Flight

by J. A. Huss

  She steps back for a second. "Shit, are you serious?"

  "Yup." I leave her there and walk into the room. "Attention wannabe warriors. I'm Junco, your trainer for this week. Line up."

  They do but it is the shoddiest line I've ever fucking seen in my life. "OK, that's a line? I don't think so. Do fifty laps around the arena calling out each lap as you pass me. Running," I emphasize, "not flying like babies. And when you complete the fifty laps, line up again. This time do it correctly, or you'll run a hundred more."

  Everyone but Tessen stares at me with a blank face. She's hauling ass around the room before they even process my words. "You have one second to get moving or you're cut from the warriors."

  They run. I watch and rank them as they go by. Noting which ones have trouble with the endurance and which ones don't. Tessen, to her credit, is one of the first five who are finished and lined up in front of the room. I won't be playing favorites this time. I've learned my lesson.

  A little while later a handful of stragglers join the rest of the girls and I send them out. Cut. They don't even argue, which tells me they never wanted to be here in the first place. There are about twenty girls left and I make them do all kinds of stupid PT shit that I had to do as a cadet. Some of the stuff they've never seen before, so I demonstrate, but for the most part I stand there and do nothing but scream at them for a few hours.

  I can see the fatigue begin to change their attitude towards compliance when I order them to climb the ropes. And the tall girl who probably thinks she doesn't have to take this shit from anyone snaps.

  "Why should we climb the rope when we can just fly? We're not human, like you."

  "Tess, would you like to provide a specific example of a time when you had to climb something because you couldn't fly?"

  "General Fledge Fight Six, sir." I instantly give her a bonus point.

  "Excellent, Tessen. Now shut the fuck up, girl, and climb the rope."

  They all straggle over to the ropes and line up to take their turn. All except the tall girl. I walk up to her. "Problem here?"

  "Yeah," she snorts. "I'm not climbing that rope."

  "OK, then you can fight me for it, how about that? If I win, you climb the rope and then turn in your resignation. If you win, you don't have to climb the rope and you can stay."

  She's about to answer when I hear Ashur behind me. "No, Junco."

  I turn around. "What?"

  "She can fight me if she doesn't think she has to listen to her CO."

  I shrug. "Be my guest." I wave the girl over to Ashur.

  "I'm not fighting the captain of Lucan's guard. That's bullshit."

  Ashur responds before I can. "Junco fought me, Sandan. So, if you wanna come back tomorrow, you better start fighting."

  Personally, I get the feeling Ashur thinks beating the shit out of people is an equal-opportunity activity. He walks towards her like he's really gonna kick her ass and my eyebrows go up as I look over at Tessen. She throws me a crooked smile.

  Ashur slams Sandan to the ground and is about to break her arm when she taps out. He gets up, helps her up, then turns to look at all the rest. "Goodbye, Sandan. You're out. If the rest of you want to stay, climb the fucking ropes and shut the fuck up."

  I'm actually surprised when three girls walk off with Sandan. But all the rest stay and start climbing. Only a couple make it to the top, but at least the rest tried.

  Ashur waits with me until they finish and I dismiss them, then turns. "They're terrible, Junco. Get rid of them."

  I smile because he's not mad at me anymore. "I know, huh? Maybe we can keep Tessen?"

  "Maybe. At least she listens and tries to do whatever you tell her. Ready for dinner?"

  "Sure."

  He starts walking towards the exit but stops. "Look, I'm sorry. OK?"

  I lower my head. "Ashur, I'm sorry. You didn't do anything. I was a total bitch before Deliverance. I should have never said that shit to you and I probably never would have, except you guys barged in on me and you already knew what happened. So, I just got mean." I look up and he's smiling at me.

  "Apology accepted, all right? We gotta move on here. You saved Tier just like you said, and I was wrong. You love him, I get it. He loves you." He shrugs. "Maybe I just wanted you for myself? Maybe I was unwilling to help because I was being selfish?"

  "I can't hold that against you. If it's true, which I don't think it is. You had no idea I was going to do what I did. But I knew all along. Part of it anyway. I didn't really plan on killing myself, but I got caught up in the hopelessness of the whole thing and I lost control. That wasn't part of Braun's plan, you should know that."

  He turns away angry. "That piece of shit, I swear if Lucan makes him come with us I might kill him."

  "I'm hungry, where can we go?"

  He takes the hint and moves on. "Home. We're going home, the team is waiting."

  There is no flyer, we have to walk the city but it's nice to be out like this again. People stare a little but for the most part they don't bother us. Being on the levels of Amelia proper is like being in the giant outdoor mall in Peaks. Or the mall that used to be in Peaks. Except on a grand scale that a human couldn't even imagine. The door out of training dumps us on level 75 of the main boulevard and since the 039 is on the top floor of the Aves Dorm, we walk a few blocks down and then take an elevator up to 300.

  "What floor is Tier's team on?"

  Ashur lets out a laugh. "Zero, Junco. They're in the basement."

  I laugh too. "That sorta sucks. But hey, at least they're close to ground level. That might be nice. For like – shopping." I laugh again. "Or something."

  We get to the top and I have a few moments of queasiness about seeing the guys again, but when the door opens and they are all there to greet me, it goes away as I fall into the fray.

  Feeling so much relief it scares me.

  When was the last time my days and nights weren't mixed up? I can't remember. I lie in the soft bed in my Presidential Bedroom and stare out the wall of windows. There's a mist floating over the terrace and it reminds me of the RR in the spring. It's spring there now, I think. Too bad it's nothing but burned-out ash after the war. I check my vision screen for the date. June 2, 2153.

  Shit, I wonder how long I was in the virtual cabin? Tier and I spent three weeks on the small habitat for vacation. That fateful trip to The Stag was almost eight months ago.

  What if I never went out there? What would I be doing right now?

  What if my father never killed Charlie?

  What if that buck never crossed the road in front of me? Would I have gotten to the Stag and killed those people myself? Or would they have all been killed by Tier already?

  Fate is so fragile on this small scale. Any little change makes it all turn out different.

  I kick the covers off and get up. The restaurant Lucan took me to last night had orange juice and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since then. I bet the Presidential kitchen has orange juice. I pull on some fluffy white socks and pad across the floor and slip into the hallway. It's lit up, but in nighttime mode – just enough so I can see where I'm going. I descend the steps carefully so my socks don't slip on the glass.

  In the lobby I hesitate. I don't even know where the kitchen is. Hell, maybe he doesn't have one? What do I know about Archers? I walk into the living room to see where it takes me if I keep going towards the back of the house. My baby grand gleams in the soft light that radiates up from the floorboards and if it wasn't the middle of the night I'd be tempted to sit and play.

  I'm pretty sure Lucan would find that disruptive, so I keep walking towards the back of the room, past several loungers and couches, chairs, coffee tables, and various vases and other floor art that doesn't hold my interest.

  It's an elaborate room, but I bet it's fantastic when filled with people.

  There's an expansive archway that leads in to another room that looks a lot like the previous one. Spillover for entertaining? He mu
st have some raging parties here.

  I hear voices.

  Soft at first, but then increasing in tone and fury.

  It's definitely Lucan.

  I automatically back up to leave, but then stop when I hear the rage. What the fuck is going on? I tiptoe across the room towards a rear door and press my ear to it. His voice is booming with anger, and then I hear another. Softer, trying to calm him down.

  I turn the handle of the door slowly and open it a crack, but the room in front of me is empty. It looks like a sitting room with several chairs lined up against the wall. The outer vestibule to Lucan's home office? I spy what may be the office door and it's standing open, he's screaming about genetics.

  I let myself in and sneak over to peek in.

  "Holy shit! Oh, fuck!" I slip backwards on the floor and fall on my ass as Lucan comes at me, his face contorted and twisted into something I barely recognize. His teeth are long and fang-like, his fingers are claws – nothing like the razors that periodically come out of my hands.

  I swallow and crab-walk backwards as Lucan comes at me and then I get to my feet and run. I throw the door open and fly through the spillover room only to be knocked to the floor when I slam into him as I round the corner.

  His face is back to normal, but his eyes are blood-red and filled with rage. My throat tightens as I swallow and look up at him. "What the fuck are you?"

  He turns his back to me and takes a deep breath. I get to my feet and lean to the side a little bit, trying to see around him. He rotates and I step backwards because his eyes are not back to normal. I walk around to the other side of the chair to keep something between us and I see his expression turn angry again.

  "Please, Junco. Give me a little credit. If I wanted to attack, that chair would not save you."

  I frown. "I wasn't snooping. I wanted some orange juice and I heard–"

  "I don't care if you were snooping," he growls. "If I wanted to hide things from you, you wouldn't be here."

  "You looked like a–" I stop, not even willing to say the word.

  "Like a what?" he snarls at me. I stay silent. "Spit it out, Junco, I look like a what?"

  "A demon." I whisper it, and then step back a little more, I can't help myself.

  Lucan shakes his head at me and walks over to the couch and sits down. "You never ask the right questions, Junco. It's always random things. Things that have no real bearing on anything. You can see Alcor plain as daylight, but yet you miss the full moon every time."

  "What does Alcor have to–"

  "Junco, it means you miss the obvious so often it makes me cringe."

  I step around to the front of the chair and I take a seat. "What were you yelling about?"

  He laughs. "See? What does that have to do with anything?" He looks down and straightens his suit jacket. "The correct question would be, 'Lucan, are you a demon?'"

  I just stare at him and feel my heart begin to thump.

  "Does this change things for you, Junco? Honesty, please. I require it right now, so please." He stares at my eyes, searching.

  I reach up and rub my neck and then shrug. "You're a demon?" I spit the words out, but then I have to look away. Fuck. What the fuck? I finally get to a place where things start to feel normal and then I find out I'm living with the fucking devil? That's what I want to say anyway. But instead my feet are already carrying me across the room.

  He appears in front of me again and shakes his head. "Not this time, Junco. We will have an honest conversation now."

  I shake my head back at him. "No. I can't do it, Lucan. I can't deal with this shit right–"

  He taps my shoulder and I am standing in a white room, walled in with glass on two sides. A small dark hole with a tree limb sticking out of it lines the side of one wall. The blackness inside contains a pair of glowing red eyes. My heart begins to beat wildly. "What's that?" I spin around and realize Lucan isn't there with me. The thing in the hole begins to growl. I back up and then turn and pound against the glass. "Get me out! Let me out!"

  I feel the thing behind me crawl out into the light and my hand goes to my SEAR. I whip it out and power it up as I turn. The creature is a grotesque mixture of something. Not human, not avian, not even demonic. A mutant.

  The small o-shaped mouth has so many rows of teeth there's barely enough room for the spittle to seep out as it hisses at me. It crawls on four legs across the tree limb, its claws clicking together as they wrap around the bough, half covered in fur, half smooth brown skin. A tail flicks out from behind as it launches itself into the air. Wings unfurl from its back as it flies at me.

  I bring the SEAR up and swipe at it, and then I'm standing in the living room again, the arc of my weapon not even completed yet. It burns into a couch and stuffing goes flying in all directions before I flick it off and fall to the ground, my chest pounding so hard I think I'm going to die. I begin hyperventilating as I lean over onto the gleaming white floor and press my forehead onto the cold tiles.

  "That is enough!" Sera's voice is loud and commanding. Her order stops me, but when I look up Lucan is walking towards her slowly.

  "I wondered when you'd show yourself to me, Sera. It's been a long time."

  She sneers at him. "Not nearly long enough."

  "You will stand back, Sera."

  Sera shakes her head. "You'll kill her, her heart is not strong. I will not permit you to scare her like this."

  Lucan growls. "You will not permit it? My dear, just who the fuck do you think you are?"

  "Oh, shit." I crawl away from them. I've never heard Lucan say that word. Ever. They are a fury of cursing and pushes as they begin to fight. I crawl under the piano to make my way around them, then get up and run to the elevator to push the call button. When the doors open I swipe my hand and ask for the ground level, praying that my biometrics have been updated. It lights up and the doors close.

  I expect Lucan to be there to stop me at the bottom, but he's not. So I run.

  Chapter Three

  The ground-floor level to Amelia proper is filled with more people than I would think possible for the middle of the night, but I don't care. I slip and slide in my socks down the few blocks to the building that houses the warriors. When I get there I look for a door to the basement, find a stairwell, then hop down the steps three at a time until I burst out into the hall.

  There is only one door on this level. And I begin pounding on it until I hear the locks disengage and Tier is staring at me.

  "Junco, what the hell are ya–"

  I push past him. "I realize I'm not allowed to see you, so where the fuck is Tessen? Tessen?" I scream it.

  "Calm down, Juncs. What's the problem?"

  I shake my head as I try to catch my breath. "Lucan and Sera are fighting at the house, and he left me alone in this white room where a mutant was going to attack me and–"

  Lucan appears in the living room with us. "That's enough, Junco."

  I stare at Lucan open-mouthed and look around. Braun, Annun, Merkar, Pike, three other guys whose names I still don't know, and Tessen are all staring at me.

  "You're not authorized to talk about that here. Only Tier and Braun have clearance for this information."

  I take a deep breath and swallow, looking up to Tier. "Do something."

  Tier just scratches his neck and looks from his team to Lucan. "Junco, you can't be here. We're under orders."

  "Orders? Fuck the orders! I said he took me to a place with–"

  "–mutants!" I'm back in the Presidential house and Sera has me by the arm. She leads me over to the couch and sits me down, cradling me in her arms like a mother. Then she leans down into my ear and whispers. "I'm not your mother, Junco. But I will be nice to you right now because Lucan is being so mean."

  I push her off. "Fuck you, Sera. I don't need your pity."

  Lucan is not with us, so I can only assume he's busy threatening Tier's team about repeating what I just said in front of them. I get up and walk over to a window and
wait for him to reappear. It takes a while, but he finally shows up looking normal and acting calm. Sera has disappeared.

  Standing at the window, waiting, I watch him as he takes a seat on the couch once again. We stare at each other for a few seconds, his eyes narrowing a bit, before he finally speaks. "You are finished now?"

  I sit down on the nearest chair, then pull my knees up to my chest.

  He lets out a deep breath. "There was no reason to go to Tier, Junco. I'm still the same person now as I was yesterday. You have him very upset and we don't need this drama right before a critical mission."

  I shake my head at him, but I hold my tongue. The words I want to say right now would probably get me in more trouble.

  "You can call me whatever you want, demon, Lucan, Archer, angel, devil, whatever. It's all the same. It's not my fault your father gave you a God and that religion calls me evil."

  "Why do you hide it then? Is this what I look like in real life? I don't understand."

  "I don't hide it, Junco. And you and I are not the same beings, you don't have an angry form. That demon is my angry form. I was furious with the Archer of Clutch, he pissed me off with those children he keeps producing. That thing you saw, Junco? That was an avian child using the genetics we have left. It was not a mutant, that is what we have become."

  I pull my hands up to either side of my head to block the words and then I wait.

  "They are not even sentient. They are not anything but animal. This is the state of our gene pool. And I apologize for scaring you, it was wrong. But now you understand what it is you are doing when you go back to Earth and get the rest of the Seven."

  I wait it out as my mind races. That's their gene pool. That creature. I shudder with revulsion and try to get the image of it hurtling through the air from my memory. Of course, that's pointless. I have perfect recall and that fucking thing will be with me for the rest of my life.

  "Junco?"

  I snap back to him. "Yeah."

  "Your feelings about this would be appreciated."