Dusk chokes. “You really…”
“We told you,” I say with a soft smile. “She’s an alien.”
“No,” Dusk says, voice rising. “You really chose a Threv skin. What the hell is wrong with you?” Her voice is shrill and way angrier than anyone we’ve met so far.
“Dusk…”
“No, no, fuck this. You and your little girlfriends can fuck right off. I’ll be in that room over there, and I’m not leaving until you’re ready to let me go.”
“Girlfriends?” Astra and Mika say at the same time as Dusk stalks off.
She pauses in the doorway. “What, you think I missed that? How you all look at him? How he looks at you? I don’t know what all this is about, and I don’t want to know, but girls?” She gives me a frank stare. “Word of advice. You can do better.” With that, she leaves, slamming the door behind her.
Mika’s apoplectic, face beet red. “Screw it. I’m killing her. Slowly.”
I turn her to face me. “Hey, it’s okay. I don’t give a shit what she says about me.”
“Well, I do.”
“I know. And I love you for it. But if we’re all going to be cooped up in here for the next few days, we need to find some way of getting along.”
“Tell that to her,” Astra says.
“I will. I’ll talk to her.” I smile with a lot more confidence than I feel. “She’s not a friend, but it doesn’t mean we have to spend the entire we’re here trying to strangle each other.”
“Fine.” Mika holds my eyes with a look that says if you weren’t here very bad things would be happening. “I need some air. Wick, does this place have a roof?”
“Yeah,” he pipes like he’s afraid to speak. “Really nice, actually. Great garden and–”
“Sounds great.” Mika snatches up the door rune from where Wick dropped it on an end table. “I’ll go keep watch. Bound to be people looking for us.”
“I will accompany you, Viera,” Syl says.
“Hold a sec, you two,” I say. “We still need to figure out what the hell we’re doing next.”
“Kay,” Mika says. “As long as she stays in there.”
“I will ensure she does,” Syl says solemnly.
I exhale, more tired than I was on the Citadel. I sink onto another leather couch across from Wick. Astra sits daintily next to me, then puts an arm around my chest before cuddling into me. “Relax a minute, Sam.”
I tuck her head against my chest and sigh. “I can’t. This is all… It’s getting too complicated. There are too many moving parts, too many things out of our control.”
“We can get through this. We beat the Citadel. Made it this far.”
“I know. But this feels different. Back there, we had you watching over us. And shit was still close most of the time. But that place had rules. And the wild cards we had to deal with were what crazy ass trial the place was going to throw at us.”
“I almost miss it,” Mika says ruefully.
“Right? There are too many X factors here. Too many ways to mess up that we don’t even know exist. A few hours ago, we didn’t even know Obsidian existed and now we’re number one on their most wanted list.” I lean my head back, closing my eyes against a dull ache in my forehead that isn’t caused by my power. “So many hidden pitfalls.”
Astra runs slender fingers through my hair. When she reaches my scalp, she takes a gentle fistful and squeezes. It pulls at the base of my hair, a strange combination of pain and pleasure that eases my headache and calms me. “Damn. That’s nice.”
“Elise,” Astra says sadly, “used to do it to John after long days of Citadel programming.”
“Well, god bless her,” I say, meaning every word.
After a few moments of soft silence and Astra’s ministrations, I finally lean forward. I put my hand on her thigh and squeeze gratefully. She blushes, putting her hand over mine.
I motion Mika and Syl in from where they still stand at the wall. Both of them watch Astra and I without a hint of jealousy, and like so many times before, a realization of how crazy lucky I am washes through me like a warm tide. God, I love them.
I have to save us. Have to get us through this.
There’s no time to be tired.
Wick, on the other hand, is definitely watching me with pure, naked jealousy.
I smile at him. “Alright, man. Help us out and we’ll be out of your life soon enough.”
He leans forward, elbows to knees. “What can I do?”
“We need a way out of the city. It sounds like an airship’s our only shot.”
“There are other player vehicles and such that might work,” he says, considering. “Guy I know has a working Millennium Falcon.”
“Uh, that sounds… Kind of awesome, actually.”
“Yeah, I need to get me one of those,” Mika says.
“Only problem?” Wick shrugs. “He’s half the world away and there’s no way to get ahold of him.”
I deflate. “Then why mention it?”
“Just thinking out loud!” He says, throwing his hands up. “This is a little above my pay grade, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Okay, okay.” Astra squeezes my hand, placating. “Airships.”
“Yeah, come on,” I say. “You told us outside the city that you knew everyone. Had connections.”
Wick winces. “I might have exaggerated a bit.”
“Wick…”
“I was trying to be… You know… Not murdered.”
I take a calming breath. “Okay. But you’re still the sneaky, wheeling and dealing type. You have to know someone.”
His whiskers twitch as he thinks. “Yeah, I might…” He hops up, suddenly galvanized. “Actually, I think I definitely might know a go-between. Guy up on the airship spire, works the winches. He might have some ideas. Lemme go talk to him and I’ll get back to you guys.”
“So, we what? Just wait here for you to come back?” Mika looks to me. “Are we sure this is wise?”
“Don’t have much choice. We can’t wander the streets.” I reach out, resting my hand on Wick’s shoulder. “We’re trusting you, man. Which is saying a lot considering how we met.”
He has the grace to look ashamed. “Yeah, sorry about that. For the record… You guys are crazy. But… I like you. Especially her,” he says, grinning at Mika. “I promise not to try to have you murdered again. Something about getting to know you a little has soured me on it.”
“Thanks, I think,” Mika laughs.
I clap his shoulder. “Alright. Anything you need?”
“Few chips, in case I need to grease some palms.”
“Grease some palms?” I smirk as Mika dumps a few chips into his paws. “You’ve been watching too many bad movies.”
“And good ones,” he grins. “John Wick, remember?”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“Well, you can now!” He points to the TV. “Not like you’ll have much more to do while you wait. Unless…” he eyes the girls meaningfully.
I laugh. “Out. And take the Corroc head. Get some chips for that, too.”
“Done,” he says, snatching the now slightly desiccated Corroc head. He bounces up and makes for the door.
“Wait, how do we eat?” Mika calls before Wick darts out the door.
“Replicator in the kitchen!” he calls over his shoulder. “Operates on chips, makes almost any simple meal.” Then he’s gone.
Mika claps her hands together in glee. “A replicator? Like in Star Trek?” She ducks into the kitchen, and the noise she makes is disturbingly similar to the ones she makes in the bedroom. She pops back into the doorway. “It’s exactly like the ones in Star Trek!”
Before I can answer, a mocking laugh rings out from Dusk’s room.
“No soundproofing, I see,” I say as Mika glares at the closed doorway.
She huffs. “I’m out. Fuck this noise.” She kisses me on the cheek. “Well, not your noise. I like your noises.”
“Good to know,” I smil
e with a squeeze to her ass as she passes.
Syl touches my face as she follows. “Watch her back,” I say.
“Always.”
Then they’re gone.
I sit next to Astra, taking her hand. “If we make it a day in this place without killing someone else it’ll be a miracle.”
Astra glances at Dusk’s door. “Are you taking suggestions?”
17
Acheryx Hideout
Player: Sam
Level: 4
The rooftop is utterly still.
In the darkness, it takes me awhile to spot Mika. She’s almost invisible at the rooftop’s edge as she leans out over the main boulevard. The soft glow thrown by the towering spires that surround us barely filters down, and all I can see is the purple of her hair gently waving in the breeze.
The rooftop’s covered in plants and life; whoever set it up obviously used it as a place to relax. Low stone benches stretch between planters overflowing with shrubs and flowers, ninety percent of which I’m sure don’t exist on Earth. At some point while we were planning our next move and securing Dusk, it must have rained; the roof is still wet, and the scent of the flowers mixed with moisture assaults my nose in the best way. If I close my eyes, I can almost imagine that I’m not in this game, not battling for Earth’s future, not dead…
As usual, my mind shies away from thinking too hard on all that. I know that at some point I need to face up to it. To what’s expected of me. But not yet. Right now, I’m taking this one minute at a time.
It’s kept us alive so far.
Mika doesn’t turn at my footfalls or at the gentle slosh of the bottle that hangs from my belt. She doesn’t even move as I lean next to her. I rest silently, not speaking and close enough to touch. After a moment, she leans into me. Just the slightest movement, but enough that our arms touch and her breath quickens.
We stay that way a long time. I realize with a shock that this is the first time I’ve been truly alone with her since we met Syl what feels like an eternity ago. We had a few stolen moments in the Threvian prison during the Citadel trial, but even then, she was high on love spores and guards patrolled outside.
So much has changed since then. Our little group has expanded. Become something so confusing and wonderful. But she was the first. The one I woke up with.
My life changed in so many ways the moment I met her.
I turn, burying my face in her hair. She smells lovely, like citrus and coconut; it’s kind of amazing considering the fact that none of us have showered since we got here. Or, since we died. I inhale on a long breath, and before I pull away, I kiss her softly.
Mika smiles, still facing the boulevard below, but her hand finds mine like it’s magnetically attracted. She squeezes tight, and there’s so much meaning in her grip. She still doesn’t speak and I love her for it. Doesn’t press me about what we’re doing next. Doesn’t stare at me with concern, wondering if I can handle this. Instead, she just exists with me.
Fifteen more minutes pass. Maybe thirty. It’s hard to track the passage of time in this place. Voices ring up from the street, a group of players celebrating a contract completed. They appear from around a corner, hoisting the head of some massive ape thing between them. It drips gore in long threads to the stones below as they stumble drunkenly into the double doors of a tavern down the way. Their singing voices are muffled by the sudden surge of the crowd inside, a raucous sound that dies the moment the doors shut.
More people come and go. Mika doesn’t point any of them out as Obsidians on the hunt, and I rest easier as time passes. They won’t forgive us killing one of their officers, but it looks like Wick’s right; they might hunt us, but they don’t have a foothold in Acheryx, and the city is huge. The kid’s cocky and I get the impression about half of what comes out between his whiskers is bullshit, but it seems like he found us a good hidey hole.
But we still watch together, observing the nightlife of Acheryx. Keeping lookout and being close to Mika is pretty win win situation, and after the last few days I’m in no hurry to break the spell our silence casts.
More adventurers come and go, solo or in groups, from newbs with barely any gear to higher level players that I would not want to screw with. One mage type floats down the middle of the boulevard, eyes closed and uncaring if anyone’s in his way. It’s not hard to see why. Four orbs crackling with tiny bolts of lightning rotate around his body, each the size of a melon and so charged that the hair on my arms stands up as he passes even though we’re at least ten stories above him. He bowls through a group of merchants and their guards as they scramble out of his way with a volley of dark looks. He pushes past without changing direction or speed.
The building across from us is taller than ours and half the windows are shuttered. The other half are dark, all but a few, and inside them players sit drinking or talking. It’s bizarre, how people basically live their lives in Lifestream instead of turning the game off after their quests. They have apartments and jobs and friends, and based on what I’ve seen so far, I doubt many of them ever unplug.
I remember what Wick said back at Three’s… About not unplugging because the real world sucks. Watching families through the apartment windows, I think I understand why they’d prefer Lifestream.
Mika watches them, beautiful eyes wide and glittering with the reflection from the apartment lights. Her face is pensive, frozen, and despite her husky breathing as my free hand caresses hers, she still doesn’t move.
“You’re worried about them.”
My words almost startle her as they break the spell of our silence. After a moment, she turns the tiniest bit, resting her head against my shoulder. “How do you do that?”
“What?”
“Read my mind.”
“Educated guess,” I whisper as some kind of speeder buzzes by below. “I can move shit with my mind, but I can’t read yours. Not yet.”
“Huh. You don’t seem to have a problem figuring out what I’m thinking.”
“Is that so weird? After everything we’ve been through?” I flick a little pebble into the street below with my free hand, trying to find the right words. It pings to the stones below, randomly bouncing into the tiny space between two tiles. “It’s like that, you know?” I ask, nodding with my chin. “We just fit. This has been the shortest relationship I’ve ever been in, but I feel like I know you… Know us… Better than any of them.”
She huffs a low laugh. “I don’t have a frame of reference, myself. But I think I know exactly what you mean.”
I bump her shoulder. “So, like I was saying… You okay?”
“Yeah.” She releases my hand, finally turning to me fully. Her arms wrap me tight as she buries me in an avalanche of warmth and scent. “They think I’m dead. They must be… They must be so destroyed.”
I squeeze her tighter. She sounds so broken, so forlorn, and it’s so different than the Mika of the last few days that it breaks my heart. The Mika that’s greeted every challenge, every danger with a quip or flirtation melts away in my arms. She clings to me like I’m a rock in the middle of a storm at sea, like I’m the only thing that’s keeping her from losing it.
“I won’t bullshit you by telling you that they’re not,” I finally say, voice muffled by her hair. “But I will tell you that when we’re done with all this, we’ll find them. We’ll make this right.”
“Yeah,” she says, eyes wet against my chest. I don’t mind. “And I guess I’m luckier than most… My parents are still alive, somewhere out there.”
I think about everyone I’ve ever known. Faces flash through my memory; friends, enemies, people I loved and hated. Most of them are gone, now. Probably all of them.
It’s the kind of thing that could break someone if they spent too long pondering it, so I don’t. Shunting shit like this to the back of my mind probably isn’t doing anything for my future sanity, but I’ll deal with that later.
A small voice, quickly silenced, whispers that this is the second
time on this rooftop that I’ve pushed aside the panic that rises when I think of what we’re doing. That I’m having to bury my fear more and more frequently. That I should face this, deal with the fact that I’m trying to save the world…
No. Not now.
There are more important things to consider.
Like Mika. She stares into my eyes, hers wide and luminous as she waits for me to take away her fear.
I brush rough fingers along her cheek. “Hey. What’s happened has… Happened. And it’s horrible. But there’s so much left to fight for. So much left to do. We’ll mourn later, when we’re done with this. When we’ve saved everyone that’s left.” She presses her cheek against my palm, and I wick away her single tear with my thumb. “Don’t give up on me, now. Don’t get crushed by the weight of all this. Stay with me, Mika.”
I can’t see her smile, but I can feel her lips curl against my skin. “Always. And Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
I kiss her forehead. “I know.”
“Ohh, don’t you do that to me, now,” she laughs, pushing away. She raises her fists in a boxer’s stance. “Don’t make me drag it out of you.”
“Pff, I’d like to see you try.”
Her hands light up, casting the rooftop in dancing shadows. Her grin is feral, hungry, and her eyes reflect so much flame that they’re like tiny furnaces.
“Okay! Okay! I love you!”
She whips her hands out, casting the fire away. It licks the rooftop, instantly steaming the lingering rainwater away to nothing. “That’s what I thought. And no ghosting on me after we save the world.”
“I’d be too terrified,” I say, hands still up.
“I kinda like that, actually,” she says. “Well, I know you’re faking it. But intimidating those guys outside the city? Scaring them off? It felt kind of… good.” She ducks her head. “This is coming from someone who’s never intimidated anyone in their life before this.”
An odd noise echoes along the street below. I crane my neck over the edge of the roof, curious, but Mika pulls me back. “Wait… One of these passed a few minutes ago.”
Aspirant 2: A Sci-Fi Harem Adventure Page 33
