Doss silently follows Velex to the military side of the room where the IGR skull symbol on a black banner hangs on the wall opposite of the black gasmask symbol of the blood force on the red painted wall. He sits to Velex's left as is customary and watches Clark and Gabriel sit across from them. A few cold glares pass between both sides.
Gabriel is the first one to break the silence as he smiles at Doss. "Want to see some pictures of our new brother?"
New brother? What is he talking about? Doss feels uneasy about this. "What do you mean?"
"I'll send you some pictures right now." He types into the watch around his wrist and Doss's watch beeps with the incoming pictures.
He opens the file and gasps. It's Jayce covered in blood with large deep purple wings and unconscious on an operating table. "You monsters."
"Meet Jophiel, Defender of Paradise."
Doss can't look at the graphic pictures anymore. He starts to feel sick. "You can't just turn people into archons. Their bodies aren't meant for that."
"Why do you think we are replacing all of Jayce's bones?"
"Replacing them?"
"It's a very fragile process." Clark says. "We remove his bones and replace them with new, stronger ones that are a conglomeration of natural bone and titanium like ours. It is regrettably incredibly painful for Jayce, but he'll get over it. He's an android so he can heal fast enough to not die."
Velex pulls Doss's arms over to look at the pictures himself. He grimaces. "How could you do something like this?"
"It's science, Velex." Clark says. "No one ever said that science didn't hurt."
"I can't believe you!"
"Shut up, Axel. We can do what we want." Gabriel says as his golden wings raise defensively.
"You have to let Jayce go. And where is Jarred?"
Gabriel only laughs darkly.
Velex stands and slams his fist on the table. "What did you do to Jarred?"
"He's alive. That's all you should be concerned about."
"I swear I will kill both of you!"
The door opens and Chancellor Dressler in his crisp suit and golden beret enters then hits the table with his cane. "Stop fighting right now or I will have everyone here locked away for a couple of days to cool off. I will not have the leaders of my governing factions bickering about petty things. Is that understood? Now, if you four can get along for long enough, I will address the reasons I summoned you here." He turns to the steward. "Bring in the prisoner."
Michael is led into the room, his gaze focused on the floor as everyone looks at him. The chains around his wrists and ankles are the only sound in the room as he is pushed down to his knees in the middle of the room at the end of the table. His black wings are short and secured against his back with a thick leather band as an extra precaution, ensuring that he can't fly or fight. Doss notices that he is already dressed in the coarse thin white garments of the exiles. Maybe they won't be scrapping him after all. Though, with the way conditions have been declining on Strafe where the prisoners are usually sent, exile could be a worse sentence.
Dressler stands and addresses Michael. "Look at me, archon."
Michael's dark eyes glimmer evilly in the light as he looks at Dressler.
"I will not support fighting between my factions. I had high hopes of utilizing your specific talents for warfare in the upcoming conflict that could spur us into a full blown war at any time. However, because you attacked Vice Admiral Doss, I am forced to take immediate and decisive actions to prevent more senseless violence between people who should be allies. It is for this reason that I am putting your sentence to a vote in this room. I will decide this by a show of hands. I motion to have Michael exiled to Barren Void."
The color drains from Clark's face. "Barren Void? Surely his crimes aren't befitting such a harsh sentence."
"Would you rather I scrap him?"
"Yes. Honestly, that would be more humane than sending him to Barren Void."
"Admiral, do you or Doss have a preference?"
"No, sir." Velex says. "Do whatever you see fit. I would caution against exiling him to Barren Void. While his crimes are serious, I cannot morally support sentencing anyone to a fate out there. Even an archon will suffer beyond what is acceptable for any crime."
"Noted. Gabriel, do you have anything to say to Michael before I hand down my sentence?"
Gabriel waves his hand dismissively, much to Michael's very obvious dismay. "No. Go ahead."
"Michael, as Chancellor of the Imperial Galactic Reich, I now sentence you to exile in Barren Void." Dressler motions to the guards. "Take him away."
Michael remains silent as he is escorted from the room.
Dressler claps his hands. "Now to our next order of business. Admiral Velex, I should have you face a similar fate for your blatant disregard of my orders. You had no authority to steal that ship and go down to Earth."
Velex bows his head submissively. "Forgive my transgression and temporary lapse in judgment."
"Because it is your first offense in nearly two hundred years, I can excuse you this one time. Next time you decide to take off and do your own thing without my permission, I will be forced to take disciplinary action against you."
"You have my gratitude, sir. I assure you it will not happen again."
"Good. Well, due to your sudden and unexpected absence, we were unable to send a detachment to Strafe when the rebel uprising threatened our guards and soldiers stationed there. So now I need to send you and our vice admiral over to Strafe and do cleanup duty."
Velex makes a barely audible groaning sound.
"You will take Doss's ship and leave in two days." Dressler says. "I want you to record your findings and transmit it live back to me. If you come under fire, you will have clearance to engage any hostiles. The primary focus of this operation is to rescue our men and get them back here alive, if there are any left after the massacre we had reported to us. If you fail this mission, I will personally have both you and your vice admiral sent to the stocks."
"The stocks?" Velex asks. "Are you serious?"
"As serious as uncrystallized nanobots. We will put you in the stocks in the middle of the city and let the citizens do what they will with you for three days. That should be enough incentive to follow my orders now."
"There will be no need for such harsh actions, sir."
"There better not be." Dressler warns. "The same threat goes for you, Clark and Gabriel. The stocks will be the punishment reserved for my faction leaders when they need to be knocked back down a peg or two off their presumptuous high horses. Arrogance will get you only humiliation and pain. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir." They all answer in unison.
"Perfect. That's all I had to discuss with you today. You are dismissed. And Doss?"
Doss stops where he is and bows. "Sir?"
"Sleep with her."
"Excuse me?"
"Release that tension you're kept built up for years. It's time to be a real man. So go get that android girl and ravage her." Dressler says.
Doss hides his face as he grits his teeth with the overwhelming embarrassment. He ignores them all and leaves the room. Stepping outside into the bright morning light, he takes a deep breath of welcoming fresh air and leans against a tall column. Uncalled for. Completely out of line, even for the chancellor. How dare he say something like that?
Velex joins him and puts his hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "Don't let Dressler get to you."
"Who does he think he is?"
"Just brush it off. It doesn't matter."
"What if he's right?" Doss asks.
"Oh?"
"Maybe it will help me."
"That will be your decision when you feel up for it."
Doss sighs. "You know as well as I do that I won't sleep with her if she's married."
"Then I guess this conversation is over. Let's go get a drink."
"It's not even noon yet."
"That's never stopped you before."
>
Doss smiles and takes Velex's arm as they descend the stairs together. "True. I need a martini."
17
Byron watches the sunset from far across the city as he sits by the window in his empty house. Most of his belongings are packed up in boxes to be taken far away from here. Where will they go? No one knows. It really doesn't matter, anyway. His backpack is ready to go and he laces his boots as Blice flutters around, constantly asking questions that Byron has no intention of answering. He ignores his brother and focuses on the snow as it slowly begins to fall onto the quiet streets. The streetlights flicker to life, but provide no warmth to him. The world has become frozen, barren, and lonely.
He could go on living this lie, pretending to be happy going from woman to woman like he has tried for so long to do. The truth is that it never was that way. He has known true love twice in his life. The first as Leena back in Rubble City so long ago when he used to be afraid of telling anyone that he loved them. Then the second one was Katarina. He would do anything to see her happy again. That's why he's doing this.
Everything is in place and sorted out. The only things left to take care of are the most difficult ones, but should be the easiest. This is not the way he ever imagined his life going and if he could change it all, go back in time to when he was happy in Paradise with his friends and they were alive, he would. Those couple of years with Isidore, Blice, and Clara were the happiest times of his life. Clara. He sighs as he thinks about Katarina's mother. That was a mistake he wishes he could undo.
Then there are the few weeks he spent in Isidore's van with Damien, Blice, Isidore, and Leena. He smiles when he remembers his time with the Rubble Rebels and gambling with Leena. Sure, they were running for their lives to escape the Inquisition, but there was something about that freedom and the rush of it all that he would give anything to have for one more day. The hope he felt back then for life and love was the most powerful force in existence. Little did he know then that the hope he took for granted would quickly be snuffed out, never to return again. Now everyone he spent that time with is dead. Blice isn't even actually alive. Isidore was the one that Byron thought for sure would live forever. His heart aches to know that he was the one who killed his dearest friend and that it could have been avoided.
But that regret and survivor's guilt isn't the reason he's doing this. Love. Love is the driving force here, dragging him under the waters that he knows he can never reach the surface of again. He will do this for Katarina so that she can have the life she deserves. He won't be here to keep her tied down any longer.
Byron folds up the letter he has written to Jarred and places it on the table. "Be sure to give this to Jarred if you ever see him again."
"I know what you're trying to do." Blice says as he lands on Byron's hand. "Do you really think that I'm going to sit here and let you throw your life away? What happened to the strong, brave, courageous Byron who would run fearless into any situation? You're not a coward. Why die a coward's death?"
"Am I a coward if I welcome death? Seems to me like the cowards are the ones who constantly try to run from it and pretend like it doesn't exist."
"You're not going to do this!" Blice screams at him.
"You're not going to stop me." Byron sets Blice on the table then slams down a lead cup, trapping Blice inside. "You stay here and be a good butterfly. Farewell, Brother."
"Byron! Don't! We can find another way. You don't have to do this. I found a cure!"
He almost lifts up the cup to free him, but he is too far into this to go back now. "You found a cure for the nanobots in my blood?"
"Yes. That's what I've been working on this entire time. With Kazimir's help and the technology up here, we were able to develop a cure that can fully reverse the damage. You're going to live, Byron."
He picks up his vial of medicine then goes to the door. "But that's the problem now, Blice. It's not worth it anymore."
"What do you mean?" Blice asks. "We worked so hard to save you. One injection a week and you'll be back to your old self."
"No thanks." Byron dials Katarina's number on his watch and calls her. "Kat, this is Byron."
She sounds happy when she answers. "Hey, baby. I was just thinking about you. We're meeting up in the café for some drinks. Wanna come?"
Byron pulls on his coat and stuffs a bottle of tequila in his backpack. "Not tonight. I actually need to talk to you for a minute if you're not too busy. Is Doss there with you?"
"Of course."
"Good. Do you love him?"
"Byron, you know the vows he took." Katarina says.
"I didn't ask if you've had sex. I asked if you love him."
"I . . . yes."
That settles it then. Byron slings the bag over his shoulder and pulls open the door. He turns the vial of medicine in his fingers before throwing it against the floor where it shatters. "I love you, Kat. That's why I'm doing this."
"Doing what?"
"Saying goodbye." He steps out into the snow and the darkest night he has ever known.
"Goodbye?"
"I want you to be happy without me. I'm only holding you back as you wait for me to die. Well now you won't have to wait. Take this as a wedding present, sweetheart." Byron ends the call and tears off his watch, leaving it in the snow by the door.
Annette spots him walking down the road and her heels click on the pavement as she joins his side. "Where are you going?"
"Don't follow me, Annette. I thank you for what you've done for me, but I can no longer pretend to be something I'm not. I apologize for leading you on. I have one love in this life and I will do everything I can to see her be happy. It's not worth covering up and hiding behind lies and fake fronts I put up to shelter my true self. Goodbye."
"Byron?"
"There is nothing to discuss. My mind is made up. Don't wait up for me." Byron says.
"If you go out there in the snow without your medicine, you will die."
"It's far past due."
"Why do this?" Annette asks.
"For Katarina. I'm not the man she needs. If I'm gone, she can marry Doss and have a husband who looks close to her own age who isn't dying already. I just want her to be happy."
Annette runs to him and throws her arms around his shoulders. "I don't want to lose you."
Byron pulls away from her and turns his back on the city one last time. "My life has been a fleeting fragile thing, balanced between ruin and destruction for years. This is no way to live. Now my best friend's blood is partially on my hands and I can't go on living while a great man like Isidore Williams is dead. I keep seeing that moment when I killed him replaying over and over in my mind. No matter how much I drink, it never goes away. I just want to forget and erase it all. I don't want a funeral or anything. Just let me go silently in the night."
* * *
Katarina holds onto Doss's arm as he talks with Velex, Zerachiel, Kazimir, and Zach about the modifications that Zach is helping the military make to the space fighters. As she listens to the man playing a Spanish guitar in the far corner of the café, she can't help but think about Byron and go back over that last phone call in her mind. What is he trying to do? He didn't sound like he was feeling well at all. She will go check on him after they leave here.
"What do you think, Kat?" Zach asks.
She didn't hear any of that. Everyone is looking at her, but she only shakes her head and sips her wine.
Doss puts his arm around her back. "Are you okay?"
"I don't think so."
"What was that call? Who was it?"
"Byron." She sets down her empty glass and stands before picking up her bag and running out of the building into the snow. The sun has already set and the wind is blowing harder now, sending a chill down her spine.
"Katarina!" Doss flies over to her and turns her around to face him. "What are you doing? Come back inside. It's too cold for you to be out here."
She pulls away from him. "I have to check on Byron. I think someth
ing's wrong. I can feel it."
"You're just tired and that wine probably didn't help. Why don't we get you something to eat and see if you feel better then? Byron doesn't want to talk to you. Wait. Are you crying?"
"Leave me alone." She hits at him then trips and falls into the snow.
Doss picks her up and holds her to his chest, wrapping her in his coat. "Let me help you. If you're going to be my wife soon, you need to let me be here for you. The guys will still be there when we get back. They don't need me right now. I'll go with you to check on Byron. All you had to do was ask."
"I also want to go to the hospital. You lied to me. You all lied to me, didn't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
Katarina takes off walking down the street towards the residential district. "There's no way they would keep me away from my owner for this long. I have the right to be there with Jarred. Why wouldn't you let me go before? Was he hurt so bad that you didn't want me to know how bad it is?"
"Kat . . . that's not why I haven't told you the truth. Jarred and Jayce-"
"Katarina, help me!" Annette cries as she runs up to them on the sidewalk with tears smearing her mascara down her cheeks. "Byron's gone."
Doss steps between them. "Calm down. Tell me what happened. Where is Byron?"
Annette holds up Byron's watch. "He went out into the woods without his medicine. I tried to stop him, but he threatened to kill me if I came after him. I even tried to fight him, but he wouldn't have it."
The full impact of Katarina's last conversation with Byron slams into her hard. No. He wouldn't. Not Byron. She takes off running as fast as she can past the crowds of people and the cars honk at her as she weaves through traffic. She has to prove her intuition wrong. That can't be right. He would never do what she fears he did. Byron is stronger than that.
When she reaches Byron's house, she throws open the door and looks around frantically in the dim light. "Byron!"
The only muffled voice that answers her is Blice.
"Blice? Where are you?"
"Under the cup on the table. Let me out of here."
Paradise Awakened Trilogy Page 34
