Double Life

by S. Usher Evans

  "D....Dorst? Sera?" she stammered, looking between the two of them. Indeed, just as normal as Harms would be with some pirate, there were Dorst and Sera, he wearing a lab coat, and she wearing her simple sky blue dress.

  They were talking to her.

  "You are so stubborn," Sera said, dabbing the corners of her mouth with her napkin. "You've never listened to anyone who ever tried to help you. Not to me, when I tried to keep you on the right path, not to Harms, when he tries to warn you about dangerous bounties! All you do is push people away!"

  "W-what?" How did Sera know she was a bounty hunter?

  "You're reckless, too. Always have been," Dorst said. "It's like you don't care for your own safety sometimes! Following Relleck like that, when you knew he was probably up to something. Dal Jamus, as well—he could've really hurt you. You've forgotten everything Tauron taught you!"

  "How did you..." She stopped herself. This was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever seen. Sera and Dorst would never be on D-882, let alone in Harms' bar. They'd also never know she was really Razia, or know about Tauron, or any of this.

  It was the magnetic fields—this was a hallucination. She'd had them when she was a little girl, although less odd than this one. She closed her eyes, using all her mental strength to focus and overcome this hallucination. When she reopened them, she'd be in the middle of a white field, Vel and Pymus would be behind her and—

  She opened her eyes to the inside of the Planetary and System Science Academy.

  She stomped down the hall with purpose, angry she was being so easily swayed by the magnetic fields. Or maybe she was just angry to be back there, in this place she'd sworn never to set foot in again. Hallucination or not, the anger in her chest was real.

  She turned a corner and found herself in a queue of people, lined up near the cafeteria.

  Except it wasn't scientists.

  Pirates.

  Santos Journot, Zolet Obalone, Dalton Burk. Even Dal Jamus, holding a tiny tray, ready to eat, as if this were completely normal. And standing at the front of the line were Sage and Relleck.

  Somehow she felt like she'd been there before—at the back of the line, Sage and Relleck at the front. Everything had been handed to them, and she was there, fighting just to be in line. She marched to the front, intent on giving Relleck and Sage a piece of her mind.

  "You can't cut to the top pirates," Relleck sneered, looking her up and down. "This spot is for the most wanted pirates only."

  "What?" Lyssa said. "This line is for—"

  "Top twenty pirates," Relleck continued, looking forward. "God in Leveman's Vortex, why are you always trying to prove you belong where you don't? Over-compensate much?"

  "Leave her alone, Relleck," Sage said, stepping in to save her when she didn't need it. As usual.

  "I can handle this," she snapped.

  "I know you can," he said with a smile. "You've always been able to handle yourself. Must've been all those nights you were left on planets by your father. Taught you to be self-sufficient, to survive."

  Lyssa's eyes widened. She'd never told Sage a thing about her father—deciding very early on that she was much better off keeping it to herself. Besides, she was going to be Razia—what good would it do to share Lyssa's problems?

  "How did you know I—"

  She found herself in the middle of a dark jungle. Panic bubbled in her chest—she'd been there before. He had left her again. He was off in Leveman's Vortex doing research and she was stuck doing his dirty work. She trudged through the darkness, jumping at every sound or movement glimpsed out of the corner of her eye. This place was teeming with life, and she, just a little girl, was ripe for the eating.

  She hurried out of the jungle and onto the banks of a wide river. There was a bright moon overhead, illuminating the river with an eerie white glow. Or was she staring at the glow from Leveman's Vortex? That damn spiral was always following her around, it seemed.

  She fell to her knees, emotionally and mentally spent, just waiting for the bottom to fall out, as it always did. It didn't matter how much she tried to run from it—deep down, she would never be able to escape the darkness and her own evil.

  She opened her eyes and caught sight of her reflection in the water. It was Lyssa—hair tied in a bun, thick glasses, lab coat. And she looked so...defeated, so abandoned.

  She couldn't help but feel sad for the girl looking back at her. She'd been kicked around and left behind by everyone she'd ever loved. Her father didn't want her. Her mother thought she was better off dead. Her siblings ignored her—or worse.

  Even she didn't want herself.

  After all, she was the one trying to be rid of Lyssa, the one who disparaged her and thought she was worthless. But looking at this other part of herself in the water, she began to realize how wrong she'd been.

  Lyssa wasn't worthless—she was strong, she'd survived abandonment by her father and family. Razia never would've had the courage to stand in front of Dal Jamus and take him down if Lyssa hadn’t been fighting for herself since the day she was born. Razia never would've been able to stand up for herself if not for the years of torture at the hands of the Peate siblings.

  Lyssa was brilliant—being kept quiet with pattern and number games had primed her brain to keep small details organized in her brain like a catalogue. Razia would never have been allowed to stay with Tauron and become a bounty hunter had it not been for Lyssa's curiosity, intelligence, and dogged obsession with solving complex puzzles.

  Lyssa was a safe haven, a place to escape to when things got too rough. Without her, Razia would've had nowhere to hide after Relleck nearly captured her. Nowhere to reflect and realize where she could do better. Razia might've been captured by now if it weren't for Lyssa.

  Without Lyssa, Razia would never have amounted to anything more than a low-ranked bounty hunter who captured petty purse thieves.

  Without Lyssa, Razia was nothing.

  The reflection faded, and she felt cool rock under her hand where sand had been. Her eyes shifted upward to take in the sight of an old, weathered arch.

  She was kneeling at the dais of the Arch of Eron.

  How she'd gotten there, she'd no idea.

  Slowly, she pushed herself off her knees, a feeling of serenity coming over her she'd never felt before. For a few blessed moments, she relished the tranquility that had finally settled in the pit of her stomach, until she heard footfalls and the sound of her name.

  "Lyss!" Vel called after her. "Lyssa, can you hear me?"

  "Yeah." She nodded, turning to him.

  He looked her up and down as if she'd completely lost her mind as his nails dug into her shoulder. "What happened to you? You just started walking around in circles mumbling about—"

  "Nothing," she said, gently pushing his arms off. "It's the magnetic fields. They can cause severe hallucinations."

  "What did you hallucinate about?"

  "Not important," she said, watching Pymus slowly walk up to the two of them.

  "It's real," Pymus breathed. "The arch...it's...it's real."

  "Of course, it's real," Lyssa snapped, keeping her gaze glued to him.

  "Okay, so does this mean we can leave now?" Vel said, nervously looking around. "I don't feel right being here."

  "My boy, I have work to do," Pymus scoffed, lifting one of her sensors out of his satchel.

  "Those aren't going to work here," Lyssa said pointedly. "The magnetic fields are too strong."

  "Pardon me if I don't want to take the word of a girl who just hallucinated her way here," Pymus said, waving the machine in the air.

  "Right, or maybe the Great Creator doesn't want us in his business," Vel said edgily, as if expecting the Great Creator Himself to walk out of the Arch and chide them for being sacrilegious. "So, how about we get out of here? Or, better yet, Lyss and I can get out of here. And you can stay."

  "You're right," Pymus said, putting the sensor away and pulling out a gun. "I think it would be best if the two o
f you went away."

  "Pymus, what are you doing?" Lyssa said, grabbing Vel protectively.

  "Oh, don't worry, your souls won't have far to travel," Pymus said with a smile. "Vel, I'm quite sure the Great Creator has something lovely planned for you. Dr. Peate, I..." He shrugged. "I guess you'll just have to find out."

  "You don't have to do this," Vel said, sliding closer to Lyssa, who tightened her grip on his arm.

  "I do, unfortunately." Pymus pointed his gun at Vel and pulled the trigger.

  Before she could even think, Lyssa shoved both herself and Vel out of the way. The two of them tumbled to the ground beside the Arch.

  "Lyssa!" Vel said, looking at her.

  "He didn't get me," Lyssa said, searching her body.

  "Oh, well," Pymus said, leveling the gun at them again. "Let me try that again."

  Before he could pull the trigger, a loud crack echoed across the white plains.

  Lyssa's heart dropped into her stomach. The silvery wisps hung from the stone arch had turned an inky black—in fact the entire world darken with every second. Pieces of the arch crumbled, small pebbles falling down the dais.

  "Vel...." she whispered, unhooking her utility belt from her hips and snapping it securely around Vel's. "You're gonna have to run."

  There was another loud crack. A large boulder broke off the Arch, tumbled down the hill then fell straight through the ground. Red-tinted steam rose through the crack.

  "What did you do?" Pymus yelled, just as a crack appeared beneath his feet.

  Without another word, he disappeared into the ground.

  "Lyss?" Vel said, knowing exactly what was happening, his eyes transfixed on the fiery river flowing far beneath their feet.

  "Run, Vel!" Lyssa screamed, grabbing his hand and yanking him forward.

  Cracks were appearing all around them, and big chunks of the ground disintegrated to the inferno below. Keeping Vel in the corner of her eye, Lyssa deftly dodged the cracks, first left then right then right again. In the distance, she saw her ship.

  "There!"

  Her foot landed on a piece of crumbling ground and her heart stopped.

  "Lyssa!" Vel grabbed her hand as the world gave way.

  She was falling, still holding onto Vel's hand. He screamed beside her, and the river of fire was coming closer.

  She closed her eyes, ready for the pain.

  It didn't matter now. None of it mattered.

  She still had a terrible soul, and now poor Vel was yet another casualty of it.

  Her body jerked roughly, and she wondered why the fire didn't feel so painful. In fact, it didn't feel like anything at all.

  If anything, it was getting less hot.

  "I got you!"

  She opened her eyes and all she saw was a burning river. Forcing herself to look upward, she finally registered the death grip Vel had around her forearm. Vel, slowly being reeled up to her ship, attached to the magnetic clip by the utility belt she'd given him, was smiling at her, relieved.

  "I got you," he repeated, looking down at her. "I'm not gonna let go. I promise."

  He tossed her up into the open hatch, and her fingers connected with the hot metal. She pulled herself up and sat on the edge of the ship, fire burning her cheeks. Why hadn't the Great Creator put her out of her misery already?

  "Are you okay?" Vel asked, as he pulled himself to safety.

  "Let's just get out of here," she whispered, standing up and heading to her bridge.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Dr. Lyssa Peate stepped off her ship in the dock of the Planetary and System Science Academy, wearing her signature white-collared shirt and dull gray dress pants. She'd just come from a planet excavation, a far away, habitable planet with huge fields just ripe for running. Her legs were still achy from the twenty miler she'd snuck in.

  Her eyes, hidden behind her thick-rimmed glasses, were scanning the dock for anyone who looked like they recognized her. It was an odd hour to arrive at the Academy, but there were still dock hands and young DSEs milling about, removing cargo and loading it onto large ships. Two U-POL officers were strolling the docks, but they paid her no attention. They weren't the Special Forces anyway.

  She locked up her ship, confident the coast was clear, and headed for the lifts.

  The ride to her lab was uneventful, although they'd changed all the advertisements in the cab to those advocating the current president of the UBU for re-election. Lyssa thought the entire political process was stupid—how could one person speak for a universe full of different creatures—and the ads were worse. It was early too—the next election wasn't for another six months. Stepping off the lift, she kept her eyes glued to the floor. Most of the labs were closed, but a few doctors were working.

  She arrived at her lab and was typing in the access code when she felt a presence behind her. In the reflection, she saw blonde hair and a white lab coat, with a slightly shorter intern next to him.

  "Dorst, I'm not—"

  "Oh no. No, no, no, dear Lyssa."

  Whirling around, she momentarily thought she was having another hallucination, because Sage Teon, wearing an official badge and white lab coat, was standing in the middle of the Planetary and System Science Academy. But more curious was his face, covered in purple bruises and his lip split down the middle.

  "What in Leveman's Vortex happened to you?" she asked.

  "Oh, you know." Sage shrugged, his thin layer of composure barely covering a boiling river of rage. "Me and my crew thought it would be fun to engage in a good ol' fashioned bar brawl with a pirate and his crew that I wasn't even after."

  Lyssa swallowed, realizing in the excitement of capturing Relleck, then Pymus, she'd completely forgotten Sage and his crew had stayed behind to fight Linro's and Relleck's crews.

  And from the looks of it, it was a hard-fought battle.

  "A pirate, I find out later, you let go!" Sage said, his face turning red with anger. "I cannot fathom why you would do this."

  "I...uh..."

  "So do you know what I did?" Sage said, a slightly mad look in his eye. "I turned in Linro Lee." He nodded. "Yeah, that's right, I turned in the pirate you were hunting."

  She didn't dare look annoyed.

  "Does that piss you off?" Sage was now completely in her face. He really was badly bruised, and the split in his lip had reopened from his ranting and raving.

  She realized he was waiting for her to respond, his chest heaving in rage, and quickly shook her head.

  "And my bounty is now number six in the universe! Does that piss you off?"

  Lyssa bit her lip, trying her best not to burst out laughing at the way he'd very uncharacteristically lost his mind. All she could do was shake her head.

  "Then I thought, what would really piss you off? Then, lucky for me, your brother called!"

  Vel, who was watching the spectacle in amusement, shot her a quick look.

  "Does that piss you off, Lyssa?"

  She realized that he was looking for a yes, and nodded fervently.

  "Good, I'm glad!" And with that, he turned around and huffed off, hands in the lab coat pockets.

  "Man, that guy is crazy about you," Vel observed, casually.

  "Oh, get sucked into Leveman’s," she snapped at him, walking into the lab.

  "Been there, done that," Vel said, following her inside. "Wouldn't recommend it."

  "Why are you here?" Lyssa asked, sitting down at the old computer and firing it up.

  "Because you and I nearly die at Leveman's Vortex last week, then you drop me off at the Manor without two words and disappear."

  "I was excavating a planet," she muttered, syncing her mini-computer.

  "Which, and I don't know if you recall, I'm supposed to do with you," Vel asked, matter-of-factly. "As I am still your intern."

  "I thought the deal was if I went home, you'd ask Dorst to be your teacher," Lyssa said without looking at him. "Or was that a lie, too?"

  "Do you honestly expect me to believe y
ou wanted be rid of me?" Vel retorted.

  "Pymus is gone, so there's no need to keep you on as my intern," she muttered, still unwilling to look at him.

  "You're just mad because I saw something you didn't want me to see," Vel shrugged.

  The color drained from her face. She was sure those were hallucinations.

  "You...saw?" she whispered, finally looking at him.

  "I didn't have to," Vel said, quietly reaching in front of her and turning off the monitor so she would talk to him. "Something happened at Leveman's Vortex—"

  "Nothing happened," Lyssa growled, sitting back and turning on the monitor.

  Vel turned it off again. "Liar."

  "Oh good, you've finally figured it out," Lyssa said, turning it back on.

  "Quit deflecting," Vel snapped back, turning it off. "Tell me what you saw."

  She stared at him.

  He stared back.

  She narrowed her eyes.

  He narrowed his back at her.

  "Ugh!" she said, finally giving in. "It was...nothing. Nothing that matters anyway."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Because you saw what happened?" Lyssa shook her head. "It's the same thing that happened with Sostas."

  "W-what?" Vel blinked. "What are you talking about?"

  "The last time I went to Leveman's Vortex with him," Lyssa said, staring at the dark computer screen. "Sostas was being a real asshole. Yelling at me for nothing. And he, and mother, and everyone had always made me feel like I was wrong, or bad, or whatever. So I thought...I thought I could ask Him."

  "Oh, Lyssa," Vel said.

  "And before you know it, the same damned thing was happening," she whispered, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. "The world just disintegrated. The Great Creator gave me my answer. I have a bad soul—I am a bad person. It doesn't matter what I call myself—I'm going to burn. Mother knows it, Helmsley knows it. Father even saw it firsthand…"

  "Did he…fall?" Vel asked.

  "No," she said. "Worse. He was so angry with me he couldn't even look at me. The next morning…" She swallowed. "He was gone. He had no use for a rotten soul."

  "Why were you his assistant anyway?"