by Justin Sloan
“I thought they were supposed to walk around with carts of chocolate toads and booger-flavored jelly beans, no?” he asked with a hint of a smile.
“Half memory?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, somehow something about that’s in there.”
“Oh boy, we have some major catching up to do. That’s not a memory from real life but a classic movie from a long, long time ago. I hadn’t thought about getting to introduce you to all the great movies again. That might be the best part of this situation.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I can think of other firsts I’m looking forward to more.”
She grinned and agreed, then leaned into him and watched the screen above. Before they knew it, the train was pulling into the Shibuya station and they were out, surrounded by a crowd that pushed itself up the stairs and exploded into the already crowded area outside.
That was a trip for Marick, judging by the wide, shocked look in his eyes.
“Crazy, right?” she asked.
“They got it almost exactly right.”
“To be clear, the space station copied the look of this place, not vice versa,” she pointed out.
He laughed. “I know, I know.”
They both took a moment to watch the throng of people crossing in the humongous intersection, a strange mixture of Japanese and foreigners, along with umbrellas that were starting to pop up as a light rain fell. That was an element of life Alicia had found herself missing up on Horus—actual weather. Rain, fog, sunshine, all of it. So as the raindrops fell on her head and dripped down her hair, she held out her hands and closed her eyes.
“Not so conspicuous,” Marick said, putting an arm around her. “Think about it—crazy lady standing, the only person not moving.”
She laughed and opened her eyes. “You’re right, we should be moving. That way, I think,” she said and gestured to a building behind them, above where they’d come out. The other direction led to large billboards similar to Times Square in New York, along with streets that brought back memories of nights spent drinking and singing karaoke with her colleagues. She would’ve loved to spend more time there, but they had a mission to fulfill.
Instead, she bit into her apple and led him along, looking forward to grabbing a rice triangle with tuna along the way and maybe a bottle of Calpisu, one of her favorite drinks from the last time she’d been there. Her side had already healed and now they had food. It wasn’t all bad.
They disappeared into the crowd again, making their way to the platform that would whisk them away to the mainland. After a few transfers, they would be on their way to Turkey.
13
Space Station Horus
The guild had allowed Intrepid and the new Looking Glass team to meet in one of their back rooms to discuss the upcoming job. This made more sense than continuing to meet off the Titanian chaihana, as the Titanians had a vastly different ultimate goal. Actually, their goal wasn’t so different from New Origins’ in that they meant to eventually declare war on Earth, though in the case of the Titanians it was all about the ultimate battle of gods. In Intrepid’s mind, that wasn’t exactly the normal way of thinking and not one he wanted to be involved with long term, although he couldn’t ignore the help of Yerbuna and had certainly invited her to be part of the team. So far she had turned him down, saying she’d done enough to help them and instead needed to focus on the needs of her people. She was a high priestess of the Titanians, after all.
“It’s a no brainer,” Swinger said when Intrepid had finished briefing them on the situation and what Veles wanted from them.
“Is it?” Scorpio asked. “You can trust that bastard about as much as you can trust Admiral Nor herself.”
“Comparing him to the CEO of New Origins is harsh,” Olivier said.
Scorpio glanced over at the teenage boy and frowned, as if not quite sure why he was even there. Since the boy had helped save Scorpio—played a pretty large role, actually—Intrepid was prepared to defend him if necessary.
“It’s time to be cautious,” Scorpio added.
Intrepid paced the dark room, aware of his shadow darting about as the lights swayed with the movement of the station, “And if it’s true that this Set guy has enhancements now and can really teleport, can we afford to say no?”
“This shipment,” Oliver said, eyes darting nervously between Intrepid and Scorpio. “Will it be more of whatever they’ve found that makes this teleportation stuff possible?”
“Even if it is,” his counterpart cut in, a teenage girl named Juanita, “I don’t want them coming after us in the meantime.”
Intrepid glanced her way, wondering if her fear was founded. He’d come to the same conclusion but more from a strategic standpoint. A subgroup of the guild he’d been courting, Laverna, believed in the concept of being without a leader. According to this belief, while New Origins was wrong, so was the idea of cowing to this Veles creep.
“She’s right,” Swinger said, shaking his head and staring at Scorpio. “As much as you hate it, she’s right.”
“Do it without me,” Scorpio countered.
“Actually, that might be smarter,” Intrepid said, hating the look of betrayal that came from his friend at that. “Not that we couldn’t use your help, but if any of us are hot right now, you’re a can of napalm.”
“You’re just a data hunter,” Swinger chimed in. “What good—”
“Swinger,” Intrepid said with warning in his voice, but Scorpio beat him to it, standing up and shoving Swinger so that the latter fell backwards off of his chair. He hopped back up but had his hands up.
“No offense meant, just that data hunting isn’t exactly the purpose of this mission,” Swinger said.
“I’m not in, but I won’t just sit back either,” Scorpio said, eyes narrowed. “If you all got caught and I was doing nothing, I wouldn’t be too happy about ever looking at myself in the mirror again, especially after what you all did for me.”
“For you and Norwal,” Swinger said, lowering his hands and jutting out his chin.
“You say that as if I had something to do with her decision to betray us.” Scorpio said and stepped closer to Swinger. “I was in that room the whole time. She just played along, waiting for the chance to turn on us.”
“Then why didn’t she turn sooner?” Swinger asked. “I’m still not buying it. Nor—Cindy. They must’ve really hurt her to get her to that point. Where were you, man?”
Scorpio’s nostrils flared as his fists clenched. Intrepid tensed, ready to jump between them if needed.
“Guys, guys!” Juanita said as she stood, hands out. “You’re all acting like a bunch of teenagers. And yes, I’d know. So, are we in or out? The anticipation is killing me.”
“The voice of reason,” Intrepid said, glad to see Scorpio taking a step back. “I assume the answer is yes.”
The others nodded, all but Scorpio. He finally turned to Intrepid and said, “I’ll be around, doing my best to ensure your butts are covered, throwing up walls if we sense them coming, or ready to run out shooting if it comes to that. But please, don’t let it come to that.”
“We’ll do our best.”
The mission would start the next day, so everyone went to get their gear and prepare, getting rest and staying out of trouble until then. They were ready to move out and find Veles and the system he’d set up for this job. Considering the reach and money this man had, Intrepid found himself looking forward to seeing what they could do.
14
Train Through Central Asia
Marick hadn’t stopped thinking about Japan and its likeness to the West Ward on Space Station Horus. It was like a beautiful dream and nightmare wrapped up in one, and as he exited the third train since reaching the mainland and glanced about the city of Astana, Kazakhstan, he found himself once again overwhelmed with a sense of adventure. He wanted nothing more than to spend his days with Alicia, traveling and enjoying the food and sights.
“Why did I ever go to space when
there was all this waiting for us to explore?” he asked as they made their way down the steps to a line of taxi pods, their drivers already calling out to them. Beyond the drivers they could see old buildings and golden-topped mosques, but the main part of the city rose up like a counterpoint to Tokyo. The tall structures and lights bore similarities, but while Tokyo had felt like a light show on crack, Astana boasted sleeker, curved buildings and elegant architecture.
“We’ll have time,” Alicia replied, “once we aren’t being hunted. Plus, we’ve already traveled a lot of this, actually, and you felt it was time to see the stars.”
“Yeah, well tell the old me I was stupid. I’d much rather spend a lifetime here with you.”
“Noted,” she said with a warm smile, reinforcing his desire never to leave her side. She heaved the bag back to him, now with his exo-skeleton in it again. “Your turn, by the way.”
He grinned and gladly accepted it.
They picked the friendliest-looking taxi driver and were soon on their way to the water, where the plan was to take a boat across to Turkey, then pod it to Istanbul. As they talked, watching the sights fly by, Alicia placed a hand on his thigh.
“I can’t stop thinking about what Ichida said about a source or something back on Horus. Has the rage bothered you since?”
He turned away and nodded. “It’s the only reason I was able to stand against Nightshade back there.”
It hit him again, the way Nightshade shooting at Alicia had caused the fire to rise up inside him and the cravings for death and destruction… blood, even. It was like he needed to satiate the desire or he would explode, and so he had charged forward, giving it everything he had. If Alicia hadn’t set off the explosions and pulled him off that balcony, he was certain he would’ve lost himself to that rage.
“How can I hope to understand this idea that someone’s messed with my brain?” Marick said and shook his head, frustrated. “I sure as hell didn’t sign up for that when I joined. At least, I don’t remember signing up for it.”
“For the possibility that you’d lose me and much of your life forever?” Alicia said, glaring. “I’d hope not.”
“Dear…”
“I know you didn’t. It’s just that a woman doesn’t need this ‘rage,’ as you call it, to get a tad upset over all this.”
He squeezed her hand. “At least you have the memories.”
“And all the pain that goes along with knowing you don’t, not to mention the pain of willingly throwing everything away to come after you. My own sister probably thought I was dead.”
“Your parents must’ve…” he began to say but paused when he saw the look in her eyes. “Oh.”
“Nothing recent. You were at their funeral.”
“Still, I’m sorry.” He looked at her quizzically, then shook his head before staring out the window. “Do I want to ask?”
“Your family? A father, but he didn’t make it through the year. No siblings.”
“Oh.”
She put her other hand on top of his. “I’m sorry, too.”
“It’s weird finding out I don’t have family alive, other than you, of course. It’s like losing them, even if they weren’t there in the first place. Your talk of your sister made me start thinking about what my brother or sister would have been like. I even… no, it’s stupid.”
“What?”
“I even started imagining what it would’ve been like when we were younger. I don’t know… sharing a train set, jumping around on the bed as we laughed and our parents yelled at us to stop, taking turns on the slide. I don’t know why it’s all little kid stuff in my mind.”
“We can do all that,” she said with a kiss on his cheek. “Or live vicariously through our own children someday.”
“I say both.”
She laughed, then leaned into him and closed her eyes, exhausted. They had a bit of a ride ahead of them anyway, so getting some sleep wouldn’t be the worst. He leaned his head back, too, and soon passed out.
When he woke again, the driver was nudging his knee, telling them they’d arrived. A ship waited, and there was a line of people preparing to board. Marick woke Alicia and they ran over to get their tickets and board as well. Before they knew it, they were slowly but surely making it across the water with no sign of any Taipans.
They found a spot just outside on the patio and Marick pulled Alicia to him.
“One thing I’ve been wondering though,” Marick said, scrunching up his nose in thought. “All that time up there, how is it they didn’t catch you?”
“I had my teams, people below my people. We were very good at altering manifestos to get some specific team members, and as you know, we were even able to access Project Destiny’s systems.”
He nodding, trying not to think about the fact that she might have been involved in Red’s death.
“So if we need to get back up there…?” he asked.
“Won’t be a problem. What might be a problem is if we’re riding in with an armada from Earth to take down New Origins. A bit out of my league there.”
“Space raid, beach raid, eh? Same thing,” he said with a grin. “Nothing a Marine can’t handle.”
“Nothing you can’t handle, with a bit of help from your wife.”
“Sure,” he said, already imagining them returning, guns blazing. But he’d served with Trish and the others. “Would it really come to that?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” she replied. “Hey, for all we know, we’ll be killed. Or my sister will know who to get the information to, only to find out he—because it will, of course, be a he—is on the other side.”
“Quite the optimist I married.”
She shrugged. “Just telling it like it is. They wouldn’t have named Murphy’s Law if it wasn’t a law.”
“The one about things going wrong?”
“That’s right,” she said and turned back to the view of the Kazakh city disappearing into the night behind them. “It might not be what I just said. Who knows what’s going to happen? But you can bet it won’t go down as we expect. Something will go wrong.”
“So in the meantime, whad’ya say we find some place to sleep on the benches and just enjoy ourselves?”
“I’d like that. The honeymoon we never had, right?”
He laughed. “For real? We never did?”
She shook her head. “I think we were going to make my arrival in space our honeymoon. How many honeymoons have there been in space, right? Well, maybe a lot more now, but relative to everywhere on Earth, it’s special.”
“Sorry about that.”
“No, don’t be silly. Like I said, this can be our honeymoon.” With that she glanced around, then pulled him inside. She found a door, which creaked in protest as she opened it, and then looked back with a grin. “Storage closet.”
He frowned, not quite following until she grabbed him by the belt and pulled him in after her, closing the door.
“You’re taking this honeymoon thing seriously,” he said, laughing, “but a storage closet?”
“Just a little excitement thrown in,” she said, turning off the lights. A moment later, he felt her moist lips pressed against his and her hands moving across his abs. He was definitely into it, pulling her close and allowing a low moan to escape his lips.
He couldn’t imagine any man had ever wanted his wife more than he did at that moment. And yet, they kept their word—just some excitement. A storage closet was no place to be truly romantic, and this ship didn’t have private cabins. Unfortunately.
After their fun, they found a table with benches and took turns sleeping, though when it was Marick’s turn, he laid his head on Alicia’s lap and stared out at the stars for a long time, unable to rest.
“Sleep, dear,” she said. “You need your rest.”
“I slept in the taxi pod,” he replied with a yawn. “At least a bit. Intrepid… the others. I was just thinking about them. I guess it’s good that Nightshade and her team are down here�
��well, if she’s still alive. If not, then just her team. But I still worry about everyone.”
“They’re survivors,” she said, stroking his hair and running her hand down and across his chest.
He sighed, looking up at a bright light that he thought might actually be the space station, and found his eyelids closing. Yeah, he supposed she was right. They were survivors. He looked forward to connecting with Intrepid again and getting to know this team that had served with Alicia for the past year. But for now, he would rest. His eyes closed and he lost himself to dreams—floating off into space, rolling through the cold nothingness, his wife grabbing him by the belt and pulling him back to safety, and then the two of them tearing each other’s clothes off, flesh pressed against flesh.
It was a nice dream, one he didn’t mind sticking with for the time being.
15
Space Station Horus
Walking into the rooms Veles had prepared was at first quite confusing. Intrepid had never liked moving through the West Wards, and that was especially true now after recently fighting a battle there and knowing the PD soldiers were likely to be on the warpath.
The billboards and other advertisements made to resemble New York and Shibuya were too flashy for him. He was a Marine. He preferred a nice house on a lake and would never be caught dead partying it up like many of the elites who paid to keep this place going. Rich people’s kids who wanted to party in space—what could be worse? Many of them had put in to return to Earth after the recent fighting, though many stayed. It was all part of the adventure to them, he guessed.
And for some reason, Veles had thought it smart to run operations from this cesspool.
The building was comprised of living quarters, decked out with the finest furniture that could be imported from Earth, complete with paintings on the walls from the great movies of the early twenty-second century. One painting Intrepid actually recognized showed a woman in space-armor. She was practically flying, with her robes floating out behind her and a ship exploding in the background. It had been a fun flick about battling aliens that happened to include some magic and time traveling. Not his style, and it made him laugh how wrong they’d gotten it. There were no aliens, and there was certainly no magic, not as far as he could tell. He didn’t put any merit on the rumors of old ruins found on Mars or Titan. He was pretty sure those were the result of either space hallucination or random patterns in the rocks.
