“You have quite a flair for dramatics, Mr. Trass,” she said, her flamboyant entourage trailing closely behind her. “If I were you, I would have taken the deal.”
“Anything to benefit you, right?” I replied.
“Their blessing is just a formality. Every corporation exists under that same pretense, and you don’t seem naïve enough to think the USF makes any decision on their own.”
“My ambassador has made me very aware of how your world works.”
“Few have had such an intimate look.” She ambled closer, until there was barely half a meter between us. The sweet tang of her perfume accosted my nostrils.
“If you don’t mind, Madame Venta, we have to go.” I took Aria’s hand and drew her around them, but both of Madame Venta’s sons moved to impede us. My guards rushed in front of me. The Red Wing men watching over the room stirred.
“My chief technology officer went missing earlier,” Madame Venta said calmly. “He was supposed to be here. You wouldn’t happen to have seen him anywhere, would you?”
“Losing track of your own people now?”
“He’s not one to be late.”
“Always prompt,” Karl sneered.
“If I hear anything, I’ll be sure to pass it along. Though I am an outsider here after all.”
“So you are.”
“I wish I could be of more help.”
Again, I attempted to walk away. Madame Venta laid a hand on Aria’s shoulder. It wasn’t aggressive, but the way she did it made my blood boil. Like she owned her. “You should consider keeping better company, Aria,” she whispered. Her fingers slid up Aria’s collar bone toward her slender neck. Madame Venta stroked her once there tenderly; then she and her entire entourage marched in the other direction.
Aria released a breath as if she’d just been suffocating. We stopped outside of the elevator, currently being secured by Red Wing Company men.
“Ignore her, Aria. She’ll earn the same fate as Luxarn soon enough.” I took her wrist and stepped onto the lift, but she wriggled away.
“Kale, I… If you’ll allow it, I’d like to go see an old friend from Old Dome before we leave,” she said, staring blankly from just outside of the elevator doors.
“It isn’t safe.”
“It is for me. It’s like Maya always says, I’m not one of you.”
“Aria, what’s wrong?”
“It’s…” She bit her lip, still unable to look at me. “I grew up here. There are people I haven’t seen in a long time. Places. I’d like to say goodbye to. I have a feeling this is the last time I’ll ever be back.”
“You said yourself how dangerous it could be here.”
“I promise. I’ll be back in our hangar before you leave. Please, Kale, for me?”
Something was obviously troubling her, and it was more than what she’d seen between me and Trevor Cross. More than being a part of our failed meeting with the Assembly. I remembered leaving my home for the first time and boarding a gas harvester; the feeling that I might never come back. Now she was the same. An outsider. If anybody understood how much someone needs time for themselves, away from judgment or responsibility, it was me. And even though I knew both Maya and Gareth would warn me not to let her out of my sights on a world owned by Earth, I trusted her. Aria could have fled the moment she found us interrogating Trevor, but she didn’t. She’d stuck by my side before the grandiose Assembly, and so I’d stand by hers.
“I understand,” I said as I blocked the elevator doors and held her by her slight shoulders.
“Thank you.” She leaned up on the balls of her feet and started to plant a kiss on my lips before realizing where we were and awkwardly shifting toward my cheek. It was too late. One of the relentless reporters at the building’s entry had trickled in and caught us on his hand terminal.
“By Trass,” Aria murmured. “I’m so sorry.”
I surveyed the antechamber. The reporter fled into the mob before anyone could stop him. Gone with a picture that’d earn him thousands of credits. I thought I’d feel angry, but I didn’t. After the summit, I couldn’t care less what any Earther thought of me or anything I did.
“Don’t be,” I said. “Just try to be as quick as you can and keep your terminal on just in case. I’ll message you when we’re ready for takeoff.” I addressed two of my guards. “Retrieve your weapons and armor and stay with her. Keep her safe, or you’ll feel Titan’s air on your flesh.”
“They’ll just draw attention,” Aria protested.
“They’ll accompany you or you won’t go.” My gaze dropped toward her stomach. “Your face is as recognizable now as their armor, and I’m not only concerned about you. We’ll see how honest Earth is about wanting peace.”
She sighed and nodded meekly. “All right. Thank you, Kale, really. I don’t know why you really wanted to come to Mars, but thanks for letting me get you here.”
“Next time it will be different. You’ll see.” The elevator doors shut and blocked her solemn smile before I shot up through the building.
Our meeting with the USF was officially concluded, and it went exactly how I’d expected it to. Exactly how Aria hoped against reason it wouldn’t. It was time to leave the stifling air and glittering towers of New Beijing behind, and thanks to Maya and Gareth, we weren’t leaving empty handed.
The lift returned me to my floor. The youngest of my guards stood outside my door, with a covered plate in his hands. He had fair skin, even for a Titanborn, and hair so unnaturally blonde the lights gave it a shimmer.
“Lord Trass.” He lowered his head in reverence. “Venta Co. had this sent up immediately following the summit. They wished to thank you for traveling such a long way.”
I lifted the lid, and a smell I hadn’t been privy to since Maya and I wound up serving Earthers dinner on a luxury cruiser greeted my nostrils. Freshly grilled meat.
“They said it was authentic, rare bovine meat from an animal farm on Earth,” he explained.
I lifted the slab, red juice dripping all over the floor. A common source of sustenance before the Meteorite hit, now a rare delicacy. Just another thing Earther’s like Madame Venta could hold over us. Few animals had survived the apocalypse, and while there were a few farms on Mars, low gravity left their meat tough and almost inedible. The stuff sold to food stands in the darker parts of cities.
I lifted the meat to my mouth, but the guard stopped me. “Lord Trass, it’s not healthy for us. My father snuck something like this from his Earther boss once, wound up in the Q-Zone a week later.”
I ignored him and tore a piece off with my front teeth. They were accustomed to soft greens and condensed, ration bars, never anything so chewy. The taste was rich with flavors I couldn’t describe with any other word but smoky. As if someone had condensed the flaming halls of Pervenio Station after we stormed it into food.
I could understand why it was an Earther delicacy, unlike coffee or milk. They always had been proud to put their dominance on display, and what was more dominant than literally eating an animal? Slaughtering them. It was no different than stuffing my people into quarantines while they and their credits took over everything.
It was undoubtedly delicious but nothing worth fighting over. None of their delights were. I slapped it back on the plate and replaced the lid.
“Toss it, and then thank our esteemed hosts. It’s the last gift I’ll ever take from them.”
The young guard bowed his head. “Right away, Lord Trass.”
I entered the room and sealed the door behind me, leaving me alone with the garish display of other foods and finery on the counter meant to make us rethink our ways. The rest of the room was spotless, with no evidence that Trevor Cross had ever been hanging upside down bleeding.
I leaned my hand terminal on the counter, sat in front of the screen, and contacted Mazrah back on Titan. It took a few minutes to reach her over Solnet since we were so far, but eventually her face popped up on screen. The sounds of industry roared in the
background. Metal clanking. Engines humming. Her soft face was covered in soot.
“Lord Trass, I wasn’t expecting your call,” she said. “Is the summit over?”
“It is, and nothing’s changed, Mazrah.”
“How’s Aria? I tried to warn her that it would go like this.”
“She’s fine.”
“I know you’re lying. She really believed this summit might change things. She poured her soul into—”
“She’s fine, Mazrah!” I interrupted. Sometimes she went out of her way to support Aria, I think because they were both born without an identifying race and struggled to fit in anywhere. Maya made it tough for our ambassador, and Mazrah tried to ease the tension, but Aria could take care of herself well enough on her own.
“Listen to me,” I said. “I need ship production accelerated. Bring on as many capable hands as you can find.”
She hesitated for a moment before answering. “We’ll need more than that. Workers are asking when they’ll receive some form of tangible payment for their overtime labor. Phoebe Station Production Manager Orson Fring has sparked some vocal protests over the lack of benefits.”
“I told you to offer improved housing in Uppers throughout Titan and extra rations.”
“Not all of them want to live up there where the air is fresh. I don’t know what else to offer. And we won’t have extra rations until we send all the Earther captives back home. Let me provide the credits we’ve accumulated...for now.”
“They don’t need credits! We won’t be trading with Earth for a long time. Lower the rations for the Earther captives, and make our people understand that Titan needs them. We need to be prepared to fight back once the USF decides to take their next inevitable step.”
Mazrah stifled a groan. “I’ll do what I can without starving the poor Earthers to death, and I’ll have your mother speak with Fring. She’s the more convincing of the two of us.”
“Good.”
“You should contact her, you know. She’s been asking about you constantly since the spaceport bombing.”
“I’ll talk to her when we’re back. For now, I want everyone focused on building Titan a fleet Earth will respect. They won’t hand us the Ring, Mazrah. It’s time for us to prepare to hold it by force. All of it, not only what Luxarn stole.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MALCOLM GRAVES
“Dad?”
Just like that, everything changed. Only one person would call me that. Maybe the speaker wasn’t talking to me. I didn’t know Aria’s voice well anymore. Seeing her one time in five years will do that. Maybe after what happened with Wai and a lack of sleep, I was hearing things.
I wanted more than anything to turn and look, but my feet felt like they were submerged in wet plasticrete. A gentle hand fell upon my shoulder as someone glided in front of me. I saw curly auburn hair first, then freckles dappling a rosy cheek, then Aria’s eyes, green as the forests of Earth used to be.
“By Trass, you’re alive!” she exclaimed. The sound of her excitement...now I was totally lost. Was it my aging mind playing a trick on me or my eyes growing fuzzy? After so many years wondering where she went off to, was it really possible that she would be the one to find me?
My tongue tripped over a few responses until the first one that slipped out was, “Trass?”
“New habit, I guess.” She paused to use her soft hand to angle my wrinkled face toward hers. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get myself to look straight at her without the help. Hell, I could hardly breathe. “I can’t believe it’s you!” She threw her arms around me so tight I thought my head was going to pop. Now I knew I had to be dreaming. She hadn’t hugged me like that since...I can’t remember how long.
“Dad,” she said. “Are you all right?”
I stumbled out of her embrace and had to use a wall to keep myself upright. My heart was pounding; a sensation I thought I’d grown out of. Like I was in my first firefight, or maybe having a heart attack. I squeezed my fist against my chest and struggled to steady my breathing.
“Dad.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “You surprised me is all.”
“Surprised you? I thought you were dead!”
“So did I.”
“How long have you been here? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t realize we did that.”
Her lips twisted. “Dad…”
“Sorry… I...I don’t know what to say.”
“You think I do? I never thought I’d see you in a Departure Lottery line.”
The world suddenly snapped back into focus. This wasn’t a dream.
I looked from side to side. The line had moved a few spots forward, and the people who’d gathered behind me were grumbling that I wasn’t moving. I stepped away from them. M-Day Departure... What was wrong with me? For a moment, I was like all the fools around us, thinking I’d be one of the lucky thousands sent off to other solar systems that’d actually survive the journey.
“Oh, I didn’t even realize where I was,” I said. “It’s been a long day.”
“Tell me about—”
“It’s great to see you, Aria,” I interrupted her accidentally.
“You too. Better circumstances than last time.” She chuckled. The sound of it made my heart flutter. I couldn’t imagine how many nights I’d lain awake trying to remember what her laugh sounded like before I took a drink to force myself down.
“I guess a good father would scold you for getting involved with people like that.”
“A good father wouldn’t have raised a daughter who would,” she retorted.
“I guess I deserve that one.” I finally mustered the courage to place a hand on her shoulder and make sure one last time she wasn’t a hallucination. It didn’t pass through. Maybe I wasn’t used to her adult figure, but she felt stronger than I recalled. “Really, though. I’m glad you got out.”
Her brow furrowed as she took my hand. “You must not watch the newsfeeds at all anymore.”
“I try not to.”
She stepped aside to reveal two heavily armored soldiers standing in her shadow. They weren’t from Pervenio or Venta but instead members of the Children of Titan. I’d never forget the look of the orange circle painted on the white chest plates of their nearly impenetrable powered suits. Each wielded a pulse rifle openly, their tinted visors slowly rotating to keep an eye on our surroundings. I must have really been out of it. The people behind me hadn’t been complaining about my not moving; they were whispering about the armed Titanborn in the heart of Old Dome.
My hand instinctually fell toward the grip of my pistol. I wasn’t about to be caught off guard by the Children of Titan again. They immediately shifted to aim in my direction.
“Kale...Lord Trass insisted they come along,” she said, guiding my hand away from my gun. “He doesn’t realize that I know this place better than anybody thanks to you.”
“You’re working directly for Kale Trass now?”
“What, is Pervenio keeping you under a rock?” She pointed to a viewscreen above a bar in the shoddy restaurant nearby. On it, a newsfeed played footage from Kale Trass’s meeting with the USF Assembly, which had apparently already taken place. It was a private summit, so all they could show was Kale and his accomplices leaving the New Beijing Assembly Building. The young king wore a scowl. A host of Ringer escorts were behind him, and the woman at his side wasn’t the scarred one who always accompanied him in feeds. It wasn’t a Ringer at all. It was Aria, her fire-red hair starkly contrasting the white worn by the others.
“They let a doctor in there?” I asked.
“No, Dad. I’m Titan’s ambassador to the USF. You really didn’t know?”
“No…” How the hell had I missed that? Ever since I’d woken up from my coma, I’d been telling myself that I’d helped her get out from under the thumb of the Children of Titan. But there she was, my daughter, side by side with the rebel who’d conquered the Ring. I went faint. She had to help keep
me upright.
“That bombing earlier,” I wheezed.
“Missed.”
“It was damn well close enough! After what I did to get you out of there, you went crawling back?”
“I guess I really am your daughter.”
“That isn’t the point. Kale Trass is dangerous. You could have been crushed like Wai or worse.”
“Who is Wai? Would you listen to yourself, Dad? You never gave a shit about what I did unless it had to do with one of your missions.”
“I…” There I went again, pushing away like I always did. I took a deep breath to calm myself and steady my quaking hands. I was going to do my best not to make that mistake again. “I always cared, Aria.”
She sighed. “Look. I don’t want to argue with you. I’m so tired of it. Until now, I wasn’t sure why I needed to come down here, but can’t we just sit down and talk like old times? I could really use it.”
“You’re right; so could I. You name any place on the Tongueway, we’ll go.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call it that.”
“I didn’t come up with the name. Come on, anywhere. Just keep those two Ringers off me.”
She shot me an irritated look, then said, “Twilight Sun?”
Of course she chose there. I honestly didn’t remember until that moment that it was the bar I’d sent her to the last time we were on Mars together in order to get close to a criminal named Elios Sevari. They fell in lust, and then he died because of me. Story of my life. I couldn’t say why she’d ever want to go back, but now that I was truly observing her, I could tell she was distressed. And for once it had nothing to do with me.
“After this morning, I’m probably not welcome there,” I said.
“Oh Dad, what did you do?”
“Long story, and it wasn’t my fault.” I heard sirens again and in my peripherals saw the entrance to the Three Messiahs convent. It swarmed with Venta Co. security interrogating the worshippers. “On second thought? How about we just head in there?” I gestured to a brightly lit bar across the street.
Aria smirked. “You’ll never change.”
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