He fumbled to unlock the door, then pushed it open and rushed inside. Tripping over his flight bag that was in the middle of the floor, Rav made it to the first bed against the wall and laid his son on it. Blood immediately flowed through the stab wound to soak into the white blanket. Rav flipped on all the lights then rushed into the bathroom to gather what meager supplies he had on hand. Dental floss, a paperclip, rubbing alcohol, toilet paper. Carrying everything in his arms to the bed, Rav dropped it all at the foot of the bed then got to work.
"I'm sorry, buddy. This is gonna hurt." Rav unscrewed the cap from the bottle of rubbing alcohol then poured half the contents across the bloody wound. He was grateful at first that even that amount of pain did not wake the boy. But that relief was destroyed when Nemo stopped breathing. He grabbed his son's skinny shoulders and shook him. "No! Wake up! Nemo, breathe. Breathe! Come on."
In a flash, Rav was straddling Nemo and performing CPR as blood continued to seep from the open wound, covering them both. He breathed into his tiny son's mouth over and over until Nemo took a shallow breath on his own. That was enough to send him back to work. He had to stop the bleeding or the boy would stop breathing for good.
Ripping open the plastic dental floss container, the pulled out the spool of green waxy thread and unrolled a couple of feet. He bent back the end of the paperclip until it was straight enough then tied the floss on as tightly as he could with slippery fingers that were sticky with blood and coolant. Once he had wiped away all the fluids he could with the toilet paper, Rav placed the dull end of the paperclip against his son's ripped flesh on the side of the wound. Biting his lip, he pushed as hard as he could until the thin metal punctured and slid through. He dragged the floss through the small hole and sent the paperclip through the skin on the other side of the injury. He continued with violently shaking fingers that were slipping from blood and tingling from the coolant. Dental floss stitches would have to do.
Just when Rav had made it half way down the wound, Nemo's eyes fluttered open and he let out a tiny gasp before screaming.
Rav took his son's face in his hands and attempted to comfort him. "Shh, shh. It's okay, Nemo. It's okay, buddy. I know it hurts. I know. Just try to be quiet."
The boy's face contorted in the sheer pain he was in as he thrashed his head from side to side and screamed again. Tears flowed from his mint green eyes and his breathing grew rapid and ragged. A sheen of sweat covered his body as his muscles seized up and he passed out again from the agony.
"Wake up. Come on, Nemo. I need you to stay awake. Wake up!"
The front door slid open and a cold breeze of midnight air rushed inside, sending a chill down Rav's spine. He froze with the paperclip halfway through another stitch when he heard the commanding yet young female voice.
"Commander of Flight Tillman?"
He glanced over his shoulder to see the woman who was wearing white medic's scrubs with red trim and her face hidden below the hood of her red medic's jacket. Her face was barely visible and covered in shadows, but he could make out the hostility nonetheless. Was she here to arrest him? "Not now. Not now. You can arrest me later, but let me save my son's life first."
"Sir, I'm a combat medic. I followed the trail of some blood here. Allow me?"
Was this some kind of trick? "He's dying. He got stabbed. I can't get him to wake up again."
The woman came over and gently pushed Rav out of the way as she examined Nemo's body. She took her small black backpack from her shoulder and rummaged through it for supplies. "Don't worry, sir. I'm in training and only have about a year of experience with things like this, but your son is in good hands. More than that, you don't really have the right to be defiant. I know what you did on the tarmac. The entire Flight Force knows. It's not a secret."
Rav watched her slender pale hands working to put better sutures into Nemo's wound and giving him pain medicine. "Are you going to arrest me?"
"That's not my jurisdiction. I'm not the military police, Rav." She reached up to push her black bangs back under her hood, but her right sleeve slipped down over her forearm. She hurriedly turned away from him and fixed it. "Just allow me to work."
Rav had seen it. The mark on her arm. A feathered pen and an ink well. A mark of language? There were very few places that actually gave their citizens marks anymore. And that voice . . . the black hair and pale skin, the youthful walk . . . he knew her. But no, it could not be her. "I didn't catch your name."
"I . . . I'm-"
"Remy?" Rav snatched up her arm and turned her to face him before pushing her hood off of her black hair. A familiar yet scarred face looked back at him. Behind the thick-rimmed black glasses, those eyes were the same. A white bandage covered her forehead and a few marks spotted her face, but it was her. "Remy? How? You're dead."
She met eyes with him for a few moments before tearing her gaze away and returning to work on Nemo. "We don't have time to discuss this right now, Rav. Has Vance not filled you in on the plan?"
"Plan? What plan? What does any of this have to do with Vance?"
"Everything. I can't believe he never explained it to you. Camille will fill you in once we're back together."
"No, no, no, no." Rav shook his head as he backed away from her. "You're lying. Camille's dead. You're dead. Dear space, am I back in another virtual reality program? What's going on?"
"Calm down, Rav. This is reality. I know it must be confusing for you. I'm sorry that Vance didn't explain himself, but know that you're going to be all right."
"I demand answers. Give me something, at least."
"The Genesis Sequence. If it can create life, it can save life. That's all you need to know."
"I'm so lost. What's going on?" Rav asked, trying to put the pieces together, but failing miserably.
"Let me take care of Nemo."
"No, what's going on out there?"
"Haven't you heard the news?" Remy asked. She wiped away the blood from Nemo's ribs. "The alerts? General of Flight Cunningham has been arrested for treason. You and I need to get off this planet as soon as possible. The other pilots who pledged their allegiance to the Red Sand Rebels have either already left or are leaving as we speak. We have to get moving."
"What about my son?"
"He'll be all right. Once we get him into a ship and take off, I will hook him up to the emergency medical computers and see what else I can do to help him." Remy picked Nemo up from the bed then placed him in Rav's arms. "I stopped the bleeding and he seems to be breathing normally again. The pain was simply too overwhelming for him. He's going to be all right, Rav. I promise."
"Then let's get going. Lead on."
Remy pulled her hood back over her head to hide her face and gathered up her supplies. Once she slung the backpack over one shoulder, she went to the front door and stepped outside after it slid open. She headed down a back path that wound around the barracks. "This way. We need to get back to the tarmac and steal a ship. You can still get into your Galaxy Glider, right?"
"I should be able to."
Remy stopped when they crossed into the main area outside the rows of barracks. She covered her mouth and pointed at the bright lights where the overwhelming stench of blood and death wafted through the air.
Rav's stomach turned and his legs nearly buckled from the sight before him.
Cunningham was stripped, his hands bound behind his back, and he was impaled all the way through his body on the flagpole. The thick metal pole entered between his legs and exited out of his mouth. Nearly black blood spurted out, coating the pole and pooling around the concrete below him. Spotlights shone up at him, illuminating the brutality through the darkness of the night. A low gurgling moan came from the ex-general of flight whose swollen eyes barely opened.
"Oh, dear space. He's alive, Rav. He's still alive. Shoot him."
Rav listened to the tortured groans and watched the light gliding across the welts, cuts, and bruises that adorned the quivering flesh. He held Nemo in one arm as he
sent his other hand into the pocket of his pants to draw the green derringer pistol. He held it up and pointed it at his commanding officer's face. "I'm sorry, sir. I failed you. Farewell, Cunningham."
* * *
Under the circular ceiling covered in green vines and cobwebs where giant blue spiders waited for prey in the corners, Ben watched his husband's movements closely while he leaned back against the crumbling stone wall of the temple. Vance walked from pillar to pillar where all manner of various computers and consoles, most of which Ben had never seen before, were piled up and running on some sort of unseen alien energy source. He impatiently tapped his fingers against the wall. "What's taking so long, Vance?"
"Working, dearest." Vance knelt down in front of a spherical glass contraption with a hologram of a clawed hand floating inside of it. He typed on a keypad then frowned. "I have to find one of these computers that I can operate."
"You know everything there is to know about computers."
"Awe. You know, it's sweet how you idolize me so much. But no, I know a lot, not everything. Even with my years of experience, I haven't found one system in here that I can even gain access to."
"What's wrong with that one?" Ben asked.
"I don't speak this language."
He pointed to one on the far wall with colorful wires hanging off of it. "What about the cube one made of wood?"
"It has three buttons, all of which do nothing. I don't know. There have to be fifty computers in here. Surely one will work for me."
Ben rolled his eyes and crossed his arms on his bare chest. He tossed his sweat-drenched bangs out of his face. He swatted at a mosquito that hopped along his arm. "I hate it here."
"Since when do you complain so much? Sit down and drink your water. I can't have you getting dehydrated out here. Just stay quiet so I can work. If you're a good boy, I'll take you out for a romantic dinner on the way back to Sandra's ship. I found a really upscale posh restaurant that serves food from around the Ilik'Ori Galaxy. I was thinking we could make a quick stop on your home planet and find a nice romantic place to-"
He raised an eyebrow. "Are you bribing me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I am, mate. So? What do you say? I'll even let you take the lead again like you did in that cell. You were so vicious, so angry . . . I loved it. You never show your true feelings outright, even to me. You try so hard to cover them up and pretend that you're this uptight and collected person, but I know better. So straighten up before I give you something to act so grumpy about."
"God, you sound just like my father."
Vance's smile vanished as he turned back to the small console in front of him. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. So? Are we going shopping or something?"
Vance scooted over to the next terminal. "What are you talking about?"
"Look at us. I'm wearing a pair of dirty jeans and no shirt. You're in tattered jeans and a t-shirt. How are we even going to get near that fancy-pants restaurant of yours? They'll never even let us in the same city district as those hoity-toity people."
"Yobbos. They're all crazy yobbos with too much money. I think being around all that gold gave them metal poisoning."
"That's . . . that's not how gold works, Vance."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. I have the coffers of the entire Azimandian Empire at my disposal. I'll make you feel like the princess you've always wanted to be."
Ben scoffed and shook his head. "I'm not a girl, Vance."
"Okay, what do you want me to call you?"
"Your prince."
Vance chuckled as he typed. "You squeal like a girl, though. It's kind of twisting my view of you, you know? Maybe we should stop in Darkshot on the way so we can get you some plastic surgery?"
"Shut up, Vance." Ben giggled. "I'll get you for that."
He glanced over his shoulder and winked at him. "You promise?"
"Get to work. I don't want to stay here on this humid planet any longer than we have to. I think my hair is twice as poofy as usual."
"You say that like it's a bad thing. I love your curls. You look like a porcelain doll. Maybe I should dress you up then set you on a shelf so I can admire you all the time."
Ben bit his lip then slid to the cracked stone floor to sit with his knees drawn up to his chest.
"Ben? Did I say something wrong?"
"Don't worry about it." He removed his glasses to rub his eyes with his fingers. "The sooner we're off this planet, the better."
"Talk to me. If something's wrong, let me know so I can fix it. This is a marriage, Benjamin. We both have to work together for this to work. I was joking, by the way. If my comments hurt you, I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention. I thought we were playing around."
"It's not you. Before he sold me, my father would punish me by dressing me in frilly dresses and putting makeup on me. He would send me out like that into the city where he made me dance on the street corners for money. He called me his dancing porcelain doll. If I didn't bring in enough money, he would send me to his friend's strip club where I had to do even worse dances. I hated it. But no one ever cared because he was a priest. He still is."
"Bingo!" Vance jumped up and clapped his hands together. "I got this one working. Oh, sorry, babe. That's horrible what he did to you."
"Finish this so we can leave."
"Right." He began typing into the strange vertical keyboard where the numbers hovered above the metal tray. After hitting the large yellow button on the side, the entire temple shook for two seconds before settling once more, jostling a shower of dust and a few crumbled bricks loose from the ancient ceiling. Vance dropped to his knees and grabbed the sides of his head as he started rocking back and forth in a trance-like state.
Ben squinted through the settling brown dust to watch him. "Vance?"
No answer. Vance's mismatched eyes were glazed over, his hands trembled, and he let out airy whispers in a language Ben could not understand. After a few minutes of this troubling trance, Vance froze as if he had been struck by lightening then fell over onto his side.
"Vance!" Ben raced over to his husband and shook him. "Vance? Vance, get up! You have to be okay! I can't call for help. Vance!"
Chapter 6
Golden chandeliers draped with strands of glittering crystals hung from the ceiling that was covered in paintings of cherubs, gardens, and heavenly scenes. Marble statues of ancient Greek gods and goddesses stood by pools of bubbling water where orange and white koi fish swam below lily pads and purple lotus flowers. Vases lined the walls with reeds and blooming exotic flowers from across AX-97, sending their sweet and intoxicating fragrance into the air.
The men wore tuxedos with polished shoes and slicked-back hair, the women on their arms in long sleek evening gowns and high heels with pearls and diamonds dripping from their necks. The ebb and flow of violin music came from the musicians on the upper balconies, filling the entire restaurant with soothing sounds that accented the clinking of crystal glasses and solid gold forks and spoons.
Ben's eyes had not stopped darting around the open main room since they had entered. He nearly tripped in his brand new shiny shoes, but Vance caught him and took his arm as they were lead to their table. He took his eyes off of the twisting colored glass sculptures that stood in the corners to scan over the man on his arm. Vance never wore a tuxedo, but there he was, polished and put together, complete with gel in his blond hair, a close shave, purple bow tie, and heavy silver cuff links. He was an entirely different person, but he cut quite the figure in that long-tailed black tuxedo with the purple accents.
Ben smoothed his own white tuxedo as he reached out to pull his chair out from the black lace-covered table, but Vance slid over and moved it out for him with a warm smile. Blushing only a bit, Ben sat and allowed his husband to slide the chair back into place. After Vance sat across the small square table from him, the server lit the candle in the middle of the tablecloth, casting the slowly flickering orange glow over them both.
Van
ce stopped the server before he could leave. "A bottle of your best chardonnay, mate."
"Right away, sir. Would you like the chocolate-covered strawberries?"
"Uh, no. My husband is allergic to strawberries. Thank you, though."
"Of course, sir."
Ben could not help but laugh at seeing the usually loud and obnoxious man across the table from him attempting to be suave. "You remembered that I'm allergic."
"Why wouldn't I? You're my husband. I strive to know everything there is to know about you."
He sighed and played with the solid gold fork beside his glass. "You know, you really scared me a couple of days ago."
"In the temple? Don't worry about it."
It was difficult to not worry about it when the image of his husband convulsing on the floor was still fresh in his mind. "I thought you were dead. You just fell over and I didn't know what to do to help you. Then you woke up, made some alterations to the escape pod, including adding fuel cores from that temple that I suspect you had planted there by someone working for you, and we left. Why haven't you talked to me about all of it? Days in that escape pod are getting very old. It could have helped to pass the time."
"I made a deal with the Hive Queen. She's on our side. All of Olonictu is on our side. From what she told me, she was actually angry at her daughter and some of her other warriors for turning against her and taking things into their own hands. I think she killed them. Anyway, I don't want to talk about this right now. Tonight is about you and me and us finally being back together as a married couple should be."
"What did you trade her for her allegiance? She wouldn't have done that for nothing, Vance."
"Enough of this serious talk, Ben." Vance reached across the table to take Ben's hand in his. He cocked an eyebrow. "You clean up nicely."
The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10 Page 43
