Titan's Rise: (Children of Titan Book 3)

by Rhett C. Bruno

  “Rin wouldn’t mind,” Aria replied, smirking.

  “I don’t know if I can handle her without you. I’ll see you so—” Before I could finish, she leaned up on the balls of her feet so she could reach my lips and kissed me. I wasn’t shy about returning the favor this time.

  “We don’t have time,” I panted as our lips parted for a second.

  “Stop. Your aunt’s finally not watching.”

  Before I knew it, I was in her room, peeling off my armor. I couldn’t stop it, and after a few seconds, didn’t want to. Cora was timid the first and only night I’d had with her, but not Aria. I could barely breathe by the time she laid me on her bed. She grabbed my hand and ran it across her stomach, then around her narrow waist. That was the thing about Aria. We may have been around the same age, but whatever things Venta Co. had her do, she knew her way around a man. And she always took control, and in those few minutes of bliss, before the crushing weight of the world fell back upon me, I didn’t have to be.

  Sweat dripped from my brow when our lips finally parted, and I lay back. Exerting myself so in gravity stronger than Titan’s had my chest heaving. She lay beside me, staring into my eyes.

  “What was that for?” I asked.

  “A thank you,” she said, not nearly as winded as me. “I don’t know why you really wanted to come to Mars, Kale, but thank you for letting me get you here.”

  I propped myself up against the headrest. “Next time it will be different. You’ll see.” She rolled over and laid her head upon my chest, and I ran my fingers through her hair. For a moment, under the lights, a strand of it looked silvery like Cora’s had. I squeezed my eyes shut, and then it was red again.

  “I’m sorry about what you walked in on earlier,” I said. “It wasn’t meant to go like that, but he gave us crucial information.”

  “You still should have told me.”

  I nodded in agreement. She was right. If I was going to preach to everybody about trusting her, I had to prove it myself. It was no different from how I lived in the Darien Uppers without a sanitary mask just to show my people it was safe.

  “Whatever that business with the officer was, you’re better than that,” she said. “Maybe you don’t see it, or Rin or Gareth, but I do. I have since the day we met.” She ran her hand through my hair and stared straight into my eyes. “You’re not the monster Earth paints you to be, and you never will be.”

  “Says the woman whose shot put him out of his misery without blinking.” I watched the color flee her cheeks as she sank backward. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s okay. It’s being around my old employer is all. Makes me feel a little crazy.”

  “That wasn’t your first time shooting somebody, was it?”

  She shook her head.

  “You made the right move, Aria. We saw a bit about his history on Pervenio Station logs. Venta or not, he’d done plenty to hurt our people in the name of hurting Pervenio profits. Enough to deserve what he got, but he gave us what we needed. He earned a quick end.”

  I forced a smile then planted a kiss on her forehead. Anything to avoid staring into her eyes for too long. It was always the worst after we shared a bed—I’d see Cora in every little thing she did. No matter how much I begged my mind to stop and to focus on the incredible woman in front of me. The woman who’d sacrificed everything to help my people.

  “You should really get going if we want to keep to schedule,” I said.

  She drew a deep breath then kissed me one last time. “You’re right.” She hopped off the bed and went to her luggage to pick out a plainer dress to wear. The windows in my room were always tinted, but hers weren’t. Flashing vibrant lights from countless ads painted her glistening skin, emphasizing every one of her curves.

  I couldn’t help but stare as she dressed. She wrapped her father’s Ark Ship pendant around her neck last, then straightened her outfit.

  “Why do you help us?” I asked. I’m not sure why the questioned popped into my head then.

  “Why do you let me?” she countered. She tightened her belt and made sure to show me that she had her hand-terminal on her. “I’ll see you on the Cora?”

  “If you run into any trouble.”

  “I’ll call your aunt.” She flashed me a smile, the kind that made her nose wrinkle in that particular way, then she headed out of the room.

  I watched her until the door clicked shut, then dressed myself and headed back to my own room. The youngest of the guards Rin and Gareth hand-picked was posted outside my door, holding a covered dinner-plate. He had fair skin, even for a Titanborn, and hair so unnaturally blonde, the lights gave it a shimmer. A scar ran down from his jaw to his collarbone, no doubt from our revolution.

  “Lord Trass.” He lowered his head in reverence. “Venta Co. had this sent up immediately following the summit. They wished to thank you for traveling such a long way.”

  I lifted the lid, and a smell I hadn’t been privy to since Rin and I wound up serving Earthers dinner on a luxury cruiser greeted my nostrils. Freshly grilled meat.

  “They said it was authentic, rare bovine meat from an animal farm on Earth,” he explained.

  I raised the slab, red juice dripping all over the floor. A common source of sustenance before the Meteorite hit, now a rare delicacy. Just another thing Earthers like Madame Venta could hold over us. Few animals had survived the apocalypse, and while there were a few farms on Mars, low gravity left their meat tough and almost inedible, the stuff sold to food stands in the darker parts of cities.

  I lifted the meat to my mouth, but the guard stopped me. “Lord Trass, it’s not healthy for us. My father snuck something like this from his Earther boss once and wound up in the Q-Zone a week later.”

  I ignored him and tore a piece off with my front teeth. They were accustomed to soft greens and condensed ration bars, never anything so chewy. The taste was rich with flavors I couldn’t describe with any other word but smoky, as if someone had condensed the flaming halls of Pervenio Station after we stormed it into food.

  I could understand why it was an Earther delicacy, unlike coffee or milk. They always had been proud to put their dominance on display, and what was more dominant than literally eating an animal? Slaughtering them. It was no different than stuffing my people into quarantines while they and their credits took over everything.

  It was undoubtedly delicious, but nothing worth fighting over. None of their delights were. I slapped it back on the plate and replaced the lid.

  “Toss it, and then thank our esteemed hosts,” I said. “It’s the last gift I’ll ever take from them.”

  The young man bowed his head. “Right away, Lord Trass.”

  I entered the room and sealed the door behind me, leaving me alone with the garish display of other foods and finery on the counter meant to make us rethink our ways. The rest of the room was spotless, with no evidence that Trevor Cross had ever been hanging upside down, bleeding.

  I leaned my hand-terminal on the counter, sat in front of the screen, and contacted Rylah back on Titan. It took a few minutes to reach her over Solnet since we were so far, but eventually, her face popped up on screen. The sounds of industry roared in the background. Metal clanking. Engines humming. Her soft face was covered in soot.

  “Lord Trass, I wasn’t expecting your call,” she said. “Is the summit over?”

  “It is, and nothing’s changed, Rylah,” I said.

  “How’s Aria? I tried to warn her that it would go like this.”

  “She’s fine.”

  “I know you’re lying. She really believed this summit might change things. She poured her soul into—”

  “She’s fine, Rylah,” I interrupted. Sometimes she went out of her way to support Aria, I think because they were both born without an identifying race and struggled to fit in anywhere. Rin made it tough for our ambassador, and Rylah tried to ease the tension, but Aria could take care of herself well enough on her own.

  “Li
sten to me,” I said. “I need ship production on Phoebe accelerated. Bring on as many capable hands as you can find.”

  She hesitated for a moment before answering. “We’ll need more than that. Workers are still asking when they’ll receive some form of tangible payment for their overtime labor. Phoebe Station Production Manager Orson Fring has sparked some vocal protests over the lack of benefits.”

  “I told you to offer improved housing in Uppers throughout Titan and extra rations.”

  “Not all of them want to live up there where the air is fresh. I don’t know what else to offer. And we won’t have extra rations until we send all the Earther captives on the station back home. Let me provide the credits we’ve accumulated, for now.”

  “They don’t need credits! We won’t be trading with Earth for a long time. Lower the rations for the Earther captives, and make our people understand that Titan needs them. We need to be prepared to fight back once the USF decides to take their next inevitable step.”

  Rylah stifled a groan. “I’ll do what I can without starving the poor Earthers to death, and I’ll have your mother speak with Fring. She’s the more convincing of the two of us.”

  “Good.”

  “You should contact her, you know. She’s been asking about you constantly since the spaceport bombing.”

  “I’ll talk to her when we’re back. For now, I want everyone focused on building Titan a fleet Earth will respect. They won’t hand us the Ring, Rylah. It’s time for us to prepare to hold it by force. All of it, not only what Luxarn stole.”

  Fourteen

  Malcolm

  “Dad?”

  Just like that, everything changed. Only one person would call me that. Maybe whoever said the word wasn’t talking to me. I didn’t know Aria’s voice well anymore. Seeing her one time in five years would do that. Maybe after what happened with Wai and a lack of sleep, I was hearing things.

  I wanted more than anything to turn and look, but my feet felt like they were submerged in wet plasticrete. A gentle hand fell upon my shoulder as someone glided in front of me. I saw curly auburn hair first, then freckles dappling a rosy cheek, then Aria’s eyes, green as the forests of Earth used to be.

  “By Trass, you’re alive!” she exclaimed. The sound of her excitement… now I was totally lost. Was it my aging mind playing a trick on me or my eyes growing fuzzy? After so many years wondering where she went off to, was it really possible that she would be the one to find me?

  My tongue tripped over a few responses until the first one that slipped out was “Trass?”

  “New habit, I guess.” She paused to use her soft hand to angle my wrinkled face toward hers. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get myself to look straight at her without the help. Hell, I could hardly breathe. “I can’t believe it’s you!” She threw her arms around me so tight I thought my head was going to pop. Now I knew I had to be dreaming. She hadn’t hugged me like that since… I can’t remember how long. Something poked into my chest, and as she drew back a bit, I saw the Ark Ship figurine I used to carry with me after we split ways. The narrow crack running down the middle where she’d once snapped it meant it had to be the same one.

  “Dad,” she said. “Are you all right?”

  I stumbled out of her embrace and had to use a wall to keep myself upright. My heart was pounding; a sensation I thought I’d grown out of. Like I was in my first firefight or with a lady for the first time, or maybe having a heart attack. I squeezed my fist against my chest and struggled to steady my breathing.

  “Dad.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “You surprised me is all.”

  “Surprised you? I thought you were dead!”

  “So did I.”

  “How long have you been here? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t realize we did that.”

  Her lips twisted. “Dad…”

  “Sorry… I… I don’t know what to say.”

  “You think I do? I never thought I’d see you in a Departure Lottery line.”

  The world suddenly snapped back into focus. This wasn’t a dream.

  I looked from side to side. The line had moved a few spots forward, and the people who’d gathered behind me were grumbling that I wasn’t moving. I stepped away from them. M-Day Departure... What was wrong with me? For a moment, I was like all the fools around us, thinking I’d be one of the lucky thousands sent off to other solar systems that’d actually survive the journey and not just feel honored by a massive waste of time.

  “Oh, I didn’t even realize where I was,” I said. “It’s been a long day.”

  “Tell me about—”

  “It’s great to see you, Aria,” I interrupted her accidentally.

  “You too. Better circumstances than last time.” She chuckled. The sound of it made my heart flutter. I couldn’t imagine how many nights I’d lain awake trying to remember what her laugh sounded like before I took a drink to force myself down.

  “I guess a good father would scold you for getting involved with people like that.”

  “A good father wouldn’t have raised a daughter who would,” she retorted.

  “I deserve that one.” I finally mustered the courage to place a hand on her shoulder and make sure one last time she wasn’t a hallucination. It didn’t pass through. Maybe I wasn’t used to her adult stature, but she felt stronger than I recalled. “Really, though. I’m glad you got out.”

  Her brow furrowed as she took my hand. “You must not watch the news feeds at all anymore.”

  “I try not to.”

  She stepped aside to reveal two men standing in her shadow, holding pulse-rifles. At first glance, they looked like your average Old Dome gangbangers with their dirty faces, but while both were tall, one had features so stretched out and a body so stringy he could only be from once place—Titan. And their weapons. They were the same old Venta Co. model I’d found the Children of Titan using back on their homeworld. They were Ringers all right, and all that was missing was that damn orange circle painted on their chests.

  My hand instinctually fell toward the grip of my pistol. I wasn’t about to be caught off guard by the Children of Titan again. They immediately shifted to aim in my direction.

  “Kal—Lord Trass insisted they come along,” she said, guiding my hand away from my gun. “He doesn’t realize that I know this place better than anybody, thanks to you.”

  “You’re working directly for Kale Trass now?”

  “What, is Pervenio keeping you under a rock?” She pointed to a viewscreen above a bar in the shoddy restaurant nearby. On it, a news feed played footage from Kale Trass’s meeting with the USF Assembly, which had apparently already taken place. It was a private summit, so all they could show was Kale and his accomplices leaving the New Beijing Assembly Building. The young king wore a scowl. A host of Ringer escorts were behind him, and the woman at his side wasn’t the scarred one who always accompanied him in feeds. It wasn’t a Ringer at all. It was Aria, her fire-red hair starkly contrasting the white worn by the others.

  “They let a doctor in there?” I asked.

  “No, Dad. I’m Titan’s ambassador to the USF. You really didn’t know?”

  “No…” How the hell had I missed that? Ever since I’d woken up from my coma, I’d been telling myself that I’d helped her get out from under the thumb of the Children of Titan. But there she was, my daughter, side by side with the rebel who’d conquered the Ring.

  “That bombing earlier,” I rasped, my chest growing tight.

  “Missed.”

  “It was damn well close enough! After what I did to get you out of there, you really went crawling back?”

  “I guess I am your daughter.”

  “That isn’t the point. Kale Trass is dangerous. You could have been crushed like Wai or worse.”

  “Wai? Would you listen to yourself, Dad? You never gave a shit about what I did unless it had to do with one of your missions.”

  “I…” There I went agai
n, pushing away like I always did. I took a deep breath to calm myself and steady my quaking hands. I was going to do my best not to make that mistake again.

  “I always cared, Aria,” I said.

  She sighed. “Look. I don’t want to argue with you. I’m so tired of it. Until now, I wasn’t sure why I needed to come down here, but can’t we just sit down and talk like old times? I could really use it.”

  “You’re right, so could I. You name any place on the Tongueway, we’ll go.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t call it that.”

  “I didn’t come up with the name. Come on, anywhere. Just keep those two Ringers off me.”

  She shot me an irritated look then said, “Twilight Sun?”

  Of course she chose there. I honestly didn’t remember until that moment that it was the bar I’d sent her to the last time we were on Mars together, intending to get close to a criminal named Elios Sevari. They fell in lust, and then he died because of me. Story of my life. I couldn’t say why she’d ever want to go back, but now that I was truly observing her, I could tell she was distressed. And for once, it had nothing to do with me.

  “After this morning, I’m probably not welcome there,” I said.

  “Oh, Dad, what did you do?”

  “Long story… and it wasn’t my fault.” I heard sirens again and in my peripherals saw the entrance to the Three Messiahs convent. It swarmed with Venta Co. security interrogating the worshippers. “On second thought? How about we just head in there?” I gestured to a brightly lit bar across the street.

  Aria smirked. “You’ll never change.”

  I noticed that the bar was nestled above a strip joint. “It’s not that. I just don’t think these old legs can get much farther.” I patted my artificial leg without thinking. She didn’t notice the clank over the din of the noisy streets. That was going to be a fun story to tell her. Five years and one awful encounter on Titan in between… We had a lot to catch up on.

  “What are you having?” I asked as we took a seat at the bar. The floor vibrated, and the bottles behind the bartender rattled from the pulsing music in the club below. My kind of place. At least, it would’ve been if not for the two hulking Titanborn guards standing behind us, sticking out like a sore thumb.