The Antithesis- The Complete Pentalogy

by Terra Whiteman

  I shut off the report, switching it to Leid’s music.

  She was glaring at me, and I kept my eyes ahead.

  Eventually she looked away, staring out the passenger side window. I’d thought she was going to say something about that, but she didn’t. That had been my way of confessing what I’d done, and it seemed like she didn’t even care.

  We hit traffic. I sighed.

  “About that deserving a special pass through traffic for being the Regent’s son law,” she began, leaning into a palm. “You’ve got my vote.”

  “What’s the hurry? My entire day is booked with meetings.”

  “Yes, I know. I planned your schedule, remember?”

  “Well, you’re fired.”

  * * *

  Leid and I crunched numbers with our Parliament’s accountants, lowering taxes on some things while raising them on others.

  I’d decided to raise the alcohol tax by two usos, since it might lower the frequency of alcohol related violence in Lower Sanctum. I also signed off on a budget approval for law enforcement to crack down on malay distribution, as commemoration to Lev Gia’s death. Irony.

  Due to the messy recent events, I wanted my father to address the public, but he was in a steady decline as of this week and I would have to do it myself. I was now the face of Eroqam from here on out. The only upside to the press meeting was that I might be able to change the public’s opinion of me in light of Gia’s drug-related homicide.

  Later that evening, Leid and I oversaw an Archaean craft protocol discussion between Yahweh Telei and Ysam Kada in the science research laboratory. The first half of it was spent with Yahweh going over momentum and torque lectures while Dr. Kada kept staring at me with a ‘what the fuck’ look on his face. I didn’t blame him, considering he was getting schooled by a child.

  Our science team had already gathered most of the items on Leid’s material list. It was enough to start construction of the prototype shell, and while Yahweh and Dr. Kada went over appropriate dimensions, I was reading the diagnostic report for the electrical configurations of the prototype controls. Leid stood over the team, making sure our hostage didn’t accidentally miscalculate anything.

  As I skimmed over the report, my brow rose higher and higher. “Leid, come here for a second.”

  She hovered over me, and I pointed to the passage that explained how to program the voice automated system. “Does that mean we’re going to have to talk to our crafts?”

  Leid hesitated, reading it over. “No. Yahweh is only suggesting a way to strengthen security by making the ignition voice-key automated.”

  “So the craft won’t start unless it recognizes the voice of the pilot who owns it.”

  “Correct.”

  “Wow, that’s genius.”

  “When are we working on the controls?”

  “Tomorrow evening. We’re waiting on our system engineers to get all the wiring in order.”

  Leid smiled, surveying the crowded lab. “This is really coming along.”

  “Yeah.”

  She went back to standing watch, and my gaze fell on Yahweh. He stood amid a group of analysts, nodding as they spoke to him. I knew it was all an act, but he looked like he really wanted to be here.

  Yahweh Telei had become more than just a white to me. There was something enigmatic about him, and it made me question whether we had the Archaeans’ deadliest weapon in the palm of our hands. Intelligence as a deadly weapon; what an interesting thought.

  As the crowd around the kid cleared, he glanced at me.

  I looked away, returning to his report.

  * * *

  At midnight, I escorted Yahweh back to his room.

  He never fought me, and I didn’t even have to lead him by the arm. We quietly walked side by side like comrades at the end of a long day at work.

  Yahweh stepped back as I punched in the code. I opened the door, motioning for him to enter first. When he stepped inside, the kid turned and looked up at me with those gigantic, sparkly eyes. “I’ve heard you’re able to make people’s heads explode. Is that true?”

  I blinked, wondering who he had been talking to. “Yes.”

  His eyes grew even wider. If that was possible. “So you could make my head explode right now if you wanted to.”

  “If I wanted to.”

  “How does it work?” he asked, tilting his head.

  “You’re guess is as good as mine.

  “I’m sure my guess would be much better.”

  I smirked. “I’m sure.”

  Yahweh sat cross-legged on the end of his bed as I grabbed his empty dinner tray. “Are you the only one among your people able to do it?”

  “Do what? Remove dirty plates from your room?”

  He frowned.

  “Yeah, I’m the only one.”

  My tone had been a lot drier than I intended, and unfortunately the kid picked up on that.

  “You see it as a burden.”

  “How I see it is really none of your business; but no, I don’t think of it as a gift.”

  He smiled. “You should. Lucifer knows about you. You’re the reason why he’s so reluctant to step in.”

  “You call your father by his first name?”

  “He’s not my father.”

  I stared at him. “But he called you—”

  “I’m his adopted son.”

  “Oh.”

  “What makes your ability such a burden?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “It’s the most interesting thing I’ve heard all week.”

  I had no idea why I was humoring him. “It doesn’t work like how you think it does. It’s not selective.”

  “You mean you can’t control whose head you explode?”

  “Sort of,” I said, sitting in the chair across from him. “Let’s say I want to make your head explode, but you’re standing in a crowd of people—”

  “Area of effect.”

  “Right.”

  Yahweh looked away, deep in thought. “I assumed you had the ability to telepathically link to the minds of other people, but now I think you might be releasing some form of high-energy radiation.”

  Eyebrow. “Like microwaves?”

  “Maybe something a little stronger. Of course there’s no way for me to know for certain. Not without a lab and proper equip—”

  “Okay, what the fuck is your problem?”

  Yahweh looked startled. “I beg your pardon?”

  “I beg your pardon?” I mocked in his childlike voice.

  “I don’t sound like that,” he huffed.

  “You’re not even old enough to work and you’re sitting here talking to me about area of effect radiation, not to mention you’re constructing state of the art military crafts. I could barely make sense of your electrical configurations because they were far too complex for my tiny Nehelian brain.”

  Yahweh said nothing.

  “What happened to your childhood?”

  “I didn’t have one.”

  “No kidding. Why not?”

  “I’d rather not talk about that.”

  Judging by the look on his face, he hadn’t had too great of a life before Lucifer snatched him up. I had several theories, but I wouldn’t share them. Besides, I’d wasted enough time. I just had a heart-to-heart with a white. Kill me, please.

  Without another word I left the seat, tray in hand. As I opened the door, Yahweh said, “Do you hate me, Qaira Eltruan?”

  I paused. “I hate angels.”

  “If I write down a list of things that I want, will you get them for me?”

  “As long as it isn’t sharp.”

  When I looked over my shoulder, he was smiling.

  “Goodnight, Qaira Eltruan.”

  I left the room in silence, closing the door behind me.

  XIII

  THE INSPECTION

  I WOKE TO FIND A MALAY SYRINGE ON my bedside table. Leid wasn’t around. There was a note beside the syringe, kept in place by the
weight of my alarm clock.

  ‘I went to the research lab to check on the progress of the craft shell. I figured I would give your arms a rest for one day. Also, you might want to try sleeping on your side because you snore. If my room was right next to yours, you’d keep me up all night. I’ll meet you on the flight deck at seven.

  Leid ☺’

  Funny.

  I tossed the note into the wastebasket and shot up, then took a shower and got dressed. I was twenty minutes ahead of schedule because Leid wasn’t around to distract me. The dining room was dark; Tae wasn’t awake yet, and Epa wouldn’t start setting breakfast out for another fifteen minutes. I was about to hit the light switch but I heard something in the kitchen. Clinking glass.

  “Tae?”

  No answer.

  “Ara?”

  No answer.

  I crept into the kitchen to investigate. And there was my father, setting up all the condiments along the counter. He’d even gone into our pantry and brought out all the jars of preserved fruits. He sat on the floor scribbling on their labels with a permanent marker. There was a psychotic look in his eyes.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Labeling them,” he said. “Then I’m going to put them back in alphabetical order. This house is chaotic; there’s no order. You just place everything everywhere. How is anyone supposed to find anything?”

  I hit the lights. My father shielded his eyes, while I gaped at all the writing on the walls. I held my head, unable to believe what I was seeing. “Dad, what have you done!?”

  “Your mother used to label everything by hand, you know,” he said, ignoring me. The psychotic look was getting more intense. “But now she’s gone and no one makes anything from scratch anymore.”

  I snatched the marker out of his hands. “Get out of the kitchen!”

  “I’m not done!”

  “Tae!” I shouted into the hall. “Tae, will you get in here, please?!”

  “You can’t leave it unfinished!” my father snarled. Once upon a time he had a temper like mine. “I’m just trying to clean up the place! Arcia would have never left it like this!”

  “You wrote all over the walls with permanent marker!”

  “How else was I supposed to remember where everything goes?!”

  My sister appeared, eyes bulging when she saw us. “Dad, oh goodness; come on, let’s get you something to eat.”

  My father’s expression softened at the sight of her, and he let her guide him out of the kitchen. Tae and I shared a look.

  But then Qalam wrenched from her grasp and turned on me. “It’s your fault that she’s gone!”

  I stood there, stunned.

  “Dad!” Tae shouted, trying to recapture his attention, but he wouldn’t look at her.

  “I wouldn’t have to do this if you hadn’t killed her! You’re a murderer!”

  My pulse beat in my ears. Even though I knew I should have walked away, I didn’t. I couldn’t move. My father kept chanting murderer at the top of his lungs, and each time my heart pounded just a little faster until I couldn’t stand to hear it anymore. Red inked across my vision.

  It had to stop. Now.

  I punched him in the face as hard as I could, and my father stumbled into the dining table, taking a breakfast tray and two chairs with him on his way down. Everything hit the floor with a crash.

  My sister screamed, and my father started to cry. He curled atop pastries and spilled tea, sobbing for his dead wife.

  “What is the matter with you?!” Tae shouted at me, collapsing on her knees at my father’s side. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying! He’s sick!”

  All I did was stand there, numb.

  And then I couldn’t take the sight anymore. I grabbed my briefcase and fled for the door.

  “Qaira?” my sister called over my father’s wails. “Qaira, wait!”

  I slammed the door and hurried to the flight deck. Leid was already waiting for me in our craft. I got in and jammed the key into the ignition, nearly crashing into one of the pillars when I backed out.

  “What happened?” asked Leid when we’d left Eroqam’s port.

  I didn’t say anything and turned the radio up. She turned it down.

  “Qaira, what happened?”

  And then it all came flooding out.

  “Will you shut the fuck up?!” I screamed, and she flinched. “Why don’t you ever shut the fuck up?! I just want to drive to work without hearing the sound of your fucking voice for once! Can I have that? Can I?”

  End of conversation.

  * * *

  “How’s everything in Sanctum lately, Commandant? I heard word this morning that things are getting a little tumultuous down there.”

  I didn’t say anything, rolling my pen along the desk.

  Commander Raith reclined in his seat, tilting his head. “You don’t seem like your insulting self today. Are you alright?”

  “I have to spend my lunch break staring at your face. What do you think?”

  “Yes, but we’re ten minutes in and you have yet to call me a vulgar synonym for female genitalia.”

  Commander Raith and I met once a week over the televised screen to discuss Yahweh’s status. He often used these meetings to try to get under my skin. Today it was working.

  “You’re wasting my time, white. If you have nothing else to say then I have a thousand more important things to do.”

  “Just one more thing, Commandant, and then you can be on your way.”

  I waited.

  “I’m sending an inspector to see Yahweh for himself, not that I would ever distrust your word, but—”

  I blanched. “Forget it.”

  Lucifer frowned; his pale, blue eyes shined with indignation. Angels were very androgynous. He almost looked like a woman, deep voice and no tits aside. “He’ll come unarmed and you can supervise him personally, if that’ll make you feel any better. I want assurance that my son is still in good health.”

  “Then I’ll bring him in here and you can talk to him.”

  “I want to know if you’ve been feeding him properly and keeping up with his hygienic needs. That kind of information can’t be gathered from seeing him through a screen, and I’m sure you’ve intimidated him into silence by now.”

  “Apparently you don’t know your own son. I can’t get him to shut up. Care to share your secret?”

  Raith smiled, showing me a row of perfect teeth. “Commandant, I’ve kept up my part of the bargain—with great duress, mind you—and I want you to do the same. A single angel at your military headquarters couldn’t possibly pose a threat, could he?”

  I was beginning to lose my patience. “That isn’t the point, you stupid cunt.”

  “Ah, there it is. I spoke too soon.”

  “Eroqam isn’t a five star hotel. Your son isn’t on vacation. We agreed that I would keep Yahweh alive so long as you keep your whites from attacking my city. Nowhere in our agreement was there a clause about making sure the kid had his full servings of vegetables each day.”

  “The inspector will bring some medications and maybe a few of Yahweh’s things to keep him occupied. He gets bored easily, and if he gets sick you have no way of treating him.”

  I was about to protest again, but realized he had a point.

  “Fine. When?

  “I’ll send the inspector in an hour.”

  “No, we’ll meet him at our airspace borders, and the angel can come in our craft the rest of the way.”

  “Very well. I’ll speak to you soon, Commandant.”

  Lucifer disconnected the call.

  I reached for my radio with a sigh. “Lt. Eltruan, assemble a team for an enforcer pick-up at our airspace borders.”

  “For what?”

  I said nothing, waiting for him to remember the talk we’d had about his lack of professionalism over the radio.

  “… For what, Commandant?”

  “I’ve just permitted an angel to cross into Sanctum territory. W
e’re giving him a ride to Eroqam.”

  “Roger. I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

  * * *

  Leid stayed at Parliament while my brother, Uless, Garan, Samay and I flew to Sanctum’s airspace border. We had another enforcer craft following us as back up. I didn’t really think this was a trick, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  As we ascended, an angel vessel descended. We met, hovering twenty feet apart. Our doors slid open simultaneously, presenting a mirror image of soldiers pointing firearms.

  An unarmed angel in a long white coat pushed through the line, hugging a brown satchel to his chest. Unfolding his wings, he leapt from the Archaean craft and flew to ours. I stepped back, allowing him entry. When he landed inside, Ara and Garan shut the door and both crafts parted ways.

  The angel inspector sat on a bench while we rifled through his satchel, making sure there wasn’t anything suspicious in it. A bunch of clothes and books. Garan tossed it back to him and nothing was said for the rest of the flight.

  I led the angel through the Commons, ignoring the sharp stares of soldiers as they passed. Our visitor had an air of arrogance to him, a sort of pompous demeanor that made me think he didn’t want to be here as much as I didn’t want him here. He was young, perhaps my age, with white-blond hair cut unevenly to his shoulders. He wore a serious look, eyes darting across the hall that we traversed.

  When I opened the door to Yahweh’s room, the kid shot from his bed wearing a look of shock.

  “Namah?”

  “Good afternoon, Dr. Telei,” the angel greeted. His voice was deeper than I’d expected.

  “What are you doing here? Are they releasing me?”

  “Unfortunately, no. Commander Raith has sent you some personal items, and this Nehelian has agreed to let you have them.” Namah shot me a disdainful look.

  Yahweh took the satchel and placed the contents on his desk. Several articles of clothing, about five books, and a wooden box that, when opened, revealed a board covered in black and white squares, along with a plastic bag of white and black figurines.