by J. Naomi Ay
“Is this your religion of peace?” I cried, my voice echoing in the empty corridor. “Is this what your Lord Rosso requests of you? To kill women and innocent old men to prove your love for him?”
Now, I heard them banging on Reggie’s door.
“I hope you all go to hell,” I whispered softly, “When the Emperor comes back.”
Chapter 19
Katie
I would have answered the Captain. I would have told him I wasn’t Katie de Kudisha, but instead, Anne Black. Unfortunately, we all got very busy. Whatever I had done by putting my hands on Dave’s stomach caused the vortex to change direction and start spewing outward. All of the protein bars, all of the water and fluids, and whatever else they had pumped into him, suddenly came flying back at me.
Quickly, I pulled away, but by then, it was too late. Dave’s organs started flying out, too. He screamed. We all screamed. Then, he died, his heart and lungs ripped from his chest and flying directly into Zork’s face. Now, other things gushed from the black hole, including space dust, rocks, and debris.
“Stop this!” the Captain ordered as if I had caused it.
“Where’s a laser?” I cried. “Somebody get me a laser!”
“No,” the Captain said. “You’re a felon. You’re under arrest.”
A large chunk of what might have been a spacecraft erupted from what had once been Dave, knocking the Captain off of his feet. The vortex spun faster. A tornado had formed in this tiny room.
“Get me a fucking laser!” I screamed once again. “We’ve got to incinerate every atom that was Dave.”
“You are Captain Katie!” Lynne gasped. “She used to yell just like that.”
“I’ve got a laser.” Dr. VJ ran for his office.
He returned a moment later with an old gun that was seriously undercharged. It was better than nothing, and at that particular moment in time, we couldn’t wait to fill out a material’s requisition. We were all covered in blood and guts, dust, gravel, and space mites. On top of that, bigger things were flying out of Dave, and slamming into the walls. If we waited any longer, this whole ship would be toast.
Grabbing the laser from VJ’s outstretched hand, I blasted for what it was worth. Using a circular pattern, I decimated every molecule of Dave, and then, turned the gun on the Captain.
“Good to see you all again,” I said, grabbing the guy’s arm. “But, Zork and I really need to go. Walk, Captain, like your life depends upon it, and if you say a word to anyone, it’ll be your last.”
“Are you sure about this, Goldie?” Zork chuckled. “Maybe, we ought to stay a while longer. I really could use another shower, and a change of clothes.”
“You look and smell better than you did in the garbage truck,” I snapped. “Hurry up.”
“You don’t,” he replied sheepishly.
I frog-marched them to the shuttle bay where we had our choice of five clean and fueled planes to make our escape.
“Pick one,” I told Zork. “What’s your favorite bird?”
Just like years ago, each shuttle was named ‘Lil Something. There was Osprey, Falcon, Eagle, Robin, and Vulture.
“How about Robin?” Zork suggested.
“Hell no! I’m not escaping in a shuttle named after a songbird. We’ll take Vulture. Hop to it, Captain. You board first.”
“Start her up, Zork,” I ordered, as soon as we were all inside, and the hatches were locked and sealed.
“How? I’ve never flown a Spaceforce shuttle.”
“Big yellow button on your left. Other than that, it flies exactly like a garbage truck.”
“Am I going with you?” the Captain asked.
“It looks that way. Don’t worry, it won’t be long.”
I made him sit in a passenger seat, buckling him in with several straps. I also found the security kit, which was stored exactly where it had been all those years ago. Extracting a pair of handcuffs, I bound his wrists to his chair.
“Now, I want you to tell the bay operator to open the doors, and release us. If you say anything else…”
“I know, I know, you’ll blast me.”
A moment later, we were once again free among the stars. We were all still covered in Dave’s muck, and the smell in there was pretty bad.
“What are you going to do with him?” Zork asked, glancing at the laser that was still in my hand.
“I don’t think I have a choice,” I said, turning around and sending the Captain into the abyss of atomic particles that once were something else.
“Holy shit, Katie!” Zork screeched. “What’s wrong with you? Are you on a murderous rampage, or what?”
“Shut up, Zork,” I replied. “Or, you’ll be next. Like my husband always says, it’s for the greater good.”
“Nice family you’ve got.”
The shuttle had a range that would take us into the next sector. Judging by the dilapidated state of the Discovery, and the antiquated vintage of the shuttle, I didn’t think Spaceforce would be any threat. Judging by the lack of response to my plight from the Imperial SpaceNavy, I figured Zork and I were on our own.
There were still a fair number of pirates out there, but the shuttle was well armed. We also had clothing, water, and food to last us several weeks. There was recharger for my laser, but unfortunately, no other guns aboard. Budget cuts.
“Where exactly are we going?” Zork asked, after we had cruised for half a day.
Both of us had washed in the sink, and changed clothing, tossing out our soiled orange jumpsuits through the trash chute. I had also swept up the bit of ash that remained of the Captain, dumping him in the trash.
“Earth, I guess. We’ll get as close as we can.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know. I’m making this up as we go along.”
“I can see that,” Zork muttered, his eyes watching warily, as if I might suddenly draw the laser on him, or turn into a demon myself.
Maybe, I had already turned into a demon. I felt oddly detached from the surroundings. Surprisingly, watching Dave explode hadn’t affected me at all.
I was more intrigued by the black hole, which no one else could see. It shifted under my hand as I drew thirteen circles on Dave’s skin. I figured that would be the right amount as thirteen was a prime number, part of the Fibonacci sequence, and black holes, like spiral galaxies would be subject to the Golden Rule. Apparently, it worked, as on the fourteenth turn, the vortex reversed, and all hell broke loose. I caused it, and did nothing to stop it. I let it happen, and just stood by marveling at what I had done.
"Why don't you try to get some shut-eye," Zork suggested, smiling anxiously.
"Alright."
I went to lie in the back across a row of seats, the closest thing to an actual bed I had been in for several months. Covering myself with a silver Mylar insulated blanket, I almost instantly passed out from exhaustion.
I slept for hours, maybe even days, having no clue how much time had passed. I dreamed that I was back home in Mishnah. Senya was waiting for me, and my heart filled with joy. I had missed him with every breath in my body, and so I ran to him with open arms, anticipating the warmth and strength of his embrace. Until a boy stepped out from behind him.
I stopped short, my heart thudding, my breath catching in my throat.
"Who is this?" I demanded, looking over the young man. I knew. I could see it in his face. "Where did he come from? Who brought him here?"
The boy looked to Senya for instructions. My husband put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, his mouth set, his face as cold as stone.
"How could you do this to me?” I gasped. “How could you?”
"It had to be," he said, a variation of his usual refrain about time and fate, and all that.
"No, it didn't. It didn’t! You made a choice."
I wanted to strike him. I wanted to thrust a stake through his heart, and watch it bleed. At that moment, I despised him more than anything I had ever hated before. I looked to my sons,
my boys, my men, but they turned their backs to me. They would not cross their father, the Emperor, the MaKennah who ruled all.
Behind me, I heard laughter, a deep male voice enjoying my anger.
"I warned you, Cassie," Luka chortled. "Many times I did tell you he would betray you, but no, you insisted he loved you." Luka’s voice took on a simpering tone. “And, you loved and forgave him again, and again, in this lifetime, just like you did in all the others before, or so you thought.”
"Stop it!" I screamed, and woke up shaking on the row of shuttle seats, beneath the silver Mylar plastic insulated blanket. "My name is Katie. I'm not Cassie. I'm not an angel, or anything else."
"Is that right?" Luka asked, now from the seat in front.
"Go away!" I screamed again, and reached for the laser stowed at my feet.
I blasted Luka with every last bit of charge it had. Still he laughed, even though his image had disappeared. Instead, to my horror, when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, I realized, Zork was ash, and I was alone.
Chapter 20
Eva
I heard screaming from Reggie’s apartment above me, but I did nothing, because there was nothing that I could have done. I hid myself in the storage closet at the end of the front hall, where Reggie kept his brooms and buckets.
Scrambling in behind the vacuum cleaner, I knelt down on the floor, and called to the Blessed Saint, although my prayers went unanswered.
There were thumping noises, and shouts, gunshots, and a hiss of lasers. Across the hall and through the walls not far from me, two men were being slaughtered like sheep. I held my breath, and held my tears, as my survival would depend upon my silence.
I held onto my sanity, which was threatening to flee, as I waited for what seemed the longest hour of my life.
Then, they left, their heavy boots stomping across the wooden floors, their voices filled with laughter at what they had done.
“We should have dragged them out into the snow,” someone was saying. “Painted this town red with their blood.”
“They were both too heavy,” Jetro replied. “Furthermore, that Karut put up too much of a fight.”
“Well, at least we’ve got something.” I recognized Byl’s voice. “A pound of flesh from each to prove that they are well and truly dead.”
“I think we should have taken heads.”
“Too difficult to cut them off.”
“And, I’m too tired.”
“A finger is good enough,” Jetro said. “We shall make an offering to Lord Rosso of our heathen infidels’ flesh. I hope he shall be pleased with us for doing his bidding.”
Their boots carried them out the door. It slammed behind them, and then, burst open again, the wind thrusting it aside, and racing through the building.
I trembled in my closet, refusing to unleash the torrent of fear, and grief raging inside my soul, and I trembled as the bitter cold invaded my tiny space.
Then, I heard more footsteps racing up the stairs, the door slamming shut behind whomever had arrived. Now, someone was knocking on Reggie’s door, pounding at it fiercely.
I waited and listened, but no one answered. No one called to ask who had come. The pounding started again.
“Open up!” A boy’s voice cried. “Let me in. Please! Let me in.”
Gathering my wits, and my strength, I emerged from the closet to discover a teenage boy frantically knocking. He was tall, and thin, with curly, black hair, and a face reminiscent of the one on Reggie’s plates.
“Who are you?” I gasped.
“Can you let me in? Please? Hurry!”
I fumbled in my pockets and withdrew the master key. Inside, Reggie lay in a pool of his own blood, his blank eyes staring upward, a joyous smile on his face.
Whatever he had seen in his final moments had obviously pleased him. I was glad of this, for his body was riddled with bullet holes, his left thumb missing from his hand. I knelt by his side, and gently closed the lids over his eyes.
“Sleep well, Reggie. You were a good man,” I whispered. “You didn’t deserve to die this way.”
In the meantime, the boy was racing frantically about the apartment.
“Mika!” he yelled. “Mika! Where are you?”
I didn’t move. I didn’t go help him search. I couldn’t bring myself to behold the death of the Great Emperor. I wanted to remember him as I had seen him before, so closing my eyes, I imagined him upon the balconies of the magnificent Imperial Palace. I would recall him tall, and strong, commanding, and beautiful, as Rehnor had been in my youth.
“Kari-fa, Mika!” the boy gasped, as he discovered the man in the bedroom, the place where he had spent so many days. “Mika, kira-te firma-ki lorat ma kyrto.”
Now, I rose to my feet, determined to leave. There was nothing more for me to do here. I would return to my cold, dark flat, and await whatever fate befell us all.
“Go away, Rafa. Let me die,” the Emperor’s rasped.
He wasn’t dead. I heard him speak softly, though clearly with my own ears, his breath coming hard, and his voice choked. I couldn’t leave now. In fact, I was compelled to return to the bedroom to bear witness.
“Leave me be. I beg of you.”
"No. I won't do it. We need your help."
"I can't anymore. I have failed. Too many have died because of my mistakes."
"If you don't fight now, then he has won."
"Then, he has won. There is naught more that I can do."
Peeking inside, I expected to find the Emperor sprawled upon the bed, lying peacefully as if he was already entombed. Instead, he huddled in a corner, curled up against the wall, his hair and face coated in dried red blood. His bad leg was splayed awkwardly, and his shirt was stained and wet. His pallor was ghostly white, and he was trembling.
“He needs a doctor,” I muttered, as the boy knelt down beside him. “I can run to the hospital. The Rossorians cleared a tunnel through the snow.”
They ignored me.
"Mika, my brother, the battle is not yet over. You must heal again. I will grant you this."
I saw a flash of silver light, and instantly, the room became very warm. Suddenly, it felt as if others were standing there.
The silver light began to grow. It eclipsed the room in a hazy fog, swirling as if the wind was blowing it about.
"No," the Emperor begged, weakly lifting his left hand to wave it away. “I can’t. I am too tired. I am too worn.”
“We fill you with strength, brother, as we have done before.”
Now, I could see them, silver images floating in the air. Their countenances were so bright, I had to shut my eyes. The room grew hotter still, the air so thick, I could barely breathe. I heard a cacophony of trumpets, cymbals, and drums resonating in my ears.
I fell to my knees as if in a faint, sprawling at the feet of these angelic beings, whose presence filled me with unbelievable joy.
I do not recall what happened next, for I fell into a sound and satisfying sleep. I may have slept for days or even weeks. I knew only that time had passed. When I awoke, I discovered, tucked in my hand, a handwritten note in the Noble Mishnese.
“Come to me, Eva,” it read, and so I rose to my feet, and ran to the window.
The sun was shining warmly, and brightly as if the planet had been reborn. There were voices in the streets, and birds singing in the trees. The snow was gone. The winter ended. The storm had finally finished, and the time had come to live again.
Gathering my few belongings, a coat, my gloves, and boots, I took one last look around Reggie’s apartment at the cold hearth filled with spent gray ash.
Before it, in a line, trailed a row of dusty silver flakes. As I gazed at them, I realized with a heavy heart that before me lay the remains of Reggie, the Emperor’s loyal servant, and the last Imperial Guard.
Chapter 21
Shika
The door cracked open.
“Shit! It hasn’t been an hour. That’s not fair.”
&nbs
p; I jumped up from the couch, ready to pummel whichever one of those freak Rossorian dudes had come to off me. I wasn't going to go down easily, even if I didn't have a weapon. The dude was going to have a fight on his hands trying to take me out.
However, it was just Kinar. He poked his head in the room, followed by the rest of his body, and then, quickly shut the door. I was waiting for him.
“What do you want?” Grabbing his neck, I shoved him up against the wall.
“Leave him alone, Shika,” Taner said. “Come Kinar, sit down. What news have you brought for us?”
“I don’t care about his news,” I sneered, starting to pace the room for about the five hundredth time. “He’s a traitor. He works for Petya. Don’t you, Lord Kinar?”
“Kinar is as loyal to your father, as I have always been.”
“Is that right, Taner? Well, I seem to remember a time when you wouldn’t speak to him either. Coincidentally, that was the same time when he disappeared, right about sixteen years ago. Lucky us. Now, because of that, not only have we got to deal with Arsan, but when Mom finds out about our new brother, there’s going to be hell to pay.”
“You think she doesn’t know?” Zem asked, from the floor where he was sitting with Rory.
They were sharing a blanket, which covered both of their bodies, leaving only their two green heads to emerge from the top.
Next to them, sat Carolie and Ber, also sharing a blanket, but enjoying it more so than they should have. Their two heads were turned to face each other, both of their cheeks flushed pink, their mouths locked in giddy smiles.
I glared at them, attempting to assert my role as the evil step-father, but as I was most likely going to be dead within the next thirty minutes, they chose to ignore me.
“You would have to deal with Arsan whether or not I was angry,” Taner responded. “His advent, and arrival had absolutely nothing to do with me. Fear not for your father. He has been on the receiving end of your mother's wrath many times. He'll survive it. He always does.”
“I think Arsan is a little more serious than not telling her about Rent, or trapping her in a mental institution for seven years!”
