I could skip the space suit then. I pressed the open sign displayed on the door control panel and waited, heart in my throat for whoever was on the other side.
I expected a welcoming committee of sorts. What I didn’t expect was Samandriel’s annoying grin to greet me on the other side.
“Good thing you’re a slow ass, Adam. Otherwise I’d have missed you crashing our party.” His usual sarcasm was strangely comforting. But it lacked the usual gusto. Samandriel looked tense, his eyes cloudy.
I smiled and nodded. “The best I could do with the resources I had.”
“Why, Adam?”
Of all the things he could have asked… how, where did I get the information, who’d helped me, Samandriel was asking the one question he had an answer for.
“Don’t act stupid, Samandriel. We both know you don’t need an answer to that.”
“Fine, let’s go.”
He turned his back to me and started walking. I followed him, wondering why he didn’t put more effort into making sure I did as told. Inside my mind, I was laughing at myself. Like Samandriel, I was asking questions I already knew the answer to.
I followed Samandriel through pristine, blinding-white corridors. They looked slick and bare, except for a metal looking protuberance travelling along the hexagonal tunnels, at the junction of the two sides making up the top and bottom half-walls. Maybe wiring?
The last corridor we took opened onto the deck. Unlike ours, it was designed for efficiency and comfort. Transparent walls, much like our thick glass, yet different, surrounded the entire deck. Control panels were setup in a half-circle, three chairs full of control displays and buttons sat empty behind the deck setup.
At the front of the deck, Michael stood, his back to me. His wings were tucked neatly, almost reaching the floor. They twitched just slightly, but otherwise he didn’t budge. Samandriel went around the control panel and stood by him, facing me.
Michael turned slowly, his eyes boring into me. I recognized that pain. I’d seen it in his eyes every time a human had disappointed him. Right before taking their lives.
“Adam,” Michael whispered, the sound of my name full of longing and grief.
I nodded and tried a smile, which failed me. “Michael. It’s good to see you.”
He twitched at the sound of my voice and closed his eyes. I didn’t look forward to what Michael had to say, but I took the brief respite to drink him in. Always so perfect, always so beautiful, always so strong. Still a coward.
“Why would you do this? To me, to you? To the others? Why would you break the law like that?”
I snarled and squeezed my eyes. “What would you have me do instead? Just await my death on Earth, so that reality could finally match how I felt inside after you ran away?”
Michael flinched and shook his head. “I did what was best. You should have stayed there, helped your people, and lived your life.”
“No!” The shouted word echoed in the room, the powerful sound surprising them. And me. “It got a bit complicated, a bit messy. Instead of staying there and fixing it, you left. You broke me, and then you left me there, expecting me to clean up your mess. You were a coward, Michael. So I had to become strong.”
Samandriel opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He sighed and took a step back, like he didn’t want to stand by Michael through this.
“Adam, you could have survived. You would have found someone else and… been happy.” Those final words were barely whispered. I wondered if Michael knew how the pain of me being happy with someone else was painted on his face. I doubted it.
Tears stung my eyes, and I felt whatever was still left of my heart shattering. To my dismay, laughter bubbled out of my gut and throat. I knew the tears were falling, but I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Angels,” I croaked. “You know nothing of love. That’s why you cannot even tell you’ve bared your soul and mind to me. You tell me I should have been happy with someone else, and don’t realize the mere thought is breaking you apart.”
Michael’s eyes snapped to me. For the first time since I’d arrived, he was looking at me, getting lost into the connection we shared. “I made it here because you poured everything you’ve ever known into me, everything you’ve ever felt. I can describe every sensation you ever experienced. Everything you’ve seen. And now you tell me I should have… what? Forgotten about you?” I tapped the side of my head and laughed again. “Perfect fucking memory, Michael. I could have never forgotten you, or how you felt when you held me. I could have never survived you leaving me. Not without it destroying everything inside me.”
Michael bowed his head, his fists clenched and pressed to his thighs. “I thought you might just forsake me, if you thought I didn’t care for you.”
“The only person you ever managed to fool, Michael, was yourself. I always knew how you felt. I never had any doubt about how much you loved me.”
“And still you did this? Knowing what I’d be forced to do?”
Another burst of laughter shook me. “I sometimes wonder… Do you truly not know me at all? Or do you refuse to see? You’re too stubborn to open your eyes and understand, aren’t you?”
Head still bowed, Michael shook all over. Yet he refused to look at me.
“Adam,” Samandriel warned, taking a step closer to me and putting his hand up. “Whatever you’re thinking, just don’t do it.”
To Samandriel, I’d always been so obvious, despite my best efforts. Maybe it took detachment, someone completely on the outside. Or maybe Samandriel was not afraid to look and not blinded by what he wanted to see.
I smiled, feeling tears on my lips. They seeped into my mouth and I could taste their bitterness. “Michael, I refused to die without seeing you again. Now that I’m here, I can’t live with having broken your rules.”
I reached into my pocked and activated the small device I had hidden there. Samandriel had never searched my pockets, never patted me down. The flyers would never see a human as a threat.
In the distance, the flash of an explosion lit up the skies. To the right of the dropship, my own ship had been obliterated. Strange, how there was no sound. I knew there wouldn’t be, but it felt… unreal.
“Adam, what have you done?” Michael croaked.
“Spared you the pain,” I said.
Michael jumped, his wings taking him to me. Too late, he caught me in his arms. The small dagger had already pierced my heart. I wondered why I didn’t feel the pain. Was it the shock of having done it all? Or was it because Michael was holding me?
I looked at him, mesmerized by the lone, rainbow-reflecting tear streaking his face. I reached out to his face, which was becoming more of a blur. “Don’t cry, Michael. You will never feel the pain of taking a human life again.”
“Adam, no. Please! Just hang on.”
The distress in Michael’s voice crushed me. His hurt broke me even further. He’d be fine though, he’d return to his denial and move on. Another system, another planet, a renewed Punisher.
Part III – Rebirth
MICHAEL HAD FOUGHT his instincts from the moment Adam had stepped onto his ship. There were others nearby, of course. But on his, only one other flyer had been allowed. Michael hadn’t wanted Samandriel there. Ever since his stand-in had come seeking for him, he’d mocked, laughed, and stung Michael with sarcasm. Michael had only answered with silence.
He’d thought leaving Earth had been the greatest torture he’d withstood. Yet when Adam started talking, forcing Michael to turn around and face the destruction he’d caused, he finally understood the true meaning of punishment.
Adam looked thin, tired, dead inside. The dark circles under his eyes only set off the unhealthy glow his pupils had taken. Adam was a being that had lost everything. Himself, his beliefs, his hope. The aftermath of Michael’s decision to leave him was impossible to face for the flyer. Michael felt shudder after shudder building up, preparing to roll through his body, and he squashed them all before
they manifested.
The ship Adam had come with had never shown up on their scanners. Not until it lit the skies of Sauris. When that happened, Michael’s armor crumbled. Emotions flooded him and made him act.
Too late. He’d gone to Adam too late. And now the human that was more precious to Michael than everything else in the expanse of universe was losing blood at a speed that froze the flyer’s soul with fear.
“Adam, don’t you die on me! I won’t allow it,” Michael yelled. His eyes were caught by a crystal drop of liquid that landed on Adam’s dry, colorless lips. A beat later more fell.
Am I crying? That is impossible. Ever since he’d met Adam, everything Michael knew was proved wrong. Things he thought impossible, things no flyer remembered ever experiencing, they all came to be. There was no explanation, no mention of them in any old flyer chronicle, no matter how far back Michael had gone.
Why would now be any different, now when Michael was holding Adam, watching as life slipped out of him?
“Medbot to the deck, now!”
The AI remained quiet, despite Michael’s command.
“Medbot, deck. Now!”
For a moment, the flyer thought the AI would remain silent. Yet disobeying direct orders was not something they were programmed to do.
“Condemned human wounded on the deck. Protocol… Stand down. No support granted to capital law breakers.”
Michael growled and brought Adam closer to his chest. “Overwrite directive and obey captain’s command.”
“Overwrite denied.”
Samandriel’s hand to Michael’s shoulder felt like ice, and Michael tried to shrug it off.
“They won’t release the medbots, not when he’s marked for execution. You know the leaders of the inter-race alliance think it cruel to save someone just to kill them later.”
Michael felt everything around him blur, lose meaning. It all seemed foreign, unwelcoming, and he felt like he didn’t belong. He tried to breathe, but failed, naked terror overpowering everything, even his survival instinct. He couldn’t let Adam die, no matter what happened to either of them later.
Adam had to live. Michael would make sure of it. Yet all he seemed to be able to do was cry and rock Adam gently.
Something inside Michael shifted and broke loose. He couldn’t make sense of it, but it felt as if his insides were being rearranged, as if nanobots had been shot into him and were reworking him from the inside out.
Michael tried to breathe again, but it was impossible. He felt his lungs screaming, as if they were crushed, not by the lack of air, but by something growing inside of him.
The flyer screamed, and somewhere far away he heard Samadriel saying something. He couldn’t tell what, nor see the other flyer very well. Michael found himself surrounded by bright light that seemed to manifest from within him.
He tried to stop himself, but it seemed like his hands were moving without him. Michael placed Adam on the floor with little grace or care. He yanked the knife out and threw it away. More blood oozed from the wound, and it scared Michael. Still, his body seemed to disobey him, just like the AI.
Michael placed a firm hand over Adam’s wound, and his eyes closed. The flyer could almost feel the thing morphing inside him as it came to its final purpose. He felt it settle, merging with the rest of Michael’s being. Mesmerized, he followed with his mind’s eye the steady stream flowing from deep inside through his arm and hand and pouring into Adam.
Despite the unknown sensations, the way Adam’s body was jerking, and Samandriel’s distressed voice, Michael was calm. Somehow, he knew this wasn’t something to be feared.
Under the flow of energy, Adam settled. The human let out a soft moan and his head lulled to the side.
“What did you do?” Samandriel asked, his voice breaking. “Did you kill him?”
“He’s alive, Samandriel.”
The other flyer snorted, but moved closer to Adam, taking his pulse. “No more blood loss, his pulse is steady and stronger than I expected.”
Michael sighed and let his head fall forward, tucked between his hunched shoulders. “Yes, he’s safe for now. Don’t think it will be for long.”
“Seems like you put him in some sort of advanced stasis. How did you achieve that without a pod?”
Michael sobered up and turned to glare at Samandriel. “I. Don’t. Know!”
Samandriel nodded, letting out a deep sigh. “This will keep him safe, but he needs medical attention.”
Michael chuckled, the sound desperate to his own ears. “It won’t release the medbot. I can’t overwrite the AI.”
“Pick him up and follow me,” Samandriel said, giving Michael’s shoulder a little squeeze.
The gesture startled Michael. He hadn’t realized Samandriel had been touching him. When the comfort of it was gone, he gathered he’d never minded it.
Michael picked up Adam and followed Samandriel. They stopped at the medbay entrance and stared at the locked door.
“You know the AI won’t open it, Samandriel.” Michael felt tired and didn’t want to waste any more time.
“It doesn’t have to. It can be done manually. Order me to hack in.”
“What?” Michel looked to the side, taking Samandriel in. The flyer was a highly decorated member of Michael’s squad. Ambitious to a fault and a stickler for rules. He couldn’t understand why Samandriel would try to do something forbidden.
Samandriel turned and faced Michael’s side. “You are my commander. My supreme order is to follow your lead. You haven’t been formally released of that command, you fool. Just order me to hack into this, then order me to fly us out of here.”
Michael felt something warm flood him. Like what he felt when Adam looked at him, but different. His eyes stung but he refused to shed more of those tears. It felt so foreign to him and he had enough strange things to cope with.
With a short nod, he opened his mouth to speak. “Do it, then.”
Computer systems and AI development had always been Samandriel’s passion. Flyers had other duties, but they’d never been prevented from learning anything they’d wanted. And Samandriel had learned it all when it came to robotics, cybernetics, and advanced AI.
In no time, they were inside the medbay, all systems set to semi-manual. It meant the bay’s computerized healthcare was online, yet cut off from the AI. They set Adam inside a medpod, his vitals displayed on the transparent screen sealing his body from the outside world. Emergency procedures started on their own and Michael sighed in relief.
“He’ll be fine, Michael,” Samandriel said, his shoulder brushing Michael’s. Who of the two was he trying to convince with that statement?
“We need to leave, now,” Michael said, his voice more mellow than he’d intended. “I have no clear plan of where to go, but we can’t stay here any longer. They’ll tap into the AI, extract the report, and that will be the end of it.”
“Ishtahr,” Samandriel whispered in reverence, his head bowed.
“Ishtahr,” Michael said, echoing the respect in Samandriel’s tone. “Yes, that is our best option.”
Samandriel nodded and took his leave. “I’ll get us there, you stay here with him.”
Ishtahr was a small solar system, hidden in the Delta sector. The navigation routes and maps that could take a ship to Ishtahr amounted to nothing but old stories that sounded more like myths than reality. Some beings were thought to have been granted refuge there.
Ishtahr, the Universe’s sanctuary. For the first time since fleeing Earth, Michael had hope once again.
The flyer stepped closer to the medpot, watching nanites and robotic hands as they patched Adam together. He smiled down on the human, relieved to see some color return to him.
“I’ll keep you safe, Adam. I’ll take you somewhere where nothing can keep me away from you. And I’ll spend the rest of my life making amends for the havoc I caused in yours.”
Michael knew Adam had a mind and will of his own. Despite all that, he’d also known,
or slowly realized, as he was taken further from Earth, that the bond they’d formed was unbreakable. Michael himself had turned into an empty shell without Adam. He’d been too consumed by his own pain to ever think what this kind of loss would have done to Adam.
With jerky moves, Michael wiped off fresh tears. They fell slower than human tears and Michael despised them. His sorrow was his own fault. Adam had been right. Michael had been a coward.
“Not anymore,” Michael whispered. “I’ll be strong for you.”
Michael stood by the pod, his eyes never leaving Adam. He’d stand there, guard his lover, until they made it to Ishtahr. And if anyone tried to stop them… Well, they’d regret it dearly.
THE END
Meet Alina Popescu
Writer, traveler, and coffee addict, Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and she has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm. Born and raised in Romania, she finds her inspiration in books of all genres, in movies, and the occasional manga comic book. She is a proud geek who needs her fast Internet and gadgets more than she needs air.
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More from Alina Popescu
Craving Stains
All Wynn Brenwood knows is the sterile apartment his mother has kept him trapped in since birth. Locked away in a hospital-like cage, Wynn longs to escape his mother’s hold and experience the world beyond what he can see through his window or research on his computer.
Wynn’s mother insists he cannot face the outside world without falling ill again. Is it her desire to keep him safe that motivates his imprisonment, or is it something else?
Angel's Feather (Flyer Chronicles, Book One) Page 11
