Earthfall

by Rhett C. Bruno

  The man sitting across the table from her was different, and not just because he aimed a rifle in her direction. He had the Blue Death worse than anyone she’d ever seen. So bad that it was impossible for her to tell where he was from because he was so frail looking. He made the skinny Vergents seem bulky, and not even his messy beard could hide the brightly colored veins spreading over his temples like spider webs. He also wore a metal exo-suit which wrapped the backside of each of his limbs for support. From what she’d gathered in her short time on the Monarch, he was a surviving Keeper, like Talon.

  “You don’t need to aim that thing at me, Keeper,” Sage said. “There’s nowhere for me to go.”

  “It’s Tarsis, and sorry, Talon’s orders,” he replied.

  Right…Sage’s heart sank. She knew she probably couldn’t ever win back Talon’s trust, but she’d hoped saving them on Eureka might help. It wasn’t easy for her to kill so many of her own people. Usually she had an assignment to justify doing so, but the mission she was on was her own; it was different. And she still wore their blood all over her body. The Vergents wouldn’t let her out of their sight to wash off.

  Talon was presently on the exit ramp with the Vergent Captain and was receiving thanks from Yara Lakura. Sage was shocked that the lie he told, about them having been working together all along, had kept her from being traded as a valuable prisoner of war. Yara was infamous amongst the Tribunal elite, often described as being as brutal as Hand Yavortha. She’d been a thorn in the Tribune’s side dating back to the Earth Reclaimer Wars, behind countless bombings and killings. Executors had been trying to get their hands on her for decades, and by pure chance Sage wound up right next to her.

  The battle had clearly rattled her considering she let Sage out of her sight without a hint of suspicion; rattled enough that Sage could’ve easily captured her and dragged her straight to Benjar and probably been on the path to redeeming herself in the Tribune’s eyes. But she’d lost that chance by continuing to uphold a vow she made to a Ceresian in a prison cell on the Ascendant. The very place she was trying to get back to.

  “I haven’t known him long, but I haven’t seen him look at anyone like he looked at you,” Tarsis said after a lengthy period of silence. She’d forgotten he was even there. “What in the name of the Spirit did you do to him?”

  “I followed orders,” Sage replied. Then she realized that he’d mentioned the Spirit and her eyes widened. “You’re a Tribunal?”

  “Of course not!” Tarsis said. “Vergent. Just consider me intrigued by the Tribunal faith. Probably the only one on this ship…besides you now, of course. Talon might’ve claimed you were undercover, but I think I know who you are in his story. I’m not stupid.”

  Sage struggled to think of what to say in response. “Well, I’m glad you were able to get him off of that ship after I put him there,” she finally stammered.

  Tarsis started to laugh but was quickly seized by a grueling series of coughs. “Please. He pretty much dragged me off of it.”

  “So you aren’t Tribunal, yet you believe?”

  “I needed to turn to something after contracting this.” He gestured toward his entire body. “It seemed as good a thing to believe in as anything else. Don’t know the prayers well though.”

  And I doubted my faith, Sage thought. The Spirit truly works in mysterious ways, leading me to him after everything. Never again. “Would you pray with me then?” she asked.

  Tarsis gazed around at all of the other quiet Vergents around the room. The youngest amongst them nodded at him in approval. “I suppose. Mind holding this, Kitt?” Tarsis replied. He handed the young Vergent his pulse-rifle, and the boy made sure it never stopped aiming at Sage.

  Sage slid off of the bench onto her knees. A few of the present Vergents stood up and glared at her, but Kitt waved them back. Tarsis positioned himself across from her and started to mimic her. For him it wasn’t easy. His face contorted in pain as he started to bend over. Finally, dropping to his knees elicited a series of groans. His suit whined just as loudly.

  Sage waited patiently for him to get comfortable. “Place your hands like this,” she said, once he finally was on his knees. She lowered her palms until they were hovering right above the floor and then allowed the tips of her fingers to graze it. Tarsis followed. “Now close your eyes and feel the Spirit within you. Feel it binding us together, and everyone else in this room.”

  Tarsis closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The first time it caused him to cough, but when he tried again he was able to steady his breathing.

  “Good,” Sage said. “I am a knight in the darkness; a vessel of their…” Sage’s eyes popped open as she caught herself. She froze.

  “I’ve never heard that one before.” Tarsis kept his eyes closed.

  Very few people have, Sage recognized. They were the secret verses which once echoed in her mind. She’d heard them every time she woke and before she went to sleep. It was an honest mistake, but just beginning to speak the Executor Vows had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. She breathed out slowly and tried again.

  “A more complex sermon, sorry,” she lied. “Follow me. We are blessed with ground beneath us.” Tarsis timidly repeated after her every word. “We are blessed to walk this plane under the pull of the Earth, never deviating from Her forces and how they shaped us. Our Homeworld has been blighted by darkness, but we are the light. Those—”

  She was interrupted for a second time when Talon and the Monarch’s Captain, Larana, came strolling into the galley. Kitt nudged Tarsis in the back to get his attention.

  “I can’t thank you enough, Larana,” Talon said to the Captain.

  “Call it even,” Captain Larana responded. “Because of you we have the favor of Ceres. For helpin’ in the battle, the Morastus have agreed to better tradin’ rights than ever before. The Lakura are soon to follow.”

  “I guess we’ll forget that you also saved us from suffocating.”

  Larana’s lips lifted into a wry grin. “Almost even.”

  “I’ll find a way to repay you eventually.”

  She patted Talon on the back and shook her head. Then she gestured to the rest of her crew, immediately gaining their attention. “Leave them,” she said.

  They stood immediately and hurried out of the galley, moving with such grace over and around the furniture that Sage imagined they might be able to pass for having Executor training. Kitt followed the captain to the command deck and on his way handed Tarsis the pulse-rifle. Tarsis remained in the galley, appearing to be far more relaxed from their abridged prayer than he had been earlier.

  “Practicing your prayers?” Talon asked.

  Tarsis hung his head. “I…Yes.”

  “Learn what you can, just don’t place too much trust in her words. I made that mistake once before.”

  Sage didn’t try to defend herself. It wasn’t in an Executor’s nature to complain, even if lacking her implant made her more prone to wanting to.

  “So Elisha is alive?” Tarsis asked.

  Talon squeezed passed him to take a seat at the main table in the galley, and finally glared icily over at Sage. “According to Sage, she’s imprisoned on the Ascendant,” he said. “Surrounded by thousands of Tribunal soldiers.”

  Tarsis’ face went whiter than usual. “Of all the places in Sol…And you believe her?”

  “I don’t know, but there isn’t really a reason to trick me other than being cruel, though I wouldn’t put that past her. At least last time Sage had a reason to lie. There’s little information either of us can offer the Tribune if it’s a trap.”

  “She’s there,” Sage growled. She took a deep breath before continuing. “Hand Yavortha is holding her there to bait me.”

  “Why in the Ancient’s name would he want to bait his own Executor?”

  “She’s an Executor?” Tarsis exclaimed.

  “Ex-Executor,” Sage corrected. “And because I gouged out one of his eyes, amongst other reasons.”
>
  The news appeared to soften Talon a bit. She imagined that he hadn’t yet forgotten about Hand Yavortha, who’d escorted them throughout the Ascendant. Stories of Yavortha’s brutality were likely not lost on the Ceresians, even if only a few had ever dealt with him directly and survived to tell their tale.

  “That’s all great, but what are we going to do?” Tarsis said. “Storm a New Earth Cruiser, just the three of us? No offense, Talon, but I doubt any of the clans will support a direct attack like that just to save one girl, even after what you did for the Lakura.”

  “No, but I doubt Sage came here without a plan,” Talon said. “That’s what it is with you Executors right? Always a step ahead.”

  Sage managed to keep a straight face, but he was right. The early stages of an idea had been formulating in her head while she sat in the Monarch waiting for Talon. The only problem was that it wasn’t a good one, and it went completely against her better judgment. She didn’t want to join the war against her own people. She only wanted to rescue Elisha and get out, but that was going to be an issue.

  Everything changed when she made her decision to help Talon and the others rather than sneaking back onto the Ascendant as a soldier. Presently, her armor was so bloodied and dented that it barely resembled a Tribunal suit any longer.

  She could only think of one person who could help them get past the sea of defenses on the Ascendant. One person she hoped she’d never have to go to for help again after seeing what he was willing to do to Titan.

  “Cassius,” she whispered.

  “What?” Talon said.

  “Cassius Vale. If there’s anyone who would jump at the chance to attack Benjar Vakari directly it’s him.”

  “That’s your plan?” Talon chuckled. “Maybe you didn’t hear, but Cassius Vale is dead. And why would he even care about helping you anyway?”

  “A long time ago, before he lost his life on Earth, I was set to marry his son,” Sage said. It was the first time she’d ever spoken to anybody about Caleb who didn’t already know his fate. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “Cassius reconstructed my arm as well. I’ve known him longer than I’ve known anybody else in the Circuit.”

  Talon and Tarsis glanced at each other, dumbfounded. Sage had little doubt that hearing how close she was to Cassius would sound like a terrible crime to a Ceresian. She didn’t expect Tarsis to look ever more appalled, however. The good feelings from their shared prayer had clearly worn off.

  “Did you help him savage the Amerigo?” Tarsis snarled. He jumped up to his feet. The sudden exertion exhausted him; he panted as his pulse-rifle pointed again in Sage’s direction.

  “You were there?” Sage asked.

  “You mean while his demon creation slaughtered every Keeper alive there? Yeah, we were there. Thanks to Talon we got off before he took control. Nobody else did.”

  Demons? Sage thought. She recalled the blazing, red eyes of the android Cassius had called ADIM. So that’s how he did it, and that’s why he didn’t find Talon on board.

  “I had nothing to do with it,” she said, “but I’ve seen the abomination you’re talking about.”

  “And you would dare ask him for—”

  “Quiet!” Talon yelled. “Sit, Tarsis. It’s all irrelevant now. I’m sorry if you were close to that monster, Sage, but the Circuit is much better off with him dead.”

  “He’s not,” Sage replied without a shred of doubt. She wasn’t sure why, but she remained confident that Benjar was right for not trusting the news. If Cassius was dead, somehow, someway, she knew she would feel like he was. Perhaps it was the Spirit holding their souls close, like intertwining threads.

  “Trust me, he is,” Talon said. “Or do you want me to find the feed of Zaimur Morastus putting a bullet in his head?”

  “I don’t care what you saw. He wouldn’t allow himself to be captured.”

  “You’re right, Talon,” Tarsis grumbled. “She is out of her mind.”

  Talon sighed. “We’ll find another way.”

  “Might as well hand her over then. Yara Lakura already praised you for what you did with the generator. Maybe if we tell her what Sage really is you’ll get a command of your own ship that we can use.”

  As Talon and Tarsis deliberated, Sage looked down at her artificial arm. If you ever need me, Sage, this will allow you to contact me. Keep it safe. She remembered Cassius saying those words before he sedated her and sent her to Titan. It wasn’t a very clear memory, but she knew he’d planted something in her arm.

  She ran her human fingers along the length of the synthetic limb, until her nails slid beneath a latch. It opened fairly easily, and inside the small compartment was a tiny, segmented metal sphere. She spun it around in her hand until her thumb found a comfortable depression. She shifted it as far as it could go, and then a blue light blinked on. Talon and Tarsis stopped their conversation and stared at her.

  “Cassius?” Sage said softly. “Cassius, are you there? Are you alive?”

  “What is that thing?” Talon questioned. “Tarsis if she tries anything, shoot her.”

  “Gladly.”

  Sage ignored them and continued to examine the sphere. “It’s some sort of communications device he gave me,” she said. She placed her thumb back in the depression. “Cassius…Cassius can you read me?”

  “He’s not going to—”

  “By the Ancients, Sage is that you?” a voice responded through the device, causing both Talon and Tarsis to jump. It transmitted quietly, almost like a whisper, but Sage would recognize the voice anywhere. After everything that’d happened she wasn’t sure how she could be glad to know he was alive for sure, but she was.

  “It’s me,” Sage said. Tarsis stood and got as close as he could so he’d be able to hear. She had to press her ear against the device because his suit whined so loudly. Talon slid down the bench, getting so close to her that their arms were almost touching. It caused her heart to flutter.

  “You must be near then,” Cassius said, sounding unexpectedly eager to hear from her. “This device has a limited range. Are you safe?”

  “I am. Cassius, it’s difficult to hear you.”

  “I have to keep my voice down where I am to avoid prying ears. As far as the Circuit’s concerned I’m a dead man.” He paused. “How did you know?”

  “Lucky guess.” Her throat was dry just from thinking about what she was about to say next. Sage swallowed hard and said: “Cassius, I know I shouldn’t ask, but I need your help.”

  “Whatever it is, we should discuss it in person.”

  “That might be difficult. I’m aboard a transport vessel in the main hangar of the Hound’s Paw. The flagship of the Morastus fleet.”

  There was silence first. Cassius finally responded, “I won’t bother to ask how or why you got there, but I’m in the private hangar right above you. Stay where you are. I’ll send my associate to retrieve you as soon as possible so that we may avoid unnecessary confrontation. We have much to discuss.”

  By the Spirit, Sage thought. Of all the places in the Circuit he could be, he’s here? She had no idea what he could possibly be up to, or why he was hiding and keeping the fact that he was alive a secret. It didn’t matter. For better or worse, it seemed they were destined to meet again by a power greater than her.

  “He’s here?” Tarsis said. He turned to Talon, eyes bulging. “How could he be here? It’s a program or a trick of some kind. We watched him die.”

  “An old Executor lesson,” Sage interjected. “Never trust your target is dead until you’re close enough to touch the body.”

  “What are we doing, Talon?” Tarsis asked. “The man stole a Solar-Ark just to make a point.”

  Talon took a drawn out breath and leaned back. He stared up at the ceiling, a thousand different thoughts flickering across his features. “He’s done plenty worse than that,” he admitted.

  “I’m already about to trust one turncoat Tribunal,” Talon said, shrugging. “Might as well go to a
nother. What could they possibly do to two dying men that isn’t worth having a chance to save Elisha?”

  Tarsis grumbled something under his breath, got up, and stormed out of the room. He stopped at the entrance into the hallway. “Your call,” he growled before continuing on his way.

  “We’ll go to him then, Sage. If that really is him. I’m not saying I’m willing to work with him, but I’ll listen to whatever plan he’s got. If either of you are up to something though, I won’t hesitate to—”

  “Space us,” Sage finished for him, wearing a blithe grin. She could feel her faith being rekindled, like electrically crackling through her veins. The Spirit was clearly with her on her mission to save the innocent soul of a child—Tribunal or not.

  CHAPTER FOUR—CASSIUS

  A Ceresian, a Tribunal, a Vergent and an Android

  While Cassius waited for ADIM to retrieve Sage he strolled slowly around the hull of the White Hand, his arm outstretched so that his fingers lightly grazed the smooth surface. ADIM was correct. She was in as good of shape as ever. There were a few divots here and there left from stray shrapnel, but overall the shields had held. It wasn’t anything more than superficial damage which he could fix up in the days following the war.

  “Gaia, please release the cargo bay for me,” he called out as he reached the back of the pelican-shaped ship.

  “Yes, Creator,” ADIM’s voice responded. The entrance peeled open and the ship’s ramp lowered to his feet. Cassius reached up to his ear. His com-link to ADIM was off, but there was no question it was the android’s voice that had responded. “ADIM, is that you?” he asked.

  “It is. As this unit explained earlier, the White Hand has been optimized. This unit has synchronized with Gaia’s outdated program, improving her performance by 47 percent. We may now communicate through the onboard communications systems.”

  “Where’d you get that idea?” Cassius probably came off angrier than he intended to. He was merely shocked.