Gaining just a slight boost by shooting the guns in his hands, ADIM was able to grab hold of the hull of the Shadow Chariot and climb back inside. The cockpit sealed tight behind him, Cassius’ formidable engineering skills keeping it intact through the entirety of the affair.
“The executor is dead, Creator,” ADIM informed Cassius.
“Well done, ADIM. Reduce his ship to scraps and proceed to Ennomos. That’s all the Tribune needs to see. I have business I must attend to now. Message me when you reach the bomb. Farewell.”
The cold silence of Cassius switching off his comm-link returned as ADIM brought his ship about and launched a cluster of missiles at the executor-class ship. He expected it, but it was jarring, nonetheless.
All the Tribune would know of ADIM’s existence now, and he wished he could share this pivotal moment with his Creator. But he understood. Time was of the essence, and he had helped Cassius plan for far too long to let curiosity stand in the way.
Storing all his questions in his memory banks, he pushed the Shadow Chariot’s engines to full thrust and reestablished course for Ennomos.
30
Chapter Thirty—Sage
The Tribunal freighter holding Sage, Talon, and Vellish was being escorted away from Ceresian space so that they could be dealt with. They were locked in the brig, stripped of their weapons, a plasma shield detaining them in a small cell. Its orangey shimmer was only visible at certain angles, like a translucent film, but it was hot enough to peel the skin from their bones should they try to escape.
“I didn’t see it ending like this,” Talon said.
He sat against the wall of their tiny cell next to Sage. Vellish was sleeping off the pain from his wound across the way. They’d dressed it as best they could with the clothes beneath their armor, but he’d already lost a lot of blood. Their captors didn’t seem to care.
Sage turned to Talon, reached out to place a reassuring hand on his thigh, and then decided against it. “It’s not over,” she assured him.
Talon’s pitiful laugh turned into a series of guttural coughs. She’d noticed since the battle that his strength was waning fast. At first, she looked into his solemn, sunken eyes and thought he was merely giving up, but there was more to it. As much as he tried to hide it, he barely had the strength to lift his arms.
“Please, Agatha.” He smiled thinly in her direction. “You saved my life once today. I don’t need you risking anything else. A pretty woman like yourself, not born on Ceres, they might make use of, but me? Do you know what the Tribune does to purebred Ceresians who dare attack them?”
Cut off their arms? Sage thought, remembering what she had done when she caught the bomber in New Terrene.
“Better than most,” she said out loud, letting her head fall back against the wall. She glanced toward their cell’s entrance. Even her synthetic arm could do nothing against a plasma shield. Not that it mattered. She’d seen a New Earth cruiser approaching through the freighter’s viewport before they were captured, which meant that at least a Hand was present. Somebody with clearance enough to know what she was. When the Tribune discovered the truth, she would be spared.
Then why do I care?
“I’ve heard stories of how they torture those they consider to be heretics.” Talon pointed to his forehead. “Rather them put a bullet right here and make it quick.”
“I’ll ask them to,” Sage joked, though it didn’t take her long to realize that it might come to that. Talon attempted to laugh, but all that came was yet more coughing.
“I just hoped I’d get to see her one last time,” Talon whispered. He looked like he was about to cry.
Sage furrowed her brow in response. Her human palm began to sweat. Her?
“My daughter,” Talon quickly clarified, apparently noticing her concern. “You saw her with me once. Cute girl, eyes like mine. She’s six now, and she’s all I have…”
Sage breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, the little girl. She remembered seeing her out of the corner of her eye while playing cards on Ceres. Her relief quickly turned to heartache as it dawned on her what that meant for him.
“Talon…” she whispered gently, unconsciously threading her hand through his fingers. Both of them took a deep, startled gasp as she did. She stared down at their intertwined fingers, completely unsure of what she was doing.
I will not lose faith amongst the faithless, she recited to herself almost out of instinct, but she didn’t let go. “I really would like to see her again one day,” she said. “To really meet her.”
She felt Talon squeeze a little tighter as he replied, “You and me both. I’d love to see her grow into a woman.” He looked directly at Sage, a heavy tear rolling down his cheek. “A woman like you, maybe. But that was never in the cards for me.”
Sage opened her mouth to tell him, to let him know who she really was, and that she could convince the Tribune to spare his life. But just as her mouth opened, she noticed something peculiar about Talon’s hands. Their captors had removed his gloves.
As pale as his Ceresian skin was, the veins running down the top of them glowed ever so slightly in the dim light. Most people wouldn’t recognize it, but she had seen a number of those afflicted. The blue was unnatural, and it would explain why he was so physically sore even though he appeared to be in fine shape. It was still in the early stages of development, but at that moment she knew why he had taken this foolish mission.
“The blue death,” she said somberly, raising his hand to examine it.
Talon pulled away and shot her an exasperated glare. Or was it relieved?
“How did you know?” he asked.
“Your hands. The veins always start to grow brighter around the extremities before it spreads.” She shifted her body to sit in front of him and went to grab both of his hands so she could get a better look. He was hesitant at first, but eventually allowed her to take them.
“How long?” she asked.
“Little under a year now. Didn’t notice anything wrong for a few months.” Talon began breathing heavier as soon as the words escaped his lips. A layer of sweat accumulated over his brow, and she could tell he had probably never opened up about it to anybody. Maybe not even Julius. Only by keeping his affliction a secret could he avoid being sent to serve the Keepers, as all those with the blue death throughout the Circuit were supposed to be.
“I was working the mines on Kalliope,” he continued. “A typical day down there, until Zargo Morastus, Zaimur’s father, arrived for an inspection. They never told us exactly what happened, but we all suspect. An assassin was gunning for the old man and tampered with the gravity generator. I was meeting with Zargo on my time off, not for business, just talking about old times together back when I used to be one of his chief enforcers.”
Enforcer. That explains why his friends respect everything he says, Sage noted.
“That was when it happened,” Talon said, gently biting his lower lip to control his shaking. “The generator overloaded. He and I were the closest to the gravitum leak, and both of us paid for it dearly. The disease is crippling him faster, but I won’t be far behind.”
Sage didn’t say anything at first, just stared at him. Studied the emotion racking every bit of his expression. She’d felt sadness like it before, but it was so long ago. So muted and in the background thanks to her implant and training. A distant memory that seemed more like a dream.
“I’m so sorry,” she said finally. That’s it? she scolded herself, but she didn’t know what else to say. At least she knew that she’d meant it, and truthfully, she knew she shouldn’t care. He was Ceresian.
“It’s ironic, really,” Talon said. “I stopped fighting for Zargo because I didn’t want Elisha to lose her father, but in the end, I couldn’t escape my fate. We were just sharing a drink, reminiscing before he left to return to Ceres. Maybe we deserved it for all the people we’d hurt in the name of his clan, I don’t know. When you know for sure that there’s such little time left in your
life, none of that matters anymore… only Elisha.”
He went to wipe his eyes, and Sage embraced him. It happened before she could think to stop it. What am I doing?
“You will see her again,” she whispered directly into his ear. “I promise.” Her hands rubbed his back, sliding up to run through his short hair. Talon gripped her shoulders to hold her back so he could look into her eyes.
“You can’t promise that.” He brushed a strand of hair back over her ear, their gazes locked together as if forcefully bound.
“I made a promise once…” Sage paused, the face of a young, handsome man flashing through her mind, making her wince. She ignored it and held firm. “And I broke it. I won’t break a promise again.”
“Agatha… who are you?” Talon smiled through his tears and leaned in toward her when suddenly there was a loud discharge of energy. The cell’s plasma field deactivated. Their heads snapped around to see a cohort of soldiers approaching.
“On your feet, Ceresian scum!” their commander grumbled as he walked in.
His green armor was far more decorative than the others’, with the golden palms printed on his shoulders denoting that he was a Tribunal Hand. The collection of long, scabrous scars running down from his shaved head helped Sage identify which one.
Yavortha, she thought darkly. He served Tribune Benjar Vakari directly, and was one of the few members of the Tribunal military who outranked even her. She’d seen him in action a few times, but she’d heard even more stories of his cruel and often uncompromising tendencies. Benjar gave him a long leash.
“Come on now!” Yavortha kicked Vellish in the gut to wake him, causing him to hunch over and begin coughing up blood. This left Yavortha with little choice but to hoist him up by the back and drag him out himself.
Sage helped Talon to his feet before soldiers seized them and bound their hands behind their backs.
“We’ll be okay,” Sage whispered to him, but she could tell by his expression and dragging soles that he didn’t believe it.
“Time for your trial.” Yavortha snickered, lugging a half-conscious Vellish along.
Sage knew he was just making a harsh joke. There were no trials for those who stood against the New Earth Tribunal in battle. She would be safe once her identity was discovered, but the others had nothing to offer. They were as good as dead. Unless…
The blue death! Her eyes widened with newfound hope. The Keepers of the Circuit. Her heart began to race. That sacred duty was how she would keep Talon alive.
31
Chapter Thirty-One—Adim
The Shadow Chariot touched down gracefully within the station on Ennomos. ADIM powered the ship down and vaulted out of the cockpit. Then he unlatched the cargo container fixed to the back and carried a container of food in each hand.
“Creator, this unit has arrived on Ennomos,” he informed Cassius, then stood in place to wait for an answer. When one didn’t come after a few minutes, he headed toward the lift, his eyes beginning to spin.
The Creator must be busy.
The hangar was empty of any being except for him. The mining bots had all been transported to the drill on Titan, and there were only six fully repaired Tribunal freighters sitting quietly in a row. ADIM placed his hand against the security scanner at the back of the space, opening the door into the lift. He had to turn sideways to enter with the containers in his hands.
Once down in the labs, he moved through a short corridor to a reinforced door. Behind it, almost fifty male and female survivors from ADIM’s freighter attacks sat on the floor of an otherwise empty storage room.
ADIM again placed his hand over the door’s security scanner to open it. The people inside appeared clean, their Tribunal service suits not tattered or covered in grime. They were emaciated, some of them shivering from the cold temperature. A narrow trough ran around the edges, able to be filled with water so they could scoop out handfuls.
All their eyes were dulled by deprivation and fear. It took them a few moments to notice that somebody was present, but as soon as they realized, their dejected stares shifted to face him. Until they saw it was ADIM. Most cowered against the walls.
“Help us…” one of the brave ones managed to groan.
ADIM placed the container down in the center of the room. He entered a code into a pad on it, causing the lid to pop off and slide to the side. Inside were smaller containers filled with enough ration bars and other nutrients to last them for a month if used prudently.
“You all must eat,” ADIM stated.
None of them budged. Even as their hawkish eyes widened and they began to salivate, none of them dared move. It was why Cassius wouldn’t let ADIM detain any military personnel from the freighters. Engineers, aides, and janitors were never quick to act rashly, and, as predicted, they didn’t turn on each other. Even starving and terrified, they remained docile.
“Why are you doing this to us?” another one of them rasped.
“The Creator does not wish any of you to die. You must eat,” ADIM responded as he backed out of the room.
“Who are you?”
Ignoring the question, ADIM sealed the door behind him. Then he paused. Cassius had always told him to keep his identity hidden, but that was before the executor had set eyes upon him. He wondered if the captives too were supposed to know what he was as well.
“Forgive my delay, ADIM.” Cassius’ voice filled his head, and nothing else mattered. “Preparations at my end have kept me busy.”
“The captives have been fed,” ADIM replied.
“Good. It is—”
ADIM cut him off, his eyes beginning to revolve. “This unit sensed heightened anxiety upon entering the room. On the freighters they had reason to be frightened, but even as this unit offers them nutrients, they remain so.”
“Of course they are. They are weak. Meager tools of the Tribune.”
ADIM watched them on the holoscreen monitoring the inside of the room. Only a few were brave enough to approach the container and peer inside. And even they trembled as they removed the contents and analyzed every angle of them.
“This unit will be discovered by the Circuit soon,” ADIM said. “Will all humans be frightened?”
There was a brief pause before Cassius answered, “Humans are always afraid of what they do not understand. Those of the Tribune especially. It will take them time to see what a magnificent work of art you truly are.” Cassius stopped again, as if he knew ADIM’s eyes had begun to churn more vigorously than before. “But they will.”
“Are you afraid?” There was never any emotion in ADIM’s voice unless he was mimicking a human, but he hesitated before carefully enunciating each word. He couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying.
“Of course not! I’ve known you from the first wire I laid down on the table. As I knew my own son. We will make them see, ADIM. Together we will make them strong.”
ADIM’s eyes slowed down and he didn’t respond right away. He was pleased by the response. He continued down the hall and entered the lab’s airlock. A loud beep rang, and then a web of lights lowered through the room to clean him of any potential contaminants.
“Purification complete,” a robotic voice announced. Then the inner door into the laboratory opened.
It was a generously sized room, with equipment and holoscreens arranged everywhere in an outwardly disorganized manner that only Cassius could comprehend. Everything switched on upon ADIM’s entry, but nothing was brighter than the glowing blue chamber at the other end of the lab.
A thick, metal-latticed structure surrounded a sphere of roiling blue so resplendent that it was like staring at a newly birthed star. It had the appearance of a gravity generator, though its purpose was far less innocent.
“This unit has reached the gravitum bomb,” ADIM said as he stepped over the power lines feeding it.
“Simulations can only tell us so much,” Cassius replied. “It is time we see how effective this new weapon really is. Key the loading seque
nce.”
As ADIM got closer, his sensors detected the intense level of heat emanating from it. He moved in front of a holoscreen and typed in a few commands. Once he was done, a ceiling shaft directly above the device irised open, feeding up into the main hangar. The bomb began to rise through it.
“The sequence is initiated,” ADIM said. “Where shall this unit test the weapon?”
“Switch on the map,” Cassius replied.
ADIM keyed a few more commands into the holoscreen. A diagrammatic map of the Circuit lit up behind him.
“The target is 22 Kalliope,” Cassius continued. “An M-type asteroid with an orbital period of one thousand eight hundred and fourteen days.”
ADIM navigated the projection by swiping his hands, expanding a region in the asteroid belt. He shuffled across the image until he located the small asteroid and enlarged it alongside all relevant data.
“It is a mining facility owned by the Morastus Clan,” ADIM stated. “A leading component of the Ceresian Pact. This unit does not comprehend. Isn’t the New Earth Tribunal our enemy?”
“All people are our enemies for now,” Cassius explained. “The Earth Reclaimer War was a battle for control of our homeland, and though the Tribune may have won, the Circuit itself remains unchanged. Now they try to bleed the Ceresians out slowly over time. I’d wager they are willing to wait centuries, but our little attack will shatter what fragile peace remains to tie the Circuit together. They will blame the Tribune for your attack, and we will draw our greatest threats back into open war.”
It never took long for ADIM to grasp the entirety of Cassius’ machinations, even if his Creator liked to slowly disseminate information. ADIM didn’t mind. In fact, he enjoyed the slow reveal of plans. It led to more conversations like this one.
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