by Celeste Raye
Her breath hitched in and out of her throat. “What are you talking about? I was betrayed, and I was captured. You know that. They were trying to mine my brain and memories for any hint of who the resistance leader was, but they couldn’t find it. They couldn’t find any of the information that you gave me. That’s why they put me on that slaver ship.”
He shouted, “I had planned for you to be betrayed! You were supposed to hold out from interrogation long enough to be shipped off to one of the penal planets, where you could have been rescued. But no. You had to come back here and start a war between those who live above and those who live below and wreck my plans.”
He drew his weapon. He kept it steady and aimed right at her heart. Jessica gathered up every bit of her dignity and courage as she spotted a movement near the door of the study. “It is you, isn’t it? You are the Federation traitor who wishes to take over the entire universe.”
Yori said, “I have a plan. It can be done. There must be one ruler, not all of these delegations and planets with other rulers and all of this constant back and forth and checks and balances that only make certain that some are privileged while most starve. There must be one ruler and one way of doing things.”
“And why must you kill me?” That question burst from her lips before she could stop it.
He said, “Because you are my one weakness.”
Talon said, “Mine too. Put the weapon down, or I will blow your head right off your shoulders.”
Yori’s face didn’t change. His smile turned bitter. “I always knew you’d be the one to betray me, Jessica.”
Talon’s weapon settled right on Yori’s temple. He said, “You had to have heard us downstairs. What betrayed you, you idiot, is talking too much. Let that be a lesson to you: if you’re going to hold somebody and kill them, do it. Don’t try to talk them to death.”
Jessica’s eyes flickered downward. Yori’s smile got even wider and far more evil. That was when she understood.
She screamed, “It isn’t him! He’s not the Federation traitor! And he’s wearing a kill pack! Run! For God’s sake, run!”
Yori’s hands dropped to his waist. He had been buying time; this whole time he had been holding her there because he was buying time, but for whom and what and why?
Those questions were blown away by the force of the blast.
Memories ran through her mind. Her life flashed and pulsed. Her mother, stooped and tired. The dim and swaying illuminator bulb that had been all they could afford in their one-room tenement. The dark corners that always held shadows where she went to cry quietly on nights there was no food.
Her father, coming home, his injury severe. The shouting between him and her mother. Her mother’s voice, “She’s going to starve to death anyway. The shortages are driving the cost of a loaf to heights we can’t afford if you don’t work.”
“We have to pawn her…”
The memories collided and spun. The pawnshop dealer saying she could be sold for pleasure training, if her father wanted a larger pawn.
Her father, looking at her upturned face. His lips twisting away in disgust and fear as the shopkeeper said, “She’d eat well, anyway.”
Had he said no to her going to a pleasure training camp just because he was angry that she would eat and they likely wouldn’t?
Everything spun again, and she was running form the rats in the tunnels, dragging Yori along with her. Then she was on the training field for her tryout, her whole body rigid with fear. Not fear of the large and vicious opponent that the Capo who had caught her above had set upon her out of a need for revenge for having his power thwarted either, but a fear of failing that tryout and being sent back below to die of starvation and exhaustion and without ever knowing what it felt like to live above.
She was sneaking through the below, her hands filled with stolen nutro-loafs, the nutrient-rich and dense loafs sold to the below because real food—fruit and bread and cheese and meat and potatoes—were only allowed to those above. The stolen loaves had been atop a crate of potatoes and onions and carrots.
The faces of the hungry peering at her as she slipped by, tucking potatoes into hands eagerly outstretched and loaves into shaking ones. Making love to Yori, his building memory boxes within her mind to help hold all of their secrets.
Talon.
Talon and everything she had ever known with him.
Her eyes fluttered open.
She was covered in gore and blood. Her fingers slid on the floor, and she had to crawl, she could not stand. There was a long ringing in her ears, and her head ached furiously. Her stomach rolled as she crawled past what was left of Yori.
Talon?
Where was he?
She did not know, and she could not see him either. Her knees finally took her upward but not upright. She swayed, her eyes blinking as she tried to focus. Her feet found the floor, and she leveled herself up, her eyes blinking.
Caleb and Harlon rushed in. They were shouting at her, but she could not understand what they were saying. Her lips moved. They formed Talon’s name. Harlon ran to one side of the room. She staggered behind him, her arms outstretched. Her mouth hung open, and her feet took shambling steps that landed her near his limp and unmoving body.
Tears washed down her face, and she found herself on her knees again. Her hands rolled his body toward her. His eyes were closed, and blood was spilling from his scalp. She gathered his body into her arms and wept her tears down upon his face.
She shouted, “Oh, don’t you die on me now!”
Her words choked off as his eyes opened. He said, “I told you I’d come back.”
A sharp laugh burst from her mouth even as tears ran down her face. “You did. I love you.”
“I love you.” His fingers rose. “Good thing I got behind that blast just far enough not to die, I guess. Since you’d probably kill me yourself if I hadn’t.”
Harlon spoke, “We have to get moving.”
Jessica looked up at them. Tears kept running down her face. “Why did he do it? Why?”
“I think he did it so they couldn’t interrogate him,” Talon said as he sat up. “The Federation, I mean. The ones who are not traitors have to know what is happening here now. The plot’s been uncovered. Whoever he was loyal to, he was loyal to a fault.”
Jessica stood. She said, “We have to go help these people here.”
Talon managed to stand. He said, in a weary voice. “I need a vaca-cycle.”
Jessica hugged him. His body rested against hers, and she gulped out, “When we are done here, we are taking the longest vaca-cycle ever known.”
He whispered, “I am going to hold you to that one.”
Then they drew their weapons and headed out of the house.
Chapter 17 - Talon
Old Earth’s inhabitants stood on the rubble-strewn streets, their faces turned to the raised platform where the Federation delegation stood. Jessica stood beside Talon, who had a new scar on his face and his arm in a sling from a battle just two days before. He looked tired, and she was tired too.
The Gorlites were dead, eradicated from the world.
Yori’s plot had been exposed, but not the traitor, and now the differences between above and below grounders were nullified. None of them had much. The ones who had lived below had come above and refused to go back down, and the remaining above grounders either lacked the will or the energy to fight that battle as well as the battle for the planet.
The head of the Federation delegation stepped forward. He spoke in a long smooth voice. “I know you are all angry and feel as if we failed you. We did. We trusted those we left in charge, and they failed you too.”
The crowd muttered and shifted. Someone yelled, “We need food!”
“Water!”
“Our houses are destroyed, and we have no hydropower or solar either! We are at the mercy of the elements and the enemies who might come to fight us now while we are still so weakened!”
The cries went up all
around them. The federation leader held up his hands. “We have brought plenty. You will have those things. We will send in many troops to help you rebuild and to help restore order. We will now be vigilant to the traitor who sought to replace our benevolent rule…”
Talon’s elbow dug into her side. Jessica gave him a stern look. Now was not the time to argue the Federation’s kindness or interference. The people on Old Earth would die without some kind of assistance, and they both knew it.
“He won, in the end. Maybe not in the way he meant to, but he did. He won what he wanted for these people.”
Talons words went into her ear, and she nodded. He was right. No matter what, the old order would never rise again. It would not because those who had lived below had fought for that planet with everything that they had had in them. They had lost a great number of people from below in that war against the Gorlites and the treacherous federation officers, none of whom had yet admitted who the person or persons behind the Gorlites take-over of the planet were.
A few nights before, a few proud and biased above grounders had tendered their opinion that as soon as things were set to rights, they would begin the task of putting the below grounders back below.
They had been brutally killed by a very angry mob, and it had not been just below grounders in that mob either.
Things had reached a tipping point, where nobody could ignore the horrors anymore and have a good conscience, and if there was anyone else who felt that that caste system was still fair and necessary, that very public execution had been enough to make sure that they never spoke up on the subject.
It was awful, all of it: that things had ever gotten that bad to start with and that it had taken so much to bring it down.
That there was still a war going on within the Federation and more wars waging throughout the universe.
The Gorlites were gone, yes, but there were plenty of terrible races and beings out there, and evil always had a way of planting itself in whatever soil it could find.
Talon’s fingers moved under her elbow. He drew her away from the crowd and toward the docking station. She went quietly.
Talon had somehow managed to demand a ship, and the Federation, in a show of grudging gratitude, had given it to him. The crew waited, and soon they would be on their way to Revant Two.
Harlon and the others were already aboard. Talon said, “Caleb, take the ship home, please.”
Caleb, also battle-scarred, nodded happily. “Sure thing, boss.”
Talon turned to Jessica; “I think I need to see you in my quarters. Immediately.”
Her lips curved into a wicked smile. “Lead the way.”
The End.
Book 3: Marik
By Celeste Raye
Chapter 1
“Good morning, Jenny.”
Jenny paused, a smile on her face. The young man who’d spoken to her was bent over a small flowering garden that had been helped along by seeds brought to Revant Two from other planets. “Hello, Perin. It looks like that stuff is growing well.”
He grinned at her. The tattoo on his forehead and the scar on his arm—the spot where he had once had a massive chip implanted that would track his moves—marked him as a former slave. “It is. Thank goodness. I was afraid I’d ruin it somehow and get sent to another task.”
Her smile was sympathetic. “I know how you feel. But here nobody punishes anyone for a task gone wrong.”
Perin nodded. He was vaguely humanoid but he was completely bald and his skin was a strange, shifting thing that took on the color of his surroundings. “I know. That’s why I want it to be well.”
That too she understood. He asked, “So you are to go to med now?”
She sighed and shifted from foot to foot. “Yes, I’m to go there.”
Perin stroked the leaves of a small plant with one stubby digit. “Perhaps that is where you will be of the most use.”
“Perhaps. I should get going.”
He nodded and then said, “Here.” He dug into a small basket and handed her a small pale-orange root. “Try this. Just brush the dirt off.”
She took it with a smile. The root went between her clean white teeth. It was crisp, but not hard, and it tasted of fresh dirt and some mild and sweet flavor as well. “It’s delicious! What is it?”
Perin gave her a sheepish look. “I don’t know. I don’t think anyone does. Talon pretty much buys any seed he can find that promises food since we don’t have any printers, and they don’t want them either.”
That was a slight sore spot for some. Many feared hunger and voted for the printers, but many more were tired of the things able to be made by the printers and wanted to eat as naturally as possible.
“Renall and the others have sworn that if we lose food and need it badly, they will use the printers on the ships to feed us. We won’t go hungry.”
Perin said, “I think I fear having to eat printed food far more than being hungry these days.”
Their laughter was rich and true. Jenny brushed the small bit of dirt that had gathered on her palms off by rubbing her hands together. “Have a good day, Perin.”
“You too, and good luck at your new task.”
“Thank you.”
She set off again, her smile widening as others called out greetings to her. A young woman carrying a basket filled with small rocks drew up close. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
Jenny’s head went up and back, and her eyes scanned the blue sky overhead. That wild sense of elation that filled her every single time she saw that endless blue dome rocketed through her. It was so beautiful!
How had she ever lived without seeing the sky?
How had she managed to shunt aside the very real and very human longing for the sight of the sun and stars, the clouds and the things that flew across the heavens?
Back on old Earth, she had never seen the sky at all, not even once, except in a book her mother had. Jenny had stared at the book’s illustration for hours on end and for years, always trying to work up the courage to sneak above the tunnels where she and others of her station were forced to live—and always failing. She had always wanted to see that sky, and she had never had the bravery to actually attempt to do what it would take to do so.
And with good reason.
Back on Old Earth, she had lived Below, down in the underground section of the city where the poorest people lived. To go above ground, to risk stepping out of the place where she had been born and consigned due to her class and birth circumstances, meant risking death.
Actual death!
Only those who were wealthy or important and the few of those who lived Below who were allowed to work on the surface had ever seen the sky. They often told stories about it, and tales of what the parks looked like, what the air smelled like. Real air, and not recirculated air brought underground by the massive vent fans.
Her own mother often went above, but hers had been a clandestine visit every time and, in the end, that had cost Jenny’s mother and her father their lives. Jenny had never been able to ask them; they had been executed, and she had gone into hiding to avoid being executed simply because she was a family member, but she was positive, now that she had the ability to see the sky and feel that air on her face, to feel earth and grass below her feet, that both of her parents would have said that death was worth it.
They would have had other reasons for thinking that too though.
As she walked, the grass brushed against her bare legs. Little insects raced away from her and the songs of the winged ones above trilled out into her ears.
How could she have ever lived without knowing those things?
“Jenny?”
A guilty smile filled her face. “I’m sorry. I was just enjoying the sky so much that I forgot I had not answered you, Oliina. It is so very beautiful.” She eyed the basket. “What are you doing today?”
“I’m working on a new room of the hut.” Oliina’s smile went dazzling. “We are expecting a child.”
&n
bsp; “Oh!” Her first instinct was to say maybe Oliina should not be carrying such a heavy load. Then she recalled that for Oliina’s race, it was the males who carried the children and birthed them. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Have a good day.”
“You too.”
Jenny looked upward again as she crested the last of the hills and began to wind her way down toward the buildings she was working in that day.
She had her very first glimpse of how vast the world was outside her Below home where she had been when she had woken up from the cryo- chamber she had been placed in by armed Capo officers.
She had been convicted of a crime she had never committed. Which was just to say that the Capo had spotted her one day and decided she would be perfect for a bride ship.
A bride ship was a ship that carried human women to outlying planets where women were in short supply. No woman ever actually agreed. Most of the women on the ship had been criminals, or they had simply been pawned away by their fathers or their husbands if their debt had not been repaid.
Or they, like her, had been accused of some petty crime and convicted without even a trial then hustled onto the ship and told they would make a good bride and then sent into cryo-sleep to, in the soldier’s words, make the trip easier.
Really the purpose behind the cryo-chambers was to keep them from being able to resist their new status as brides.
Of course, that had been a lie.
They had been earmarked for delivery to a pleasure planet where they would have been sold to brothels and forced to work off a ‘debt’ that would never lessen, and they would never be able to free themselves of. If it had not been for the wrecking crew that had taken the ship, she might very well be stuck in some pleasure palace right then—and still unable to see the sky!
The Federation knew, of course, that the ship was carrying them to a different destination than the one they had been told they would be arriving at.
The Federation knew, and had always known, what happened to the women that were placed on those ships. The Federation profited from those bodies and women, and they always had.
