But for every one they took down, two more appeared from the side of the palace. Like wasps leaving a nest, a steady stream of Enigma’s ships burst into the sky, the air getting more treacherous for his two friends. Although his mind wanted to go to SA, Seb fought to focus on the problem at hand. He’d have time to grieve when he got out of there.
The same fire burning inside him, Seb moved his words into Sparks’ head. I need you to be ready to pick me up.
Seb? Her ship wobbled as she flew. How are you doing this? Is SA alive?
The words rocked him, and it took a second to regain his composure. No, she’s not. I can do it now too. More cracks ran through the soles of his boots. I need you to come down and get me out of here.
What about Enigma’s ships? I can’t leave the battle.
Just do it, Sparks. Trust me.
Another shuddering snap where he stood. He didn’t have long before it fell. As he watched Sparks close in—everything in slow motion—he saw half the palace collapse in one rushing avalanche of glittering crystal. Glass dust kicked up into the sky before being dispersed by the strong wind. Thankfully it blew away from him.
Sparks pulled up next to Seb a moment later. She hovered and opened the back door. Before he entered the vessel, he drew on the boiling fury within him. It charged like a plasma cannon, humming through his body before he yelled and thrust his arms out in front of him.
At least twenty Enigma ships now in the sky, they all simultaneously burst into flames. They fell as one, hitting the palace like a meteor shower.
The building shuddered again like an old beast ready to give up the ghost.
As Seb stepped onto Sparks’ ship, he saw the small Thrystian staring at him with her mouth open. His attention quickly fell on the delirious Bruke, and his hands buzzed. While sliding to his knees next to his friend, he felt the ship still hadn’t moved. “Get us out of here, now! And tell Reyes to retreat. We’re going back to Aloo.”
Sparks lifted the ship just as the vast stalt structure collapsed. The deafening rush of broken glass released an upward draft that sent them weaving from side to side. After a few seconds of riding it out, Sparks levelled the vessel again. She shot away while speaking to Reyes on the radio. “Come on, we’re going back to Aloo.”
His hands still on Bruke, Seb thought of SA buried within the building. No way could they retrieve her body from that; when the time came, they’d have to bury her memory in an empty casket.
Chapter 51
On their flight back to Aloo, Seb managed to stabilise Bruke. Not only did he offer him relief through the warmth he transmitted from his hands, but he managed to get into his friend’s head and help switch off his pain receptors. He didn’t know how he did it, but intuition guided him. The confrontation with the lady in white had unlocked in him a power he didn’t know he had. The power of his ancestors. Maybe with the right guidance and intention, he could shift planets and move moons. But what did it matter? The thing that mattered most to him had been blown up and buried in tons of stalt.
As they touched down on the deck on top of the Shadow Order’s base—the metal bottom of their ship crunching against the metal surface they landed on—Seb looked out of the window to see Reyes waiting. She’d left the mech with its back to them, the huge sentry standing strong and resolute as it looked out over the sea.
When Sparks opened the door, the strong rush of salty wind almost smelled like home. A sure sign he needed to move on.
Before Seb stepped outside, Reyes wheeled a gurney over to them. Together they lifted the heavy Bruke onto it.
They’d gone down in the elevator many times before. They’d existed in the post-battle exhaustion together plenty of times too. They’d even shared the loss of Gurt. Now they shared the loss of SA.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened, the sound of the mechanism almost deafening because of their silence.
Sparks said it first. “What the hell’s happened here?”
Seb and Reyes pushed Bruke out into the wrecked gunmetal grey corridor. Lights blinked as if about to short out, ceiling panels hung down, and dents lined the walls on either side.
As much as Seb tried to feel for danger, he couldn’t sense any. Instead he called out, “Hello?”
Almost like he’d been waiting for them, Moses walked around the corner. His wide jaw hung loose as he looked at the four of them. Dark and tear-filled eyes, they lingered on Bruke before turning to Seb. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Whatever Seb had held on to until that moment abandoned him; safe at last, his legs buckled. He hit the ground hard, and as he blacked out, he heard Moses order another being to take Bruke away for surgery.
Chapter 52
Seb woke to find Moses leaning over and staring concern down on him. Pains in every muscle in his body, lethargy sat as a deep stagnation within them. A fur-lined tongue, a taste in his mouth like something had died in it, he tried to speak, gave up, and made a long groaning noise instead.
“You’re a hero, Seb Zodo,” Moses said. “You broke Enigma’s hold on the slaves. You liberated them.”
Disorientated from his sleep, Seb sat up too quickly. His world spun and nausea clamped his stomach tight. He held his pounding head and groaned again. “I feel like I’m going to die. How long have I been out for?”
“Two days.”
“Two days?” Childish hope, no more, yet he still asked it. “Anything from SA?”
Moses spoke with a sigh, reaching across and holding Seb’s hand. “SA’s dead. She didn’t get out of the palace. Anything crushed in that mess … well …”
As much as he knew he should eat, when Moses offered him bread, Seb’s stomach sank. It felt like he’d never eat again, his grief a tumour in his gut.
Although in his room, it looked very different from how Seb had left it. Whatever had happened in the corridor had also passed through here. The walls were dented, and the ceiling tiles hung down. “What’s happened to this place?”
“When the spaceport got too dangerous, Buster and Owsk had nowhere else to bring the slaves and contain them, so we used the base. They did quite a number on it. Thankfully you stopped them when you did; otherwise it would be beyond repair.”
“Where are the slaves now?”
“Aloo.”
“The spaceport?”
“Not a spaceport anymore; the ex-slaves need a home.”
“What about your money earner here?”
“I think it’s about time I earned money a different way.” In the silence that followed, Moses wrung his hands and spoke to the floor. “We’ve been waiting for you to recover so we can have SA’s funeral.”
It felt like falling without end. Tense, his stomach doing backflips, and a lump of sadness wedged as a rock in his throat, Seb let out the longest exhale. As much as he didn’t want a funeral for SA, he needed to be there, and avoiding it wouldn’t change anything. Then he remembered what had happened to his friend. “How’s Bruke?”
“Minus his left leg, but he’s on the mend.”
“Good. You can give him a new one?”
Moses nodded before he stood up and held a hand down to Seb. “Are you ready?”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be.”
“Come on, Seb.” Moses put his arm around him once he’d gotten to his feet. “We’re right beside you.”
Chapter 53
They stood on the landing platform at the top of the Shadow Order’s base. The mech Reyes had flown in a few days previously remained on guard, watching the horizon. An empty box in front of them, the others had all said something. All heartfelt. All a reminder of exactly what Seb had lost.
With a look to either side of him, Seb took in his friends. Moses, Bruke, and Sparks on one side. Reyes, Owsk, and Buster on the other. Sparks reached up and wrapped one of her long hands around his. At first it triggered more tears. He’d given up wiping them, the cold saline spray stinging where his grief dampened his skin.
Then Seb let go of her and
stepped forward. For a few seconds, he looked out to sea and watched the rise and fall of the waves. For the first time since he’d had his metal fists, he felt no panic. The fear of death didn’t have the same hold on him. Death was nothing compared to his sense of loss. Death would be a relief. He finally looked down at the box and spoke. “What can I say? How can I verbalise the chasm of a hole that’s been torn into my being? She was the strongest and most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. The only woman who’s lived up to the memory of my mum. A heart of gold. Selfless.”
For a moment he lost himself, another surge of tears streaming down his face. After wiping his nose, he continued, “Listen to me. The same bullshit everyone says at funerals. Like a few words can help with the pain. What’s the point? It hurts. That’s what I want to say. It hurts like hell, and I know this pain will never ease. Ever. In fact, it feels like it will get worse with time. That it will spread like a black hole, pulling all of me into it until I have nothing left. Besides, nothing I can say in these few short minutes can come close to summarising the woman I love and her many nuances. If I tried to write a book about what she meant to me and how wonderful she was, it would never end.”
Although he could say more, he wouldn’t ever know when to stop. After a look at the grief-distorted faces of his friends, he turned back to the coffin and shifted it to the edge of the platform. He then lifted one end, tilting it into the choppy water, the waves shifting it in his hands as the sea grabbed it, ready to pull it in. Then he let go and watched it sink. For a moment he nearly followed it. “Goodbye, my love.”
His friends on either side of him—Bruke on crutches because he hadn’t yet had an artificial leg fitted—they all watched the symbol of their friend vanish.
“She spoke,” Reyes then said.
Rocked by the wind, Seb looked at the Hispanic marine. “Spoke?”
While biting her bottom lip, tears clinging to her cheeks against the blustery onslaught, Reyes nodded.
“What did she say?”
“That she loves you.”
The sound came out of Seb as a tormented baseline issued from his diaphragm. His legs went again, but Moses caught him before he fell. He looked at Reyes. “How … how did she sound?”
It took Reyes several attempts to pull her features under control enough to get her words out. She finally said, “Celestial.”
Chapter 54
Just hours after SA’s funeral, Moses told Seb he needed to go to Danu. He also told him he always had a home and place with the Shadow Order, but he’d fulfilled his obligation to them. He’d never want for anything because a steady stream of credits would go into his bank for the rest of his days.
Reyes and Sparks had decided to remain with Buster and Owsk. The Shadow Order would always have a purpose in the galaxy, and they weren’t done fighting, in spite of everything. Bruke travelled with Seb to Danu.
When they stepped off the ship into the blustery and busy Danu spaceport, Seb saw two police officers look over at him. Other than Logan, he’d never seen eye to eye with Danu’s law enforcement. Every instinct told him to walk the other way, but it wouldn’t do them any good. Besides, Bruke only had one leg. They weren’t exactly set up for a quick getaway. He’d not had time to get an artificial one fitted, so he’d chosen to travel with crutches to keep Seb company.
“Seb Zodo?” one of the officers said as they walked over to him.
Seb stared at both of them.
“We need you to come with us.”
Seb continued to stare.
“It’s about Logan.”
An already broken heart, he’d had more than he could take. But what could he do? Run away?
Chapter 55
It didn’t take for Seb to see the hospital to know it was bad. The sombre tone the officers had spoken to him in had been a well-practiced one. The one they gave to parents when they knocked on the door in the middle of the night. The look that told you everything before the words did. The conservative hope they tried to offer, more to make it easier on them because they knew your life was about to crumble.
As they closed in on the private room, Seb said, “Is he dead?”
By way of reply, one of the officers opened the door to let Seb in. Bruke waited outside with them.
The long Frant’s feet hung from the end of the just-too-small bed. A steady pip of a heart monitor, his chest moved up and down with his breaths. Although the pause between inhale and exhale lasted that little bit too long each time, he clearly still hung on.
As Seb sat down next to his dad’s old partner, his hands tingled. He reached over and placed them on the Frant.
It filled Logan’s chest with the swell of a fuller breath, and he opened his eyes. He tilted his head to one side and looked at Seb. At first, his stare sat glazed like he didn’t recognise him. Then clarity lit a torch in them, and he spoke with a croak in his voice. “Seb, how are you, son?”
“Not you too,” Seb said, fighting against the buckle running through his bottom lip. “I’ve had about all I can take.”
“I’m done, Seb. My time has come. We can’t cheat death. No one can. But don’t be sad for me. I’ve done all I came here to do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were ill?”
“I knew what you had ahead of you. I didn’t want you worrying about me.” Logan then reached across and put a hand on Seb’s face. “I knew I could hold on to say goodbye.” A moment’s pause. “And I’ve done the house up too.”
“What? You stayed alive to tell me that?”
“Hey, don’t underestimate what I’ve done. I managed to give the place a lick of paint and tidy it up a bit. I got rid of all the sand and dust. That was no mean feat.”
“You’ve held on so we could make small talk about my dad’s house? Are you going to tell me to put the dishwasher on when I get in too?”
Logan smiled a weak and crooked smile. He stroked Seb’s cheek with his thumb. “No, I’ve not. Sorry. I’m not very good at this. You’ve met every challenge thrown at you, Seb Zodo. I know for a fact your dad would be brimming with pride were he here now. If you do nothing else in this life, know that you’ve done more than many would in ten lifetimes. Hold your head high. You’re one of the galaxy’s greats.”
The buzz still in his hands as he rested them on Logan, Seb cried.
When Logan lifted Seb’s touch away from him, he resisted.
“Let me go, son. Let me be at peace. I’m ready. Let this be a celebration of us knowing each other.”
How could he plead with the man to stay? A selfish request just so he didn’t have to feel any more pain. Almost as hard as pushing SA’s empty coffin into the water, Seb stared at the creature for a second before pulling his healing touch away from him. He held his hand instead and nodded. “You go to heaven now. If anyone’s earned it, it’s you.”
Seb watched Logan nod back at him before he released his last breath in a long and weary sigh. His mouth remained open mid-exhale. His skin dulled, the life draining from him. The tall Frant’s hand slowly turned cold in his.
Chapter 56
“Shouldn’t we go back to Aloo to get your leg sorted?” Seb said as he slowed down his approach towards the chapel.
Although he walked on crutches, Bruke still managed to nudge Seb forward with his shoulder. “My leg can wait. This can’t.”
The building stood as an intimidating sight. Looming large, it dwarfed everything around it, the spire pointing up into the sky. Still and silent, Seb’s heart rate trebled to look at it. “What if we’re the only two beings here?”
“Even more of a reason to go.”
When they arrived at the double doors to enter the place, Bruke shuffled ahead of Seb and pulled one of them open for him.
Even before they’d stepped inside, Seb saw the tight press of beings in the chapel. Over half of them were dressed in the uniform of Danu’s police force. The other half were beings he’d never seen before. A Frant in uniform stood at the front of the room, look
ing out over the two hundred or so beings present.
At first, just one of the creatures at the back turned around to see Seb. A few seconds later, many more did the same. They parted for him, letting him through and showing him his path to two empty seats at the front.
When Seb sat down, the Frant at the lectern smiled at him before looking out over the gathered crowd, his eyes radiant.
“I had a long speech planned for today,” the Frant said. “It tried to cover all the things Logan was to all the different beings I knew would be here. A friend, a father figure, a protector, a servant … He was many things to many beings. But as I stand here now before you, I want you all to take a moment to look around this chapel to see what I’m looking at. It says more than I ever could. You measure the worth of a being by their friends. No words can come close to this.”
As Seb looked around the room at all of the beings there, he saw the same expression on every face. Sure, he saw plenty of tears, but he also saw beaming positivity despite their sadness. They glowed with the privilege of having had Logan in their life.
In spite of himself, when Seb looked at Bruke, he smiled too. Logan was right. Death didn’t always have to be sad.
Chapter 57
Bruke put his leg operation off for even longer, remaining with Seb for a few days after Logan’s funeral. He worried about leaving him on his own. The sentiment meant a lot to Seb, but truth be told, since Bruke had left that morning, he felt glad to simply sit in his dad’s old chair in front of the open fire.
With everything that had gone on since he’d last been in Danu, he felt ready for a rest. Depression or exhaustion, he couldn’t tell. Either way, he needed to give it time. As he eased back in his dad’s comfy chair, the flickering fire hypnotising him, his eyes lost focus.
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