“I don’t drink anymore,” she said.
“And you call yourself my daughter.” I waved to the bartender. “Two whiskeys, rocks.”
“Dad.”
“You don’t drink it, I will.” I took out my ID to hand over so the bartender could scan it and take the rest of what little was left in my credit account.
“Water too,” Aria said as she blocked my hand and offered her ID instead. Per the USF, she was illegitimate, so I couldn’t say who the thing belonged to until she told me willingly. Not that I could talk, considering my ID said Haglin Amissum.
“I have to use Titan’s credits on something,” Aria whispered to me.
I smirked. “Fine by me. Credits are tight these days.”
“I can imagine. I’m sorry about what’s happening to Pervenio, Dad. I know you care about the company. I swear, when I got involved in all of this, I didn’t want it to affect you.”
“It’s not that. I retired.” The bartender had given her a glass of water by the time I uttered the words, and she choked on her first sip.
“You’re retired?”
I shrugged. “That’s why I’m here.”
“By Tra… Wow. I thought only you dying could cause that.”
“Same.” My first whiskey arrived, and I downed half of it in a single gulp. The swill burned all the way down, but man, did I need it.
“Well, after three decades, Pervenio must have offered you a nice severance?”
“Yep. A new leg.”
She raised an eyebrow, so I lifted my pants leg. Her eyelids opened as far as they could go as she beheld the artificial limb beneath. She’d probably never seen tech like it in her life, considering I hadn’t either. She reached out to touch it, then paused.
“It’s fine,” I said. She immediately grabbed the foot and started turning it gently so she could examine every side.
“It’s amazing!” she exclaimed. “Is there sensation?”
I shook my head. “Very little. My reward for accidentally kicking off a revolution on Titan.”
She dropped the limb. “Trust me, it was going to happen whether you got me out of there or not.”
“None of you have any idea who the man I shot to save you was, do you?”
“One of Luxarn Pervenio’s Cogents?”
What happened on Titan flashed through my head as it did so often when I was sober. I heard the bang of our pulse pistols going off, then the hole in Zhaff’s face, which he’d somehow survived enough to become a curiosity in Luxarn’s secret lab. I emptied the rest of my glass and picked up the other.
“That, yes,” I said softly. “And a friend.”
“You have friends now?” Her grin faded when she noticed I wasn’t wearing one. She took my hand and gazed straight at me, the brilliant green eyes she got from her mother teeming with remorse. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I would’ve done it the same way every time. I only wish you’d done the smart thing and kept running.”
“I thought about it, Dad. I really did. But I couldn’t leave my patients and all my work behind. I did take one bit of your advice, though.”
“Yeah?”
“I got Elios’ son out of there on a fleeing transport. He’ll be better off placed in some clan-family after they scan through all the refugees.”
“Then you’re smarter than me. But I still wished you went with him. Being their doctor is a far cry from Kale Trass’s ambassador to fucking Earth.”
“You always taught me not to settle.”
“There’s a far cry from what my job was to helping a terror cell.”
“Is there? We didn’t talk for five years, Dad. I can handle myself. You have no idea the things I did to survive, to get in a position with Venta that I might be able to help the people of Titan. I spent a long time wanting to distance myself from you, but… it took seeing you that day to realize how similar we are.”
There was a time I would have dreamed of hearing her utter those words. I’d spent so long trying to groom her into a collector after all. Now hearing them made my stomach turn over. “Trust me, we aren’t. I was never good at helping people. Can’t you go back to just healing them?”
“There’s still time for both. I helped pull out the bullet you put in Rylah’s leg that day.”
“Rylah…” Now there was a name that could always get my blood pumping, of course until I remembered that the last time I saw her on Titan, she’d tried to have me killed. “You know, I figured she was part of the Children of Titan somehow. Don’t know how she managed to lie to a Cogent, though, if anyone could, it’s her. A bullet to the leg was generous.”
“I’m not judging.”
“How is she?”
“She regrets how you two left things.” She could barely keep a straight face.
“Sure. I’m guessing she’s the reason you’re still alive?” Her one eyebrow lifted a smidge like it always did when she was confused, ever since she was a little girl. “C’mon, Aria. Those men in the Q-zone hideout weren’t just shooting at me.”
“I like to tell myself that they were trying to get me away from you, but I know how it looked. I risked letting a collector in, things went south, and our hideout was exposed. Rylah helped smooth things over, since she was the one who got me in contact with the Children of Titan in the first place, but Kale trusts me now. He’s—” She hesitated, and I sensed there was more to her thought. I jumped in too soon and cut her off.
“Trust will never make you one of them.”
“I know. And I know this all seems crazy, but this would be happening with or without me. I figure I might as well try keeping the transition as peaceful as I can, you know?”
“You’ll have your hands full with this bunch.”
“Nobody knows that better than me.”
I tapped my artificial thigh. “I might.”
We shared a smirk, then Aria’s expression darkened. “Do you think there’s any hope of things getting better?”
“Between us?” She shot me one of her infamous sidelong glares. I exhaled. “Do you want the honest answer or a father’s answer?”
“I don’t know. Both maybe?”
I took her by the hand, my thumb running over her knuckles. I wanted to memorize every slope so I would never forget her touch again. “I think that with you at their side, those Ringers are a hell of a lot better off. But no. Things will never be how they were. We both know that. The moment I pulled that trigger on Titan, everything changed.”
She nodded knowingly. “I could see how difficult it was for you, Dad. I don’t know how I could possibly make it up to you.”
I reached out and stroked the pendant hanging from her neck. “You never have to.”
“To your fallen friend,” she said, raising her glass. “May he watch over you forever from the winds of Titan. From ice to ashes.”
“You really are one of them now, aren’t you?”
“I blend in when I have to. I learned that from you.”
I stared at her for a moment as she held her glass. Man, had she grown up. Stronger than me; more beautiful than her mother. And the way she was smiling—we hadn’t gotten along this well in a decade. What happened on Titan changed something. The ease with which we could disagree on almost everything remained, but the fight was gone.
I lifted my second whiskey, the first already burning a hole in my stomach and leaving my head feeling less cluttered. “To Zhaff…” I paused. All his life, he was kept a secret. His almost-death too. With Aria beside me, the shooter and the reason for the shot, thanks to his father, it was the best funeral he’d ever get. “Pervenio,” I finished.
The color drained from Aria’s face. The same look I probably wore when Luxarn Pervenio told me the truth about his bastard son, the only member of a clan-family he didn’t have. First, there was disbelief, and then, when my straight lips didn’t falter, I could tell she knew it was the truth. That she finally understood the gravity of the gunshot that saved her life. The
reason why Luxarn Pervenio was foolish enough to raid a quarantine zone for revenge and inspire Kale Trass’s rebellion.
“To Zhaff,” she said softly.
We tapped our glasses, and before I could toss mine back, blood splattered into it. Screams rattled the bar as patrons scattered. Aria’s Titanborn guards had been standing behind us, and both had holes in their foreheads. I reached for my pistol, but alcohol slowed my movements. Before I could get it up, we were at the mercy of at least a dozen Venta Co. gunmen. The two in the middle were the collectors I’d become so friendly with, apparently called off their questioning of the Herald to find me. It didn’t take thirty years of experience in their field to guess that someone at the convent tipped them off that a man by my description was involved.
“Hold your fire!” I blurted as I raised my hands. I tried to remain calm, but Aria was in their sights as well. I wasn’t about to let my mistakes place her in harm’s way for the umpteenth time. “I’ll come in quietly.”
“Dad?” Aria stuttered.
“Take her,” the brash lead collector said. Officers stormed forward to seize Aria.
“What is this?!” she shouted.
“Let go of her!” I lunged for her, but the butt of a rifle slammed against my temple before I got far. My body collapsed on top of one of the armored Titanborn corpses. I saw stars. Aria’s cries for help were drowned out by screeches. The collectors flashed their badges to pacify the patrons, and then they were gone. I don’t know what hurt more, the blow to the face or the fact that they didn’t even recognize me. Either the blood from Aria’s guards obscured my face or they had more important things to worry about. Young guns. Always too eager for credits to pay attention to all the finer details.
I floundered along the floor. By the time I located my gun and spun around, they were all gone. I stumbled to the balcony overlooking the Tongueway. The people out there who’d somehow missed the excitement all surrounded me, asking if I was okay. I ignored them and searched the nighttime crowds. The head Venta collector in the duster was easy to spot across the street. They were on their way to a parked hovercar, Aria’s body hanging limply over the partner’s shoulder.
Even though I was in a fog, I didn’t hesitate. I launched myself over the railing and bent my human leg so that only the synthetic one slammed on the street. I didn’t tuck cleanly into a roll like my younger self might’ve, but I found my way to my feet and gave chase.
I wasn’t going to lose her. Never again.
Fifteen
Kale
A Red Wing Company airship transported us to the New Beijing Spaceport in the dead of night. The upper portion of the city appeared lifeless minus the ads, but lights pulsed from clubs and other nightlife venues down in Old Dome below the main throughways. Like back in Darien where I grew up, the Earthers who designed the city kept the more dubious venues buried. Down there in what Aria referred to as Old Dome, New Beijing was a sleepless city.
That was where she still remained, and neither she nor the guards I’d sent with her had answered any messages since I let her venture there. She’d told me she’d grown up there, scrumming for food in the tremendous sewer lines and subway tunnels. I couldn’t imagine what I was thinking letting her leave my side. She was far too important. If anybody recognized her…
“We’re here,” our pilot said, snapping me out of it.
I was overthinking things as usual. Aria could handle herself, I’d learned that well enough. If she could deal with Rin, she could deal with any strung-out offworlder in Old Dome looking for a quick payday. Nobody else would dare risk making so public a move.
My guards led me outside, where the Red Wing presence on our newly assigned landing pad was overwhelming. A quick peek into the concourse revealed that not a single civilian remained within the spaceport dome itself.
“There won’t be any trouble this time, Mr. Trass,” Captain Barnes from Red Wing security said as he met me outside the terminal. He bore only a few scratches on his already grizzled face as a result of the explosion.
“I hope not,” I answered, a harsh edge creeping into my tone. We were halfway through the station when he decided to speak up again.
“The board extends its gravest apologies for what happened,” he said. “There will be no more Venta interference from here on out. Remember, Mr. Trass, when the Red Wing Company security branch gets hired, we honor our agreements, no matter what.”
“And what kind of offer would it take to get you to change your mind?”
Barnes looked appalled. “It would never happen, sir. We aren’t like Venta dogs chasing after the highest bid. We were hired to keep you safe during your visit, and we failed. The board would like to offer recompense for the trauma our shortcomings caused you and your people as well as the two Titanborn lives claimed by the attack. They hope you will find the time to contact them and discuss what you might require to make your organization whole.”
“I’m a very busy man these days.”
“Please, sir. We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
I exhaled. I’d had very few good experiences with his kind, but most of them still didn’t refer to us as Titanborn. I hoped that meant something regarding his honesty. “Tell whoever is in charge that I’ll be in contact when I can,” I said.
“The board votes together on all matters of importance, but they will be eager to speak with you.” We stopped outside the entrance to our private hangar, where the Cora waited patiently to carry us home. The captain stuck out a hand for me to shake, realized his mistake before I had a chance to react, and pulled it back. He bowed instead. “Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Trass.”
“Keep this hangar under lockdown until we’re gone. I don’t want another soul within one hundred meters without consulting me.”
“Of course.”
Barnes allowed my escort and me in, then shut the gate behind us and started relaying orders to his men. Rin and the Titanborn we’d left with the Cora were finishing loading supplies. Two others lay on gurneys, wrapped in body bags, thanks to the bombing. None of my people were getting left behind. The ashes of the dead would be loosed upon the winds of Titan, where they were meant to be.
“I trust the meeting went as expected?” Rin shouted down from the entry ramp.
“As if you’d scripted it,” I replied.
“Trass-damned mudstompers. Don’t know when they’re beat.”
“Do you have him?”
“Even better.”
Her sanitary mask lifted from a smirk beneath as she helped me up the ramp. Inside the cargo bay, three people with bags over their heads were on their knees in front of Gareth. Basaam Venta, the chubby man in the center, was clearly born of Earth, but the unfamiliar women on either side of him bore the slighter builds of offworlders.
“The one on the right is his clan-relative,” Rin said.
“Caught them in his hotel room trying to legally conceive,” Gareth signed. “A bit of vacation romance.”
“And the other?” I asked.
“An illegitimate from the sewers. Apparently, she was along for the ride.”
“Earthers…” Rin groaned.
I tore the bag off Basaam’s head. Messy graying hair tumbled out over his shoulders. He and Madame Venta couldn’t have been groomed more oppositely. His shaggy beard was a mess, his skin brown like caramel. The only thing they had in common was that, like her, ancient-style spectacles sat on the ridge of his nose, fogged by grime from his journey up.
I removed the sanitary mask strung tight over his mouth to muffle his cries. “What is the meaning of this?” he coughed. He fixed his glasses and glared at me, eyes magnified by the thick lenses. “Kale Trass? Does Madame Venta know about this? Your employees violated more codes of conduct than I can list. Do you—”
I placed a finger over his mouth. Words spewed forth from his lips so fast that his tongue could hardly keep up. Many considered him one of the brainiest men in Sol, and it showe
d.
“They aren’t my employees,” I said.
“Well, in any case, this is not proper business etiquette,” he said. “I presume your meeting with the USF didn’t go how you’d hoped. If you think taking me can convince Madame Venta to sway the opinion of the entire Assembly, you are in dire need of education.”
“He’s been blathering on like this since we grabbed him,” Rin groaned.
“I’m being reasonable!” Basaam countered. “When she finds out you took me—”
“We’ll be too far for her to do anything about it,” I said. “Your head of security is already dead, so I suggest you shut your mouth if you plan not to join him.”
He swallowed hard and fiddled more with his glasses. “What do you want?” he asked finally.
“You’re developing engine prototypes for your upcoming Departure Ark. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Fusion pulse engines, until I can think of a better name. They utilize supercritical fusion pulses of hydrogen-boron for propulsion, resulting in exponentially faster acceleration and top speeds that dwarf the best current ion-impulse drive tech. Nearly impossible to stabilize the plasma flow, but less reliance on our gas giant’s rare assets.”
“He didn’t ask for a report,” Rin bristled.
“Does it work?” I asked.
“Of course it does!” Basaam attested. “I invented it. We will be unveiling the prototype at this year’s M-Day celebrations on Earth after we are undoubtedly chosen to design the Ark. This is all public knowledge, Mr. Trass, so if you kidnapped me simply to ask these questions, then I suggest you employ someone capable of utilizing Solnet.”
“Place them in sleep pods,” I said to Gareth. “We have what we came here for.”
Gareth immediately grabbed both Basaam and his clan-relative by their collars. Another Titanborn took the unfortunate streetwalker who shared their bed, and together they dragged the three toward the ship’s central corridor.
Titan's Rise: (Children of Titan Book 3) Page 21
