelled top tier. With three types of molten cheese overflowing from the edges and crispy pepperoni, it already looked like a top contender for the world’s best pizza.
As they were getting ready to eat, Kya paused halfway through unfolding her napkin.
“What’s wrong?” Fain said as he looked intently at Kya.
“Something isn’t right,” Kya said as she began looking around. “There’s an ongoing blockage of the video feed in the restaurant, and I’m not the one doing it.”
That was when Fain saw her, a blond, fairly young woman looking directly at Kya, sitting just a table across. Fain had seen that young woman’s face before. In the moment, he couldn’t remember how or when, but he knew that it was in the form of a report. What had Fain’s immediate attention was the contraption the young woman was holding.
The contraption was a little larger than the size of a softball, with wires and artifacts protruding all around it. It was certainly something that didn’t belong in a restaurant.
Kya turned around to where Fain was looking, and as she did so, the young woman launched the contraption at Fain. Kya reacted, catching the contraption in midair. As she held the wired ball, it began to take hold of her hand. Fain tried reaching for the device, but it stunned him as he tried to touch it, burning part of his hand in the process. Mere seconds later, the device began to emit a loud electrical whine, and Kya collapsed on the floor.
Chaos erupted in the restaurant, with everyone apart from the young woman, Kya and Fain looking for a way out.
That was when Fain saw two other men approaching them, both with large combat knives in their hands.
“It’s all over for ESAF,” one of the men said as the two approached. “Captain Jegga.”
The young girl pulled out a small but heavy-looking box that expanded into a large mallet.
A mallet? Fain thought. Is she planning to use that on Kya?
When the mallet was fully expanded, the young girl launched at Kya as she twitched on the floor, unable to stand or move. The two men also began running towards Fain.
“Time to pay the council what you owe,” the young woman yelled as she ran.
So, she was part of the council. She used to work for Cross? Fain then remembered exactly who she was. It was Joan Rondendai. But the details of who she was weren’t important at the moment. Fain knew that he had one chance at getting between Kya and the mallet, and if he failed, it could possibly cost Kya’s life. Fain kicked two nearby chairs towards the men and hurled a half-full bottle of wine directly at one man’s face.
“Ahh, my eyes. Damn it, my eyes,” the man screamed. It was a direct hit; the bottle broke in his face and lacerated part of it. The other man hesitated. Fain turned towards Joan and tackled her from below; he wasn’t going to let Kya die no matter what.
Joan groaned as Fain’s shoulder ploughed into her stomach and launched her back. As they stumbled onto the floor, Fain took hold of the mallet. He got up as fast as he could and ran back towards Kya. Joan was right behind him, but this time she too had a large combat knife in hand. With newfound courage, the uninjured man ran towards him, but Fain paid no attention. When he reached Kya, Fain took a deep breath, lifted the mallet over his head and aimed for the contraption. The mallet struck down at the contraption will full force, instantly breaking it.
“Nooo,” Joan screamed and stopped running towards Fain.
“Boss?” the man asked as he stopped running. “We aren’t doing this anymore?”
It didn’t take long for Kya to get up.
“You have no chance,” Kya said as she kicked the contraption to the side and shook her head. “I suggest you drop your weapons if you have any kind of appreciation for your lives.”
All three dropped their knives at once.
9
Pact
The Neo LA police force inundated La Grande Torre delle Scale minutes after Fain got Kya free from the contraption. By Fain’s estimate, there were at least thirty to forty police officers. Crime was unusual in Neo LA, since everything was heavily monitored and the authorities were alerted as soon as something happened, so it was hard for any assailants to get away. Most criminals didn’t bother to try. The supervising police officer approached Fain, though the position was only Fain’s guess based on the stripes on his shirt.
“Ms. Kya, Captain Jegga,” the officer said as he got within a few steps of them. “I’m Lieutenant Adams from Neo LA’s upper fifth division. Quite a mess that happened here.”
“Yep, lucky us,” Fain said.
“Hey, but in all seriousness,” Adams said as he held on to his belt. “Thank you for what you two have done for us up there. See, I’ve done a bit of reading, and if it wasn’t for ESAF, I’m not sure we’d be here. Thank you.” Adams swallowed hard.
“Don’t mention it,” Fain said. He didn’t particularly like it when people thanked him. He appreciated the gesture, but he never wanted anyone to feel forced to say it. He knew what he had signed up for, and getting recognition wasn’t even on his mind.
“We have the suspects in custody,” Adams said. “But ESAF wants them, so we’ll just hang around until some of your officers show up and we can pass them over. You are free to go. And one last thing, are you sure you don’t need any medical attention? We have some medics just over there.” He gestured towards the medics attending the man with the lacerated face. “It won’t take them long to check and make sure both of you are OK.”
“As we told them, we are fine, thanks,” Fain said. “But if you don’t mind, we’ll just hang out here until ESAF gets here.”
“Yep, that’s fine with me,” Adams said as he began to walk away. “Hang out for as long as you like. I think kicking you out of ESAF matters is way beyond my jurisdiction. Thanks again. Stay out of trouble.” He waved at Fain and nodded at Kya. “Ms. Kya.”
Fain didn’t know how ESAF could have found out about the incident so fast, but then he remembered who he was with.
“Was it you?” Fain turned towards Kya.
“Yes,” Kya said as she nodded once. “I was the one who made the call to Lieutenant Adams. Don’t worry, I made the call to his superiors as well, and I just finished talking to Truman. We are taking these three with us. Who knows how many more roots the council has?”
Fain noticed Kya’s left hand, the hand she had caught the apparatus with. It was not moving naturally with her body.
“How are you, by the way?” Fain asked. “What was that thing that grabbed on to your hand? I never would have thought that there was something out there that could take you down.”
“I’m fine, though my hand needs some serious rebuilding. If that device had been stuck to my hand any longer, its effects would have made their way through the rest of my body. It was a powerful device. I believe it’s a slightly evolved form of an old, almost forgotten technology, the electro-magnetic pulse. I’m planning to take it with us for further study.”
“I’m glad you’re alright,” Fain said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. And I’m not just talking about the saving my ass part.” He smiled.
“That means more than you know to me,” Kya said. “But right now, you might want to go ahead and check your wristband. I think it’s important.”
Fain had been feeling his wristband vibrate for quite some time now, but he kept ignoring it in order to focus on what was happening all around him. He took a quick glance at his wristband screen on the inner side of his hand. He had twelve missed calls, A few were from Green and Truman, but most were from Mikey. Fain knew that if Mikey was that persistent, something really important must have happened.
Fain pressed his name to return the call; he didn’t bother setting up a video call using his mobile.
“Holy shit, Fain, I’ve been trying to get hold of you for a while now,” Mikey said as
soon as the connection was established.
“Yeah, hello to you too,” Fain said.
“Fain, I’m not kidding,” Mikey said. “This is really freaking big stuff.”
“OK, well, what happened?”
“A full Acram subspecies fleet showed up at the ISCO,” Mikey said hurriedly. “But don’t worry, they didn’t come to blow us up or anything. Long story short, they brought some kind of hyper transmitter device or something. They call it a node anchor or something like that. And supposedly, the leader of the Acram wants to talk with you. They didn’t say about what. The subspecies fleet is not leaving without their node anchor and without talking to you. There are a dozen or so Acram subs on board the ISCO, and they don’t look too friendly. So, I suggest you get here as fast as you can.”
Does this have anything to do with the Immortals? Fain wondered, but he knew that he had to act, and he had to act fast. He knew he would get his answer in due time.
“We’ll be there as soon as possible,” Fain said. “Just hang tight, don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do, and inform Commander Felix that we are on our way. Tell him to stand by but be ready for anything.”
“Alright, alright, OK,” Mikey said. “I can do this, just let me know your ETA when you have it.”
“I will,” Fain said, getting ready to end the conversation. “Take care, buddy.”
“I was able to confirm everything Mikey said. The information he provided was accurate. Sensors were triggered in our watch net, though at the time, I don’t think I could have done anything about it.” Kya pointed to the area where she had fallen earlier that evening.
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Fain said as he noticed Kya put her head down. “I’ve never expected perfection from you, and I never will. It’s not all on you. That’s why you have us and we have you. So stop that.”
Kya nodded with a slight smile.
“Thank you,” Kya murmured.
“But I do need you right now.”
“Anything,” Kya said, still in a low voice.
“While we wait for ESAF to get here,” Fain said as he took off his half-ripped jacket, “make all the necessary arrangements to leave for the ISCO, and let Truman and Green know that I’ll call them on the way to Sodenia. We leave tonight.”
