Everyone in the cafeteria quickly grew aware that something unexpected was taking place in the sky above Galatea. Amazement and confusion quickly turned to worry, then terror and fear as the tremors shook the building with enough force to knock plates, trays, and people to the ground. Then the gravity began to surge and wane, so as to give the sensation of riding a boat on a stormy sea. A few students couldn’t handle it and wretched noisily.
Siobhan and Alistair grabbed onto the table that was mounted to the floor. I followed suit, and Duncan held onto me with an arm, while gripping the table with his other hand.
I followed his gaze, and looked up at the sky overhead.
The thunderstorm filled the view through the atrium’s ceiling, but the lightning flashes illuminated the silhouette of a dark shape drifting over the building.
A ship? Was that a starship? But how could a starship be inside the habitat? That just wasn’t possible.
It had a long wedge shaped beak or prow, almost like a sword, and while the rest of the body was out of sight the dark silhouette reminded me of those giant winged lizards that flew the skies of mother Earth millions of years ago.
I didn’t have long to admire it.
A violent tremor knocked us to the floor whether we were braced or not.
Duncan held onto me, wrapping his arms around me and cushioning my fall. But there was no one to help Siobhan and Alistair. They hit the floor hard, as did many of the students inside the cafeteria. I imagined the same scene playing out through the halls and rooms of the building – no, the entire academy.
I thought of Caelum, and guiltily prayed for his safety.
The tremors eased, but suddenly the effect-fields that provided artificial gravity powered up to unprecedented levels and everyone around me was crushed to the floor. My body felt as though it weighed five or six times as much. It was an effort just to breathe. Duncan’s arms felt like steel beams around me and I begged him to let me go. Somehow he managed to comply, rolling me off his body, but afterwards all we could do was lie close to each other, unable to do more than struggle through each breath we took.
I was on my back, listening to the students around me who were spread across the levels of the cafeteria. Some sobbed. Others cried for help. Some struggled to crawl across the floor.
Again I thought of Caelum and wondered how he was holding up.
I pictured him somewhere in a dark corridor or room within the Academy, struggling to breathe, let along move. He was a Familiar, lacking in the strength the Symbiote provided an Aventis. But he had a Fragment. Maybe he could use that to protect himself. And Caprice should be with him. They were always together. Perhaps they could link their Fragments somehow and support each other.
As I thought this, I looked up at the storm raging in the sky beyond the atrium.
The dark starship, surrounded by the swirling black storm frequently lit by lightning, continued to drift gently overhead.
Then I saw something fall away from it, and land on the trans-steel ceiling heartbeats later.
Moments later, three other dark objects landed on the atrium’s transparent ceiling.
The four objects stood up and I realized they were people.
Duncan whispered hoarsely, “What the Hell? Who are they?”
I remembered what the Student Council President had told us that afternoon in the cake shop.
“It’s Crimson Crescent,” I whispered.
“Crimson Crescent…those people that blew up that starship in Island One?”
I couldn’t nod, but I did manage a reply. “They killed Caelum’s parents. They killed a lot of people.”
The four individuals stood on the ceiling, dressed in black clothing, and completely unaffected by the storm or the artificial gravity. For a short while, they looked down into the cafeteria interior, then walked off the transparent ceiling onto the hard permacrete roofing. I heard four successive explosions and four holes appeared in the ceiling. They were several meters apart, and powdered debris rained down into the cafeteria. I heard students cry out in fear until the sound of the storm outside drowned them out. I shivered as I heard it howl and rage like a monstrous beast.
But I also heard something else, a sound even deeper than thunder.
A sound that rumbled incessantly.
The starship’s engines.
Through each of the four large holes in the ceiling, a single individual jumped down onto the top level of the cafeteria.
One of them landed on a table a few meters away from me, crushing it flat. I turned my head, and watched the newcomer calmly step off the table’s remains while the students nearby cried out in fear and pleaded for mercy.
The black clad person wore a long coat that flowed around their body as they strode calmly through the students littering the third level floor. To my surprise, they were careful not to step on any of the students.
I watched the intruder come closer, and saw that she was a woman.
A very pretty woman, in her late middle years.
She had a heart shaped face, emerald eyes, and features that chilled my strained heart for several beats.
I whispered the name before I could stop myself.
“Caprice….”
The intruder stopped and slowly turned in my direction.
The woman’s eyes met mine and then she walked over to me.
She came to a stop beside me, and regarded me from above. I didn’t understand how she was able to withstand the effect of the gravity generators. Yet she stood easily enough, and looked down at me.
“Haruka,” the woman said, then laughed softly under her breath. “My how you’ve grown.”
I swallowed heavily, shocked to hear my name spoken by someone I didn’t know – spoken by someone from Crimson Crescent.
The woman sighed. She might have intended to say something when a young man’s voice interrupted her from the near distance.
“Damn, these Aventis girls are hot. Check out the rack on this one.”
A girl’s voice chastised him lightly. “Rylan, what are you doing? Hey, you’re not going to peek under her skirt? You pervert.”
“Hot damn,” I heard the young man say. “Racy and red.”
I heard a girl cry out painfully and instinctively knew it was the female student being harassed. “No—don’t touch me! Help—help me!”
The woman looked away from me. “Rylan, you can’t play with them. And remember the field around you.”
“I know, but what about one bite? Just a mouthful. You know we haven’t had a drink in ages, and this one looks nice.”
I couldn’t see the Crimson Crescent girl, but I could hear her sound annoyed. “You heard the Mistress. We didn’t come here to play.”
Then another male voice gasped out. “Stay away from her you bastard. You’re a freaking Familiar. Don’t touch her you trash.”
The woman standing above me looked sharply in the voice’s direction.
She was quiet and I saw the cold in her eyes. Then she glanced down at me. “Is Caprice well?”
I still didn’t know who she was, yet I managed a nod and a whisper. “Yes….”
The woman smiled and her expression softened. “That’s…that’s good to hear.”
“Why?” I asked, realizing that question could mean so many things. “Why…this…?”
The woman’s smile turned regretful. “Because we’re correcting a mistake.”
The male student cried out again in anguish. “I said stay away from her.”
His cry attracted the woman’s attention. Her regretful look faded in a heartbeat. “You like that one, Rylan?”
“Yeah, I do. She’s amazing. She’s really beautiful, and her breasts are huge. I gotta have me this one.”
“Fine. We’ll take her. Induran, we got fresh juice to pick up. Can you spare someone? You can? Excellent.”
I assumed she had just spoken to the ship drifting in the sky between the academy and the habitat’s rock ceiling.
“No!” the girl cried out. “No, no, no.”
I heard Rylan’s voice again. “Hey, don’t sweat it. Pretty soon it’ll be yes, yes, yes.” I heard the sound of a heavy thump. “Hey, boyfriend. Say goodbye. From now on, this girl is mine.”
The girl who’d earlier chastised Rylan sounded despondent. “Just don’t break this one like the last one. And don’t forget, you have to take care of her now. Keep her fed and dressed.”
“Hey, stop telling me what to do.”
The male student struggled to yell out. “Help. Someone help us. Stop them please—aggh.”
Again another loud thump.
I heard Rylan say, “That’s better now. Stay unconscious. But don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her. A few days with me and she won’t even care about you anymore.”
“Mistress,” the Crescent girl said, “if he gets to take one, why can’t I? Can I pick out a boy?”
“Next trip,” the woman said. “Alright, we’ve wasted enough time. Rylan, quickly mark the girl. Let’s go.” She looked down at me. “Take care, Haruka.”
Then she walked out of my field of vision.
I heard the Crescent members walk away, talking as they went.
“I can’t wait to sink my teeth into her.”
“Yeah, right. That’s not the only thing you want to sink into her.”
“Let the good times roll,” the one named Rylan sang out.
I turned my head and saw a fifth body land on the transparent atrium.
A half minute later, I saw the Crimson Crescent operative descend through one of the holes into the cafeteria.
I turned my head even more and was able to see him step up to one female student.
The Crescent member was dressed like his comrades, in black from head to toe. In fact, even his face was hidden behind an odd looking mask that made him appear alien. But from his poise and body build, I could tell he was a man.
He reached down and picked up the girl, tossing her easily onto his shoulder.
Some of the girls near them cried out and pleaded with him.
“Please, don’t take her.”
“Leave her alone. Leave Reina alone.”
“You can’t do this. Please, you can’t do this.”
I heard a few girls cry, and I saw the Crescent man shake his head as though regretful. But he walked away nonetheless, and I heard a soft boom despite the noise from the raging storm. He jumped straight up through one of the holes in the roof, and disappeared for a few seconds until he walked across the transparent atrium ceiling.
He flew up into the underbody of the ship’s prow, as though hoisted airborne by an invisible force. Moments later he vanished into the ship along with the girl called Reina.
I heard her friends crying in despair.
I felt the fire of hatred flicker to life in my heart.
I promised to find a way to make Crescent pay for this.
I heard Duncan’s voice beside me. “I’ll hurt them. I’ll hurt them. Somehow, someway, I’ll make them suffer for this.”
I felt his hand squeeze mine almost painfully.
“I’ll make those Familiars burn in Hell,” he vowed with hatred coating every word.
#
(Alessandro)
Holovid bubble windows floated along an entire wall of my office.
As watched the scene above Galatea Academy unfold, I felt despair eating me away from the inside.
Finally, on the fifteenth attempt, my call went through to the commander.
“Alessandro?”
“Commander, what do we do?”
I heard her laugh but there was no humor in it. She sounded as though she had a front row seat to the end of the universe, and had realized there was nothing to do now but watch it come to an end.
In short, she sounded helpless.
“There’s nothing we can do. We can’t move in, and we can’t get the students out.”
“What about our people?”
“The special units are within the grounds and the buildings but I doubt they can do much in this situation. They can’t risk a firefight or damaging that ship. Besides, we instructed them to secure the underground tunnels so I’m certain that’s where they’ll be stationed.”
I swallowed and asked, “What about the Familiars?”
For a long while she was quiet on the line. “Let’s hope they don’t get any bright ideas and make a bad situation worse.”
I had to wonder if Selena Alucard was worrying over her daughter, Simone.
“What the Hell,” Alucard muttered loudly.
“What is it?” I asked.
“They just took someone with them. Looks like a student. Gods damn them. They’re taking students with them.” I heard something crash in the background. “No—there is no way I will allow this!”
I had a thought. The districts around Galatea Academy were being evacuated. In ten, maybe fifteen minutes a perimeter with a radius of two district blocks would be empty of civilians.
If the ship went down then the damage would only be collateral.
But that meant getting the ship away from the academy.
Alucard must have had the same thought. “Alessandro, I’m going to call in a favor.”
I grinned nervously. “You mean you’re going to speak to Xanthia Augustine Avenir?”
“Yes, and I hope I can walk away with my soul intact.”
My nervousness shot up noticeably.
“Commander Alucard…it was a pleasure to serve under you.”
“Idiot,” she muttered audibly. “Wish me luck.”
She ended the call before I could offer her words of comfort.
Chapter 20 – Underground.
(Caelum)
I held Simone’s right hand firmly in my left as we walked a couple of feet behind Melanie.
At first the corridors and hallways were pitch black, illuminated only by the palm-slates that Melanie, the Countess and I carried. But a couple of minutes after leaving the room, the emergency lighting came back on, casting a weak amber light into the building’s interior.
All three of us pocketed our palm-slates. There was no point wasting precious battery life.
Every ten or so meters we came across students and teachers struggling to crawl along the ground, or simply struggling to breathe.
At sight of us they reached out and pleaded for help.
The Countess reached for them but I pulled her back. If we fell too far behind Melanie, we would end up just like them.
Melanie had said the effect-field generators within the academy had been cranked up to maximum, delivering a crushing five or six gees. Even an Aventis would have trouble under those conditions, but for me the constant weight might be fatal.
The only reason Simone and I were upright and walking was due to the effect-field bubble Melanie’s Fragment was generating.
I no longer had any doubts she was a member of Crimson Crescent. Knowing that felt like a knife through my chest. I’d liked Melanie, but now I felt betrayed by her. I had to wonder how it was possible for her to be a member of Crescent. I also had to wonder why.
But there was another question I had to ask.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked her.
“Orders,” she replied, leading us down a hallway while stepping carefully around a couple students, never giving them enough time to benefit from her effect-field bubble.
“No, I meant why is Crimson Crescent doing this?”
“In their words, to right a wrong.”
“What?”
“To correct a mistake from two centuries ago.”
The Countess asked, “What mistake?”
Melanie glanced over her shoulder. “Handing power over to the Aventis.”
I stared at her, then thought back to what the Countess had told me of how Familiars had fought for the Aventis during the War of Supremacy. “Care to explain?”
Melanie shook her head, then abruptly nodded. “Fine. I’ll tell you what I know but t
his stays between you and me.” She gave Simone a curt look. “And Busty beside you.”
The Countess snapped, “Hey, I have a name.”
“Yeah, Countess Boobies.”
“Ah—how childish,” Simone yelled. “Can’t you come up with better material?”
I saw Simone’s anger spread across her face, and quickly jerked her arm. “Countess, don’t. She’s just taunting you because she’s jealous.”
Melanie stopped and half turned. “Jealous? Of those heavy udders? No way.”
I rolled my eyes and exhaled loudly. “Can we not do this now?”
After glaring at each other for a few seconds, the Countess and Melanie harrumphed and turned away from each other.
Then Melanie turned back with a sneer. “You know, all I have to do is weaken the field. Let’s see how well those hold up under heavy gravity. They’ll be down to your knees before you know it.”
Simone scowled at her. “Don’t you dare!”
Melanie planted her hands on her hips. “Hah. You see, they do have their disadvantages.”
“Of course they do,” Simone growled. “But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.”
Melanie snorted. “Outweigh, huh? What choice words.”
She raised a hand and I realized she intended to make good on her threat. “Melanie, don’t—”
“Too late,” she laughed.
I moved instinctively to protect what was important.
“Gah!” Simone gasped as though winded.
Behind me, Melanie hissed as though she’d been stabbed.
I turned to look at her. “Melanie—please don’t. You can’t do this.”
“You…you…you pervert,” she whispered loudly.
The Countess asked in a low, hoarse voice, “Caelum…what are you doing?”
I looked down and saw what I was protecting from Melanie. “Ah—well—these are important.”
Simone trembled with her arms stiffly at her sides. “Important? I see.” She started to laugh a little unstably. “Important. Ha ha ha. Maybe I should be grateful you dove to protect them and not me.”
I gulped in a lungful of air and steeled my resolve. In my heart, I knew I had done the right thing.
My hands supported Simone’s large breasts, and I couldn’t let them go until I was certain Melanie wouldn’t harm them.
Pride x Familiar Page 36
