by Eva Brandt
I should have asked the Great Mother about it when we’d been in Nexus, but it had slipped my mind. But I knew that those dreams of mine had been, in some way, real. Before my kidnapping, I’d never heard the name ‘Heliad’. It had only appeared in my dreams and it wasn’t something I could have known. Did that mean this new vision was true as well? There was only one way of finding out.
My chimera had been there, in my vision, although she had been in her flesh and blood form. She had to remember something, no matter how vague. Taking a deep breath, I reached out to her with my mind. “Sphinx… Do you by any chance recall a meeting between you and the other chimeras? Something that concerned your decision to join forces with us Terrans?”
My bond with Sphinx was still strained because of what I’d done during the attack of Gaia’s Haven. Still, my chimera heard me and promptly provided me with a reply. “I recall we did have one, but the details are blurry. I think some of us weren’t very happy with the idea of serving humans, but ultimately, Gaia and Tartarus intervened.”
That was pretty much what I’d seen, although those details Sphinx couldn’t remember were very relevant for our current situation. Still holding onto our connection, I asked, “Do you know what happened to the others? To the chimeras that are now dormant?”
I spoke out loud, addressing the question to Jared, as well as Sphinx. “They should be at the Hades Base on the moon,” Sphinx replied. “Most of the time, that’s where old chimera shells go when they’re no longer usable. There are furnaces where the special alloy is crafted and it’s just more practical to store the mechas in the same place.”
“On the moon, I think,” Jared offered at the same time, “although last I heard, there are a few who are occasionally given to individuals to keep. I checked the tracker codes individually when I was looking into the systems at Tartarus Base and noticed that several known chimeras were sent to a classified location.”
“Which ones?” I asked, finally getting up on my haunches.
“I remember Medusa and Pegasus. There might have been more, but I didn’t have time to look.” Jared scowled. “Why? Is it important?”
“I don’t know yet.” I rubbed my temples, trying to chase away an impending headache. “It might be. It’s certainly not information we can discard.”
According to my vision, Tartarus and Gaia hadn’t entrusted chimeras to mankind out of a sudden decision to help us. It had been a trap and a test, a way for people to prove to themselves and others that they were more than power-hungry lunatics. My ancestors had utterly failed, which was what had brought us to this horrible situation.
But I couldn’t make any rushed judgments, not before I had a real plan. Sphinx and Jared had more or less confirmed it, but their answers had been a little too vague. I needed to find out more before I drew my conclusion,
“Where are we now?” I asked.
“An abandoned shelter north of New Washington. It isn’t used anymore because the radiation got too powerful to contain. The priestesses of Gaia haven’t terra-formed it yet either. We’re safe here, for now.”
I took a quick look around and determined that, indeed, this looked like one of the places I’d visited as a child, when my mother had still taken me along for terra-forming expeditions. The air had a very distinctive sulphurous scent which reminded me a little of Tartarus Base. There were a few metallic shelves and cots, things that had endured the test of time. Most of it was damaged and covered in rust. The cot I was lying in was the only thing that was usable. I had no idea how Jared had managed to procure it.
“I’m resourceful,” he said, as if reading my mind. “I told you I’ve been going in and out of New Washington ever since you left me on Terra. I got a few blankets while I was there.”
“How did you manage that? You don’t have any credits on you.”
Jared winked. “You don’t need that sort of thing if you have the right items to trade. And you’d be surprised how accommodating people can be if you have the right product to sell.”
From somewhere underneath the cot, he produced a tiny, glass figurine. The glass wasn’t clear or refined, but even so, the item was beautiful. It also looked identical to me. “I made more nondescript things to sell,” Jared whispered. “I made this for you.”
He set the figurine in my lap, and for some reason, the small gesture made me tear up. I didn’t want to be as fragile as glass, but these days, I definitely felt like it.
If the tiny item hadn’t been so beautiful, I would’ve been tempted to smash it. But instead, I found myself clutching the figurine in my hand so tightly I was surprised it didn’t crack.
“You don’t like it,” Jared murmured, his face falling.
“That’s not it. That’s not it at all. I just… I don’t want to like it.”
Somehow, Jared understood exactly what I meant. “If it helps, it’s not pure glass. The ‘skeleton’ is metal. I thought it was suitable.” His hand hovered over mine, but he didn’t touch me again. “You’re not weak, Selene. Don’t ever think that. No matter what happens, you’re still the same determined woman who first got into the Sphinx.”
“Am I? I don’t really feel like that person anymore.”
Everything had been so much easier when I’d had a clear goal in mind. I’d first left New Washington determined to control my new gift and learn how to pilot the Sphinx properly. Then, it had become obvious that my presence at Chimera Academy had a far greater meaning, and I’d sworn to prove to everyone that women were not beneath men because of their gender.
I hadn’t had a real plan beyond honing my skills and increasing my military rank, but now, even that was no longer possible. My lovers were basically mass-murderers. One of them was part-Heliad. I’d been kidnapped and knocked up by the man who’d harassed me in my first term. The Grand Judiciary was turning human beings into fuels and alloys. Even the gods and the chimeras seemed to have their own secrets and agendas.
My world was dissipating, turning into sand that was sliding through my fingers. Maybe it was suitable that Jared’s fire—the fire of a Heliad—had turned that sand into glass.
“I was naive, Jared. I had this idea of how things worked and what I wanted, but I understand now that nothing is that simple.”
“Some things are.” Jared leaned over and kissed the air over my knuckles. “You probably despise me and you’re in your right to do that. But believe me when I say that I’ll still stand by you and help you. Even if you don’t trust anything, trust that. Like you said, I owe you that much.”
I did believe him, and my heart cracked in my chest, because if things had been different, we could have had something real. But I didn’t even know which way was up now and I wasn’t sure I could trust myself, him, or any of my other lovers to make a good decision about our romantic lives.
Before I could provide him with an answer—or figure out if he actually expected one—a loud bang sounded at the door. Jared jolted and shot to his feet. “What in Helios’s name—?”
“Is it The Grand Judiciary? Did they find us?”
“No,” Sphinx replied in Jared’s stead, “but your guests are just as dangerous and volatile.”
It was the understatement of the fucking century. The next thing I knew, August, Brendan, Knox, and Pollux were rushing into the room, looking like they were on the war path. “Let her go,” Knox growled.
“I’m not holding her captive,” Jared replied. “She felt unwell, so I brought her here to rest.”
“Really?” August drawled. “And she got ill exactly when she met up with you. What a coincidence.”
It wasn’t a coincidence, but it wasn’t Jared’s fault either. “How did you find us?” I asked, not wanting to see this devolve into another fight.
Almost instantly, all of them turned toward me. “Our chimeras tend to be able to track each other down, Selene,” Brendan replied, not unkindly. “Did he really not harm you?”
“No, it was… It was something different. You know I�
��ve been feeling off for a while now, even at the base.”
A shadow flickered over their faces, and I knew they were remembering what I’d done the last time I’d lost control. They didn’t ask, not outright. “Are you okay now?” Pollux inquired instead. “Do you need any help?”
Yes, I did, but I was too afraid to say that, too afraid to rely on them again. “No. I’ll be okay. We should go back to the academy now. If you’re here, I’m assuming you didn’t find anything either, but we still have to report in.”
My lovers shared a telling look, but didn’t argue with me. “All right, Selene. We’ll do things your way. Let’s go home.”
I almost wanted to laugh at Brendan’s words, because I didn’t feel I had a home anymore. But that didn’t mean all hope was lost.
I couldn’t just give up. If I didn’t have a home, I’d build one, for myself and for my child. Maybe it wouldn’t be as strong as I’d have liked, but it would be there anyway.
Pocketing my glass figurine, I left the shelter without looking back. I knew now what my next step had to be.
I needed to talk to Commander Wesley Trevor.
****
Wesley
“Sir, I know you’re not satisfied with the answers I’ve given you, but there are no other answers here to find. It was a natural anomaly. There’s no sign of any outside intervention.”
I glared at the technician, feeling the sudden urge to throttle him. The generator failure itself was a sign of outside intervention. Yes, there was a chance that this might have been a natural phenomenon, but it was infinitesimal at best.
I scanned the area with my implanted systems and what I found disheartened me even more. We were standing a mile away from the main generators, but even from here, I could distinguish the heavy damage. It would take at least a couple of days for them to be up and running again, even at a limited capacity. Right now, the back-up generators were picking up the slack for the shields and the most important life-support systems. But secondary services would likely be suspended. Temperature regulation would suffer, as would hygiene facilities.
At least half the drones would have to go offline. We’d have to rely on the chimeras to do the heavy lifting for fixing the power plant, and they were weapons, not construction equipment. And then, there was the population of Tartarus City. The drones monitored security there and kept the sex workers safe and the people from running amok. Without that, we could have a disaster on our hands.
I couldn’t afford to keep looking into the causes of the accident, no matter how suspicious I thought it was.
“Very well,” I told the technician. “Focus on the repairs for now. We’ve already redirected the back-up power to where it’s needed most, but we need to get the main plant up and running as soon as possible.”
As I spoke, my back-link beeped, announcing an incoming transmission. I didn’t bother activating the regular mechanism. Instead, I took the call directly in my brain. As expected, the call was from Prince Archibald. “Wesley, how are we doing?”
“The damage is worrying, Your Highness. We’ll have to deploy some of the guards stationed at the academy to Tartarus City. The remaining drones won’t be able to supervise it properly.”
“Yes, I’m already doing that. If push comes to shove, we can also rely on the infantry units of students. But I don’t think it’ll be as bad as all that. The Tartarus City inhabitants will understand this is a serious situation and won’t use it for their benefit.”
Normally, I’d have deemed his words too optimistic or even naive, but knowing Archibald, I was well aware of the threat he posed. I had no doubt that he planned on putting the fear of Tartarus into the people. I whole-heartedly agreed. “May I suggest a temporary limit imposed on activities in the Titans’ Pit?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Archibald mused. “We should probably be sealing Persephone’s Plaza, at least for a few days. It’s too dangerous down there without proper security. I’ll leave that in your capable hands.”
That was one job I was happy to handle, but before I could do so, the Ocypete landed by my side, still covered in soot and space dust. “We’ve retrieved all the casualties and injured from the power plant, Commander,” Scott Argyle said. “They’re being treated as we speak.”
“How many dead?” I asked.
“Just three. The automatic units received most of the damage. However, there are at least a dozen more people who will be incapable of working for the foreseeable future and might even need limb replacements.”
After having seen the damage to the physical structure, I’d expected more dead. I was glad I’d been wrong about that, but at the same time, it made me even more suspicious than I’d already been. It almost looked like someone had deliberately focused the damage on the building and avoided exposing too many people to the blast.
I didn’t say that out loud. “Very well. You’re going to be in charge of further operations here while I report in with His Highness.”
“Yes, Sir. We live to serve.” Instead of returning to his task like I’d told him, he hesitated. The mild tremor in the Ocypete’s wings suggested he was nervous.
“Was there anything else, Flight Lieutenant Argyle?” I prodded.
The inquiry, while abrupt, encouraged the young man.“Yes, Sir,” he replied. “I hope I’m not being too presumptuous by asking this, but I just can’t get it out of my head. Was this an apsid attack? A Terran terrorist? What could have caused this kind of damage?”
“Right now, our information suggests this is nothing more than an accident, a natural phenomenon. But even so, be careful and guard the perimeter. You never know.”
“Of course, Sir.”
Leaving Argyle in charge of the generators, I headed back to my shuttle and flew toward the city. As expected, I found chaos. Prince Archibald had done his best and like he had said, the human staff of the academy had taken over operations. But despite all our efforts to do damage control, the people simply couldn’t compensate for all the absent drones.
I hoped there hadn’t been any deaths, but feared the worst.
With a frustrated sigh, I rushed toward the area I knew would have taken the worst blow. Fortunately, the men in Tartarus City had prioritized their safety over their fucks, so no one had attempted to abuse the already hurt sex workers. Persephone’s Plaza was next to abandoned. In the process, though, the women had been left there, tied to the mechanism that kept them captive holes to fuck. Worse, the machines that made sure they didn’t need to eat had short-circuited, and a small fire had already started.
I put it out as quickly as possible, but several women had already suffered burns. Worse still, a few devices had exploded, and the shrapnel had hit two of the nearby sex workers. And yet, no one made a single sound as I let them out of their shackles.
This was part of the reason why it was so important to topple the current system. These poor women represented everything that was wrong with The Grand Judiciary. But I had to wonder if I’d have to sacrifice yet another innocent for the sake of the greater good.
Memories of Selene didn’t help me right now. With a thought, I contacted the main base personnel and summoned aid. “Commander Trevor, we don’t have enough people,” the man I spoke with protested.
“I know that. Send as many as you can spare. I’ll have His Highness supplement the staff with students from the academy if we absolutely have to. But there are wounded here, and I can’t carry them all.”
I doubted he cared about the injured women, but Grand Judiciary laws did ensure the safety of the sex workers and that, at least, he could respect. He promised to send a small unit to the Titans’ Pit. As I waited, I did my best to provide first aid. My expertise lay with machines, but I wouldn’t have been able to pilot a chimera without understanding the workings of the human body. My implants helped.
Never had I been more grateful for having the embedded scanners than the moment I found myself forced to extract shards of metal out of a young woman�
��s stomach.
When my assistants arrived, I found in surprise that half of them were women. Most of them were employees from Aphrodite’s Boudoir. They must have decided to join the rescue efforts, even if they didn’t technically have the authority.
“We’re Unblessed,” one of the women said with a sheepish smile, “but we can lend a hand anyway, if you’ll have us.”
“Of course,” I replied. “All aid is welcome.”
Between them, the two drones that popped up out of the wreckage and the backup staff of Tartarus men, we managed to carry the women to the nearest health center. Unfortunately, the place was filled to capacity. Aphrodite’s Boudoir didn’t have the facilities necessary to treat the women, so I was left with no choice but to bring two dozen prostitutes to Chimera Academy.
This sort of thing just wasn’t done. We had strict rules at the academy. We allowed fraternization among the students and staff precisely because we didn’t want any outsiders brought here. But what else could we do? We couldn’t just abandon the Terran women of Tartarus City to die.
“Thank you,” one of the prostitutes from Persephone’s Plaza mumbled, tears in her eyes. “Thank you for this. You have to tell us… You have to tell us what you want.”
“We can pay you back,” another added, encouraged by her friend’s words.
I felt horrible, knowing full well that I might have fucked these women in the past, but unable to remember despite my enhanced cyborg memory. “You don’t need to pay me back. I’m only doing my duty.”
Dr. Bell curled his lower lip, looking like he wanted to say something. I glowered at him, and fortunately, that was enough to make him hold his tongue. Maybe he realized that I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him and if he pushed me, we might end up without a doctor too. Or maybe it wasn’t me that he feared at all.
As I accommodated the Terran sex workers into our med bay, I received another summons from Prince Archibald. It was brief and it echoed in my head like a death knell. “Come see me in my office. Tell no one.”
He hadn’t bothered to contact me directly, which was not good news. Doing my best to not tense up, I pulled away from the woman I’d been caring for and turned toward Dr. Bell. “I have to report in with His Highness. Make sure you give these women the best of care. I’ll return to check up on them later.”
