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Chapter 30: The Island
June 10th, 3239, 1045 hours
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
The Camilla
The Captain was silent for a long time, locked up in one of the ship's bedrooms. Everyone had waited to see if he would come out with a plan or anything like that, but it was clear that he desired to be alone. Sally was quiet as well, but that was for a different reason. She was upset. Very upset.
Sonic had tried to speak with her, but she didn't want to talk very much. Just before sunrise, she finally talked to him.
"Have you ever had a time when you felt like everything was falling apart?" She had asked.
"You're asking me this now?" Sonic replied. "Yeah, everything's falling apart. Probably has been for a while."
"I should have told him right from the start." She said, looking at the deck. "I should have told him."
"What?" the hedgehog asked confused.
"That I was pregnant."
"Oh." Sonic said, a bit shocked, but he looked at her, looked at the wall, and then fell silent. "How long?" he managed to say.
"About a month… when this whole mess started."
"Is it his?"
She looked at him seriously. "It's sure not yours." She buried her face in her hands. "I'm screwed. We're screwed." She got up and paced around. "And I'm probably going to lose him, am I?"
Sonic didn't answer. For all of his quips, quotes, and cracking jokes that he could make up on the spot, there was not a single thing he could say to his friend. Nothing that she would like to hear anyway. Sonic was scared. Not for Sally, or even for the Human, but because he was becoming aware of how… small he felt at that moment. A war on the horizon that could only be stopped only if they worked together, a corrupt politician that had popular support, and the Prisoner… he didn't know what to do.
"I don't know." Is all he had said. He hugged Sally closely, choosing to be brave in the face of impossible odds. "But we're not going to lose him without a fight."
He had been in here for hours. He had turned off the lights and closed the shutters on the ship's window. Sunlight came through only in the barest glints. Otherwise, this room was more than dark. Chris paced around the bed in this room. He noted the size of the room, and shook his head in amazement. Civilians always had the best sleeping spaces.
He was reminded of the palace beds for some reason. He remembered that they were the softest things he had ever slept on. Softer even than his own bed back at home. They were meant for kings, not soldiers. He didn't feel comfortable lying down on something that was comfortable.
So, the knife twists deeper.
He groaned and turned, expecting Kapplin's skeleton back to bother him. Instead, he was shocked to see that it was less than that – a narrow cloud of ether with two glowing eyes. An uncomfortable low humming filled his ears. He couldn't tell where it was coming from.
"Buzz off, Greg." Chris said steadying himself.
Telling me to leave? Why did you call me here then?
"Oh believe me, I never wanted to be in the same room as you when you were alive, let alone dead."
A spike of pain shot through him. His head pounded.
Watch it, boot. Stress and anger are real killers.
He ignored the specter. Perhaps if he just focused his thoughts, maybe the ghost would just… fade.
Alright, happy thoughts. Happy thought. Unicorns and rainbows…
The Captain turned. Kapplin was gone. The room returned to its calm silence. He made a slight laugh
"Are you OK?" a soft voice called.
Chris bolted up, shocked by the sudden sound. He turned to the door and saw a pair of twinkling eyes in the near darkness, like two bright stars outshining all the others. His heart slowed and he smiled.
"I'm better now. Can you sit down?"
"You look like you need a friend." Sally made her way around the room. "How's the…" She made the slightest point to her head. "How are…"
"Do you even need to ask anymore?" That was a darker answer than he expected to give, but no less true to him.
She sat down next to him and leaned on his shoulder. "We're almost done. We can fix you."
"Can you?" he asked.
"We will fix you." She said. "We just have to. You're stronger than this. You can beat it."
"As long as you're here, it'll help."
"Don't you know Human? I'm always in here." She pressed her hand on his heart. "And here." She touched his head.
"What? You're right here." He blinked only once, and she was gone. There was nothing but an empty space next to him.
"Sally?" he called. There was nothing but an empty room. His eyes darted around hoping, just hoping that she was playing a trick on him. He paced around the room. "Sally, please come out. Don't do this to me!"
His heart started racing again. She wasn't real! She wasn't there! Another… thing spawned from his mind. This is what it came to. He saw just how crazy he had become. He couldn't take it any longer and fell down on the bed. He heard a laugh somewhere deep within his mind. Some sick and twisted specter, maybe Greg, maybe Benedict, maybe even the Didact's image chuckled at his lowness. Chris did the only thing that seemed right to him. He smiled widely and laughed along with them.
"Can I ask you something?" Sonic asked Sally while they walked through the Camilla's hallways.
"Of course." She responded.
"If…" he began to say. He tapped the wall next to him searching for the question. "If the Indomitable never came to Mobius… and if you never met the Captain… would things have been different between us?"
She looked at him. "You're asking me this now?"
"Everything is… so messed up lately that I need to set the record straight, you know?"
Sally sighed. "Of course things would have been different. A lot of things would be different. We wouldn't be here now. We wouldn't have to worry about monsters or Forerunners or anything. We could have been together, of course… but that's not the way things happened."
"I wanted it to be different so much."
"If it's any consolation, there's certainly a universe where we did fall in love… and are spending our lives together."
"That doesn't make me feel better at all."
"Look at the Primes. There things may have worked out, but they have no idea what's at the heart of their galaxy. If things went differently, we would have no idea what's out there waiting for us."
"I…" Sonic struggled to find the words that he was looking for. He was quiet as the two walked towards the bridge, but then he sighed and placed his hands on his hips. "I… guess you're right. There's so much waiting for us soon, but it won't change the way I feel."
"You're not happy with Amy?"
Sonic leaned on the wall. "I love her so much. But I still love you."
"And believe me, Sonic, I've never stopped loving you either, but you've got to understand something… he needs me more than he'll ever realize. I… I think I'm all he has to hold onto. I think I you know very much what it means to lose the one you love." She gave him a disappointed look. "Amy told me what you tried to do when you thought I was dead, you know."
Sonic's face showed guilt. It was non-characteristic, and jarring for her to see. "That was years ago."
"Doesn't change that you tried to do it. Did you think that putting a gun to your head would solve anything?"
"I thought I had no reason to live. You were everything to me."
"And Amy saved you."
"She did." Sonic said looking at the floor; hands in his pockets. "She changed everything."
Sally kept her eyes looking straight at him though. "Would you wish that on him? I'm everything he has. If I were to leave, or if I were taken… can you imagine what would happen to him? What happened to you will be nothing compared what will happen to him."
Sonic's mouth got dry. He knew that what Chris was going through was bad… but he couldn't guess what it getting even worse would look like. Sonic knew that he would never want to trade spaces with the Human under no circumstances. He closed his eyes in realization. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I know. Go get comfortable. I'm going to check on our friend."
"This is mad shit, Sarge." Ryan said as he sat on what he assumed was once a couch. He looked around the cavernous space that was the Freedom Fighter's old headquarters. "Can you imagine that this was where the resistance movement was centered?"
Johnson took a drag on his cigar and paced patiently, glancing carefully towards the ladder. "Percy, I've seen my fair share of resistance movements, and I've seen places more badass than this."
Bindo huffed in amusement. Like Johnson, he too was pacing, but his mind was sharp, constantly meditating on what was going to happen next. Even though he was far from his home and no longer felt the Force, he could still be mindful of his surroundings and his situation. That being said, he was more than willing to stick it to the others.
"Boys, I've been cruising around smuggling supplies and fighting bush wars since you were both probably in diapers. I think I've seen more planets and struggles than the whole lot of you. I've seen palaces that were devoted to nothing but fighting bad governments. The Mobians are truly fortunate people for this to be the worst that they've ever seen."
"You should have seen Earth when it was under siege in…" Johnson stopped for a second and rolled his cigar, eyes distant. "700 years ago." He said the words with effort, but steadied himself, becoming the staunch badass again. "The entire planet was on fire, people dying left and right with our numbers whittled down."
Jolee had an answer to this. "I've seen this so many times you wouldn't even believe it. How many wars are fought every day? How many of the stars out there have people you've never seen before? You even want to guess how many wars are happening right at this second?"
"A lot I bet. Was Humanity on its last legs for you?" Johnson asked with intent.
Jolee paused. After a few seconds, he said, "No. There was never any danger of Humans being wiped out. I can't imagine it. Comes with being a galaxy-spanning empire."
Ryan spoke up. "Well, what happens when the war between Mobius and Earth finally happens? What happens then? Closing that gate won't do anything!" He got up and paced around the Freedom Fighters' HQ. "The Mobians won't be able to win. Look, I'm sorry guys, but that's a fact."
None of the men said anything. Ryan was right, and had made a strong point – something that they didn't like to hear. Humans had anti-matter warheads, starships, legions of troopers, and Chaos Emeralds to boot. Mobians didn't have much in that respect. That made stopping this war a lot more important to them.
"So, what do we do then?" Ryan asked.
"We make our way back to the castle." Johnson said, chomping on his cigar. "Then we tell everyone we can. Marshall's attack dogs won't be able to stop us if we say enough."
"How do you know there ain't any Spartans up there waiting for us? For all we know, they watched us spy on their ship." Percy said.
"I don't. We can either stay here, and the world will be doomed, but we'll be happy in this little bunker with the couch and everything, or we can be men and try."
"Hell I'm in." Jolee said. "Been a while since this old man had a good run. Might even be fun."
"I think the definition of 'fun' might be different across universes." Ryan said as he cracked his neck. "This is not going to be fun."
"Not with that attitude it isn't, sonny!" Jolee growled. "Now make like a wookiee and climb!"
Ryan, Johnson and Bindo started climbing up the ladder, leaving the safety of the underground HQ. It was a quick and silent climb. Ryan tilted the protective cover of the ladder's top up to do a quick search around. The area seemed to be clear. However, this was not the time to take chances. Ryan exited the ladder and scanned visually. Once again, he didn't see anything, but there was a tingling sensation at the base of his skull that he just couldn't shake. Something felt off, but his eyes were telling him otherwise – that there was nothing to worry about.
What he was worrying about was that his eyes could be wrong.
"OK, everyone up." He announced. "We should be able to find our way back to the castle."
Johnson and Jolee followed. Once out of the secret ladder, and with the fake tree-stump cover down over it, an unnatural silence befell the group. No birds sung, no wind blew. They felt very much alone. "Move." Johnson said. "I don't like this.
The sky was free of clouds, leaving the ocean to extend in all direction for miles. The sun was up now and painting the sky with a light blue sheen while a glittering reflection was splayed across the waves. The Camilla had to be getting close to the Western coast of North America by this point. Major Abigail Hera kept on watching the space ahead of her, barely making out the engine exhaust of the next ship a half mile in front of her. The autopilot made sure that they wouldn't get into any flight trouble on the flight path.
Flying over the ocean was like flying in space. It got exciting for the first few hours, but then you realized that once you saw the initial blackness with stars, there really wasn't anything particularly exciting besides a planet, moon, nebulae that were pretty much empty space once you got inside them, or an asteroid, which if you were able to make out clearly, it was a bad sign anyway.
Hera had seen her fair share of space in the last fifteen years. She had most definitely seen enough ocean for the last eight or so hours. There was an interesting artificial island every now and again and most interesting of all were circular floating cities that voyaged across the oceans. She was amazed by the technology to make them do so. Her home Mobius didn't have that technology. She wondered why it was so hard for her people to just extend the hand of peace and work with the Humans aboard the Prometheus. Maybe, just maybe, her people could have had floating cities like the ones in the oceans here. Maybe they could have had these wonderful ships. Maybe everybody she loved like her mother and father would still be alive.
She sighed, there was really no point wallowing in the past. The only way was to move forward. To dwell was to be depressed, and she had gone through that phase already. Something caught her eye in the distance and her ears perked. Hera squinted to see what was out in the distance. It was hazy at first, but eventually it was revealed to be a giant tower. A building was emerging out of the air. She smiled when she saw this. There was only one good reason why she would start to see buildings. The Major hit the intercom and said, "All hands report to the bridge! Civilization ho!"
Everyone gathered around an available window getting a look outside. It was indeed a city that was coming up. Buildings upon buildings were soon visible in the distance. Many different types and shapes rose into the sky – a few of them poking through the clouds. On the water was a single solitary figure that seemed so out of place against the metropolis: a statue of a woman stood on a small speck of land, comparatively tiny against the city, but a shrine stretched out around her. It was clear she was important, but with that lady, they knew where they were beyond a shadow of a doubt.
"Welcome to New York City everyone – center of the universe."
Hera looked around the room for the one person who would enjoy seeing their home city again. Hera's smile straightened out. "Where's the Captain?"
Was it all a fake? Was it a hallucination? What's real? What's imagined?
Chris lay face up on the bed, eyes pried wide open staring at the ceiling. His brain was strained, like an inept violinist was dragging a bow over the instrument, screeching and scratching and producing this horrible noise.
Did you hear what they said? You're Home.
"Home?"
Start spreading the news…
"Stop this. Now!"
I'm leaving today…!
"Don't do this to me now! Shut up! Shut up!" He was fighting not to scream.
Who was he talking to? Who was listening?
It's been so long, Christopher. But finally, you're back home with me.
He knew that voice, but the mere sound of it brought about a feeling of dread that didn't even feel humanly possible.
"Michelle?"
He listed himself up. Standing in front of the window was a woman – no, a shadow of a woman. A shade of a person he used to know. Her long brown hair fell to shoulder length, and the distant twinkle of her eyes called back to him a memory of so long ago – a loved one's touch. One that he would never wish to forget. The dead should stay dead, but this was too far. This hurt too much.
"Just leave me alone!"
But why? She asked. I thought you would have been glad to see me! This is probably the last time we'll be together before you have to leave! Please, Christopher, don't let our last night together be a lonely one.
"Michelle, this is important. They need me. The transport leaves tomorrow morning and I need some sleep." The outside of his apartment window was dim. The sun was starting to sink below the skyline and the artificial starshine of thousands of buildings started to take over the natural.
"Please understand! You're going to be gone! Do you get it? I won't see you, I won't hear you!"
"I can call. I can talk to you from there."
"No! Fuck that! Talk to me now! Be with me now! If you're going… I want to be with you just one more night!"
He couldn't say anything to dissuade her. She was right. He didn't want to be alone, and if there was going to be one more moment, he would spend all night with her and count the stars from the roof if need be. He would spend every last moment that he could with her.
Chris walked over to Michelle. She held out her hand. "Please, sweetheart." She said. "Take my hand."
"Only if you take mine." He smiled, as did she. She pulled him in and hugged him tightly. She started to cry into his shoulder. "I'm going to miss you!"
"I'll miss you more."
"I don't want to live my life waiting! I don't want to wait for the day they come and tell me…! That they…!" She sniffed.
"That won't happen." He said.
"Please don't leave me alone! Please come back!"
He kissed her hair. "I will come back. Even if I have to walk."
She laughed once. "If we can't be together… I don't see the point of living. Christopher, I lo-"
His hearing went fuzzy. A ringing noise filled the world. He was unsure of what happened. He looked at Michelle. She blinked a few times, and she tried to say something. She looked dizzy.
"Michelle?"
She grabbed onto his shoulder. Something was wrong. He looked at her hands. They were smeared. Something red.
Blood.
"Michelle?!"
She stumbled, and he caught her. She tried to hold his face, but she seemed to miss. She was saying something, but he couldn't hear it. Tears streamed down her face. "Don't…"
"This is wrong! This IS WRONG!" He cried to the heavens.
"Don't… leave…" She whispered, barely louder than a whisper. Her head sunk back, and her hands fell from his face, leaving bloody trails on his skin. She lay on the carpet, blood staining the fibers and slowly moving onto the hardwood.
He screamed in anger. He knocked picture frames, bottles, and books off of the countertops and smashed the mirror.
"Well, she said it." Another voice he knew.
Oh please, Christ no. Christ in Heaven, no!
He turned around so slowly that it felt like the air was molasses. He dreaded to see who was waiting for him, but he felt like he already knew the answer. Standing in an open doorway holding a smoking pistol was Sally. Right away though he could tell this was incredibly wrong. She stood still bleeding from the wound in her chest, which seemed to be perpetually flowing, her eyes were nothing but empty pits that masqueraded as beautiful blue eyes; he could see that there was nothing within them. What terrified him was the smile that she had. It was not a smile – not a smile that a Mobian… no, that any person should be able to make. It seemed stretched past the point that seemed physically possible. She looked more like the Cheshire Cat than Sally Acorn.
"She said she would rather die than leave you!" Sally said. "You know that it had to happen, right? You were always meant to be with me."
"She didn't have to die!"
The Cheshire smile faded slightly, but still kept its surreal appearance. "Sometimes, my sweet, they all have to die. Sacrifices have to be made to make it all work out in the end." She walked closer to him, dripping her blood onto the carpet, and eventually it meshed with Michelle's blood. She sat on the bed and threw the gun on the pillows. "Come sit down, my Human. Let's watch the sunset."
Chris didn't say anything, fixated on Michelle, who was sprawled with eyes glaring up at the ceiling. The demon Sally noticed his gaze. "You know she really killed herself, right?"
"What are you saying? I saw…" then he saw that Michelle was gripping a pistol tightly in her hand with a shell laying close to her body. The same pistol he could have sworn that Sally was holding a second ago. But the area of the bed that he could have sworn the gun was on was empty.
"She… killed herself."
Demon Sally nodded with a wide smile. Too many teeth. Way too many teeth. "Mmhmm!" She hummed with a very misplaced sense of joy. "The day that she decided to stick with that damned drunk was the day she killed herself. She could have saved herself, but she had to be a fool."
"A fool." Chris said under his breath.
"An idiot." Sally whispered.
"An idiot." Chris repeated.
"Is that why you killed her?"
"What?" was all Chris could make out before glaring down into his hBeeands to see a bloody smoking gun in his hand. He was too scared to drop the gun, but stare at Michelle's corpse. "I… I killed her?"
"Maybe not with the gun, but just as well with your mind."
"I don't understand."
"Of course not, silly!" Sally smiled toothily. He couldn't ever think of a time when Sally had called him 'silly'. "That's because you're insane! She was dead to you the day you walked away from her door! She was a burden on your mind and to your heart. So 'bang'," Sally said pointing out with her finger-pistol. The sound of a gunshot filled the room which made Chris flinch. A fist hit him, and he stumbled as if shot. He reached for his heart, but felt no blood or bullet wound. "You killed her."
She splayed herself on the bed. "And now all of your guilt and your sadness is building up. Don't you wish that there was a way to end it?"
The gun was back in his hand.
"One pull, and all of your troubles will disappear. Then you and I will be together forever!"
Chris looked at the pistol in his hand and fiddled with the safety and checked the chamber. There was indeed one bullet in there. Chris absentmindedly wondered if the gun was actually real, of if this was yet another trick.
"You know…" he started. "I may be crazy." But he threw the gun on the floor. "But I'm not stupid. And you're not real. You and Greg go back to that dark hole where you came from."
Sally's eyes then began to weep. They were not tears, but blood. She got to her feet and walked slowly to Chris, not making a sound. She kissed him. It was the most disgusting thing he had tasted.
"You know…" she said when she was done, "If we're not real, how come you keep talking to us?"
Chris blinked, and she was gone. The room was dark and empty again with the sunlight poking through the window. Chris checked his face, but there was no blood. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was all fake. He wondered why he was relieved. He knew it was a hallucination all along. Right?
He gazed at the floor and gave a laugh. The gun was still there. Of everything, the only real thing was the gun.
It was a cruel joke, and he laughed.
There was a knock on the door. He kicked the gun under the bed, thinking that the last thing he wanted was attention like this. He scratched his chin, admiring the new stubble.
"Who's there?" he asked.
"It's me." A voice said.
"Who's 'me'?" the Captain asked, cautiously looking back where he kicked the gun. The voice sounded familiar, but he needed to place the face.
"Please let me in, Human. I just want to see you."
The voice sounded kind. He wanted to please the voice. Chris got to the door and pulled it open. Sally was standing in the doorway with a smile. Her eyes though were full of worry. Chris smiled. The voice had been hers. Though a pang of sadness went through him. He should have known that.
"Sal."
"How are you?"
"Feels like the time I had some bad shellfish." He was glad to see he hadn't forgotten his sense of humor.
"We're home, you know."
"Home? Mobius?"
"No. Your home – New York."
"Right. Right. I knew that."
"Did you? Your mind isn't falling apart?" She demanded to know this.
"Of course." Chris lied through his teeth. "I looked out the window on the way here."
Sally decided to believe this and asked him if he wanted to come up to the front of the ship to see the city he was born in. Chris nodded and got up to leave, stepping on ginger feet out of this room. Every step felt like a mile to him. Shadows appeared on the walls that disappeared when he stopped to look. Sally couldn't find anything else to say about this. She was concerned for the troubled young man, but it was clear that this problem was far beyond her. A small humming noise appeared in his hearing. It was like a bomb went off and his hearing went out, but it was always there, not going away. All the while, the sharp piercing pain in his head was almost debilitating. Only his training and sheer willpower kept it down.
The walk to the Camilla's bridge only lasted a few minutes. Allen and Borne met them halfway and asked if the Captain was OK. Chris waved them off silently, saying that he was fine. Just after this, he stumbled, and Sally caught him. She groaned as she supported a man with nearly twice the mass of her. Together, they all made their way towards the bridge. Eventually, Chris got some of his strength back and insisted that he was walking on his own. The group of people entered the bridge. The Captain was greeted with the image of the vista of his home city.
The image didn't even register for a moment in his mind. The shock that he forgot about the city he was born in was completely lost to him. The only thing he saw was the towers, hundreds of them stretching into the sky. They had many different shapes, colors, and sizes. From this high up, only the tallest of the stratoscrapers could reach them.
The only thing he could saw was, "Wow."
"Yeah, it's something, isn't it?" Hera said, completely enthralled by the city.
The city shimmered in the sunlight as if it was a desert illusion. The core of the city was clustered on Manhattan Island and stretched out upstate. Hundreds of years ago, the city had been divided into 'boroughs' that were part of the city yet retained their own identities. Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island; these were now just large neighborhoods that were part of this sprawling urban center. The city was one of the most iconic on Earth, and it was clear by the looks on everyone's face that its charm didn't fail to deliver. Off in the distance, one could make out an orbital elevator stretching out towards the sky in the Atlantic Ocean. Even cruising at hundreds of miles per hour, it took quite some time to reach the outer edges of the city itself.
Hera was able to tear her eyes away from the vista. "I'm, uh… going to try to get us slotted into midtown. We can try to find an area to land the Camilla."
"We weren't followed, were we?" Sally asked, uncertain about everything.
"There's always the possibility." The Major admitted. "Though with a scrubbed ID tag, that makes them tracking us far more difficult. Ever try finding one car out of a million after you have the plates changed?"
"Point taken." Sally said. "Not impossible, but not easy either.
NICOLE appeared with a smile on her face. "How about we multiply those odds a little." She placed her right index finger to her temple and said, "Now some unlucky fool out here has the identity of the Alameda, transmitting its frequency on the public airwaves."
Sally and Hera both arched an eyebrow. "Is that legal?" the Princess asked.
NICOLE shrugged. "Probably not."
"Did you have to do that?" Hera asked.
"It will certainly buy us time. Congratulations Major – the parking lot has multiplied by a million now."
If NICOLE was telling the truth about what she had just done, then the Alameda's identity could have just been assigned to any large cargo vessel on Earth. Chris had to smile imagining an ONI signal operative tearing his hair out in absolute anger.
The deck shifted. Hera was merging out of the main Skyway into a lower city route. The speed of the Camilla dropped significantly to comply with city flying. The routes through New York were programmed through a collection of "Dumb" AIs known as the 'Superintendant Council' that handled the computerized aspects of the city's infrastructure. There were five AIs that served on the Council – Tabitha, Clarice, Fermi, Losanto, and Qualia. Each of them controlled a different part of the city's electronic infrastructure. Fermi was considered the 'Travel Minister' within the Council. He also had a… unique… personality.
Within official meetings regarding the AI Council, Fermi kept his head. Outside of the meetings however, Fermi was a clown. He chose to take the avatar of a person obsessed with an obscure genre of music called 'disco'. In his public service announcements involving new road rulings and safety tips, he always chose to wear a hard-hat over a ridiculous-looking afro. Kids loved him, making art to put up at schools. Adults just thought he was plain weird.
Regardless of what people thought, Fermi was the AI in control of all of the traffic systems, and he did his job well. Hera was following all of the instructions that he had written himself to optimize traffic. In terms of aircraft, no 'physical' roads existed. All of them virtually existed though in computer overlays. Any ship that was equipped with a Heads Up Display, which was essentially all of them, would see the lanes. Right now, Hera let the autopilot glide on these 'sky roads'.
"Do we have any place to land?" Sally asked.
"I'll find us a spot. Same deal as in Tokyo. I'll work out an official reason as to why we're here."
The Camilla coasted through a tunnel in one of the large skyscrapers of the city. NICOLE spoke to Cortana and tried to determine a place for them to land. Both AIs sorted through thousands of potential landing sites, eventually settling the ship down towards the ground.
"Are you suggesting we land in the slums?" NICOLE tried to clarify.
"That's exactly what we should do. We should also leave the doors unlocked, if you catch my drift."
"I understand. We don't need this ship anymore."
It was minutes before the landing somewhere in the lower levels of Manhattan. Everyone on the ship was advised to get all of the equipment that they could carry.
Konstantinos and Reyes were in the main lounge of the Camilla packing up their ammunition and weapons into their rucksacks.
"Figures. Every time we get on a ship, we have to get off." Alex sighed.
"Been a lot of running around since things went south. All because of those God damned Emeralds." Reyes replied.
"How could we have known what was going to happen when we grabbed those things? Huh? We were only doing our jobs, and now someone wants to put us up against the wall! It's bullshit!"
"This is not what I signed up for." Reyes said slowly looking his friend in the eye.
"Examine and Adapt, Reyes." Alex said disassembling his pistol. "We're going to have to forego Termination on this one."
"We're dead men. I don't think we can run forever."
"Listen to yourself!" Konstantinos said grabbing a datapad from one of the drawers in the lounge. He quickly turned it over in his hand and tested it out before shrugging and putting it in his sack. "You're starting to sound like the Captain."
"That was uncalled for."
"I may not like it, but it's true!"
Before they were done, they heard the familiar sounds of metal on metal. John rounded the corner and stopped when he saw them.
"Actually," Konstantinos said, "I think we have a new problem."
The lower levels of Manhattan were less travelled by the aircraft of the upper levels, but it was by no means uninhabited. Plenty of road traffic was on the ground with cars streaking up and down the avenues. Clouds of pedestrians gathered on the sidewalks down below. Hera was impressed with all of it. In her travels, she had seen many cities all over different universes. How many versions of this planet had she seen? She lost count for almost twenty years, but she was always impressed by what she saw.
Cortana was doing the majority of the flying right now. She was slowly guiding the Camilla into the lower airspeed regions of the city. The closer to the ground one was, the slower one needed to travel as ships were merging in with aircars. Hera knew that lower speeds meant that the ship's belly engines needed to be used, which used more fuel. However, it wasn't as if they would be holding onto the Camilla for much longer.
Typically in these regions, there were much cheaper landing pads than in the upper parts of the city. These landing pads were cheaper, true, but they were also much less secure than other areas in the city. Pads in the lower area of the city had much higher reports of theft, vandalism, and outright destruction of ships. If you were willing to chip in a bit more for the better treatment in the upper levels, you were far more likely to actually find your ship waiting for you when you got back.
"All hands get ready to haul your butts off this tub." Hera said hitting the COM. "Coming in for a landing, for the last time."
The Camilla coasted over a double level highway somewhere over 84th Street. The ship diverted away from traffic by taking a gentle right into a ship landing structure. The automated computer system picked out an empty spot for the Camilla to land, right next to a rusted iron Parrot BD6 Hauler. Compared to the Camilla, that rust bucket looked like it should be taking a long walk to the compactor. Hera wasn't even sure how that thing was even capable of flight any more. The Major tapped the thrusters on the bottom of the ship to gently put her down on the metal pad. A few more seconds of waiting, and the ship set down on the ground, bouncing on its tires. Hera killed the engine and laid back in her chair, doing a post-flight check on the ship's systems. Something of a reflex rather than a necessity at this point.
"Excellent flying, Cortana."
"Excellent landing, Major."
Abigail made sure to grab Cortana's data chip from the computer bank and held it gingerly. She would bring it back to John as quick and gingerly as she could. In her current state, Cortana could not talk or interface with anybody. She could only do that with an interface.
Before she could get up, John himself rounded the corner, helmet under his arm, with Reyes and Konstantinos at either side. Compared to them, he was a giant.
"Guys, what's up?"
"There's an obvious problem, Major." Konstantinos said. "What do we do with the Lieutenant?"
She saw the problem right away. There might be millions of people of different types in the city, but a seven foot tall heavily armored green cyborg would stand out, and would stand out hard. The MJOLNIR armor would have to go, unless someone else had a better idea.
"Reyes and Konstantinos are right." John said. "I walk off this ship; we get spotted within ten minutes."
"Then we leave the armor." Hera decided. The Lieutenant shook his head. "That's not an option. If anybody else but a Spartan puts this on, they'll be hurt, or worse."
Hera placed her hands on her head and spun around in the pilot's chair, thinking about what to do. "OK. OK, let me think. Let me think. John, stay on the ship for a few minutes. Let a couple of us go out there and look around. When we give you the go-ahead, you can come out." She tapped the COMs. "Jackson, Roan, Borne! Get out there and look around. Keep in contact, and take some peashooters with you. I don't like this neighborhood."
She heard footsteps from further behind her, meaning that the three were getting ready to leave.
Jackson slipped her Norton .38 into her hip holster. She was partial to Mobian-made hardware to keep her safe. True, Human stuff had some punch, but bias was a bitch. Roan likewise slipped his 1911 into his holster, and Borne equipped his custom Misriah piece on an upper thigh holster.
Borne assumed command. He had the most combat experience of a lot of them. While Jackson and Roan were good at infiltration and data collection, Borne was unparalleled in this group. Being an ODST certainly helped matters. Borne gave them simple orders, 'Stay close to me, fire if fire upon'. He keyed open the doorway that led out of the ship. A brief alarm sounded. It must have been a standard airlock cycling warning. Slowly, the door fell away, turning into a staircase touching down to the floor of the landing bay. Borne descended first, making sure his short-sleeved shirt covered as much of his holster as it could. Legally speaking, weapons weren't uncommon around these parts of the lower city, but people were still generally uncomfortable when people walked around openly carrying firearms.
Roan and Jackson brought up the rear, looking alert, but still with their guns holstered. The bay that they walked into was dark, but had a few high-powered lights that were attached to the ceiling. A few advertisements covered the walls. Among it all, a large capital 'G' was painted on the wall. Roan pointed to it. "Remember where we parked, everyone."
Borne chuckled with a smile. Jackson remained stonefaced, though she huffed in amusement.
The landing area seemed to be empty with the exception of a few robots floating through the air. These were most likely local establishment security bots. They were a surprisingly more expensive to see around here. Standard video cameras would have been more common here. The thought was on everyone's mind, but Cortana's voice piped through their earpieces.
"You don't have to worry about those. This security system is pretty much only for this establishment. I doubt ONI would be highjacking any of these drones."
That put the group at ease. They walked past a large General Motors Aerospace Caterpiller-2 hauler that sported an attractive looking one and a half meter dent on the hull and what they were sure were bullet craters. Borne tapped his earpiece. "Seems pretty docile out here." He reported. "I think we're good to move."
"I hear that." Hera said. "We still have the Lieutenant to worry about."
Borne hummed in frustration. "Hmm… give us a second."
It took another five minutes of walking. "Hey, look over there." Jackson said, pointing out a burning barrel, or rather, the man standing next to it. A homeless man by the looks of it was holding his hands close to the flame. The group felt a bit of pity for the man. It seemed like poverty was still something that people would have to deal with, even in a world where resources could come easily. Then Borne pointed out something.
"He has a pretty large overcoat."
Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Big enough to cover a Spartan?"
"Most of him anyway." Borne said. "Excuse me, sir?"
The homeless man looked up from the fire. "Whatcha want?" His face needed a good shave, and his eyes were sunken. His voice also had a gravelly tone to it, which may have suggested that he was a smoker.
William held up his hands. "I just want to talk, sir."
"Beat it, fuzzy." The man said. "I don't wanna talk to you."
"Sorry. I just wanted to know if you'd be up for a bit of trading."
The homeless man looked at William, sizing him up. He didn't seem like he had seen very many Mobians before, but he clearly didn't care. "What do you have that I would want?" His eyes drifted to the gun on his leg, frowning, but not showing any other emotion. "What are you guys? Cops? Crooks? You don't seem like the rabble around here.
"Neither."
"Alright kid. What do you want? What could I possibly have that interests you?"
"All I want is your overcoat." Borne replied.
The homeless man laughed. He laughed so hard he started coughing. When he was able to calm himself down he chuckled a bit more. "Jeezus Christ! That was a good one. My overcoat! Get the hell out of here, kid. Before I call the cops on you."
"No, I'm serious!" The Mobian said, holding his hands up again as a sign of honesty, though he smiled to convey non-aggressiveness. "All I want is the overcoat."
The homeless man sighed after a second of thinking. He pulled a carton of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up with a flip-open lighter. "Alright, alright! If it'll shut you up! Jeezus Christ! And what are you offering?"
Borne smiled again. "You get our ship."
The cigarette fell from the man's mouth. "A… ship?" He was so stunned that he couldn't even reply for a moment.
"We don't need it anymore."
"It's a trick!" He looked around. "Am I on some sort of goddamned reality TV show?!"
"I've got a bunch of crewmembers back on board, my associates included," Borne motioned to the other two who waved, "who need to move. You want the ship, you can have it."
The homeless man stood slack-jawed, absolutely stunned by this ordeal. He just couldn't believe what was happening. "What… wh… what am I gonna do with a ship?"
Jackson shrugged. "I don't know. There has to be a few things in there you can use to get away from this flaming barrel."
When the man caught his breath, he said, "I want to see it."
It only took a few minutes for them to walk back to the Camilla. When the homeless man saw the ship, his eyes lit up, and once again, a cigarette fell from his mouth. "Holy… moley!"
"Go nuts." Borne said clapping his shoulder. "Just be sure to get the good stuff before some other guys start tearing her apart. Give us five minutes, then she's all yours."
Borne, Jackson, and Roan stepped back inside to the Camilla one more time as the homeless man started laughing loudly and started dancing. "Thank you, Jesus!" He whispered to himself.
"We're good." Borne's voice came over the radio.
"What, seriously?!" Hera said in surprise.
"Yup! Got a buyer too!"
Hera smiled widely. "Alright everyone! We're getting out of here! Grab your gear and let's go."
Everyone gathered less than five minutes later. Nobody took time to feel for the ship that got them out of danger. It meant nothing to them – a means to an end. The sooner they ditched a loose end, the better.
Hera checked on everyone else leaving, though she was searching for the Captain. She found him being held up by Sally. He had his arm draped over her shoulder, blinking quickly, but it seemed his mind was still intact for right now.
"How is he?" she asked.
"You don't need to ask anymore." Sally replied. "He's been whispering in some language, or gibberish, or… something."
"No… no…" Chris whispered. His voice sounded distant. "No… that doesn't make sense…"
"What doesn't?" the Major asked.
"No point in talking to him. He hasn't said anything to us in the last twenty minutes. Nothing useful to us anyway."
"Brain activity is spiking again." NICOLE's form said. "Guess where."
"Visual Cortex." Hera determined. "Guess this Didact guy is paying him another visit."
"Or maybe the Librarian." Sally said.
"Well, I'm sure he knows more than any of us right now."
"No… that doesn't make sense…"
"What doesn't?" his mother asked him. "What's wrong?"
"Something… something felt wrong for a second."
She smiled sweetly and kept on chopping up the carrots on the table. The sunlight glinted off her blazing red hair and cast a long sharp shadow across the kitchen counter. She made quick cuts on the vegetables.
Marie… Marie O'Conner.
"Come here. Maybe you can help me cut this lettuce. I'm hoping this'll help your father lose a little bit of weight."
"Dad's not overweight!"
"Oh, eating healthy is always important. Jack, can you hand me a bigger knife, please?"
A small bobbing robot wheeled around the corner. It chirped, eager to help out. Jack hovered higher into the air and grabbed one of the kitchen knives in its invisible grip. The knife flipped so that it was facing Marie grip first. She grabbed it with a smile. "Thank you, Jack!"
The robot beeped and floated away.
"You know, Jack's part of the family and all…" Chris said, "But I don't think you should be letting him handle knives or anything like that."
"Christopher, relax. I can trust Jack!"
"I know, but…"
"No buts. Come chop this up, please!" She smiled and held out the knife. For some reason, he was apprehensive to grab it. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just felt strange for a second." He let himself smile and took the knife, chopping up the lettuce that his mother laid out for him. He was pretty good at cutting, able to chop up anything in seconds. "You know, I don't know why you didn't let me go to Chicago to work at the restaurant."
"You know how your father feels about that. He wants you to go to finish up your education!"
"So I can be a lawyer like you and him."
"Christopher, there's nothing wrong about being a lawyer."
"But is there anything wrong about working in the restaurant either with my grandfather?"
His mother bit her lip. "No, there's nothing wrong either, but think of how much money you could be making!"
"Yeah, I've thought about it." He said a bit bitterly. His mother looked at him for a second, but sighed and smiled sadly. "Your father and I only want you to know there's always a choice in life. What you want to do is totally up to you." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We may not agree with something that you choose to do, but you will always be our son, and we will love you no matter what."
"What about a Marine?"
That came out of nowhere. Even he wasn't sure what he was saying.
"A Marine?" His mother said looking at him. "Why would you ever want to do that? You know what happens to those people? They fight wars on terrible planets, dying in the soil thousands of lightyears from home. Christopher, those are people's sons and daughters getting killed, and they never go back home! I would be terrified if you did that!"
"But you would still love me?"
"Every day! I would be scared out of my mind for you, but I'll always love you! You're my son! I would do anything for you!" She kissed him on the head. "Chop. Your father will be home soon. I want to see a salad. You up to it?"
"Alright, mom." He said smiling, chopping through the lettuce as if he were a master chef. He allowed himself to smile as he did his work, glancing at his mother from time to time, happy for some reason. As he cut, Chris looked out the window, admiring the late-afternoon sunlight. Up at these heights, the air was a bit thinner than it was down below. This meant that sunlight was much more vibrant that it was down lower in the city. After he chopped up the lettuce, he tried to find dressing. After searching the fridge, he realized they didn't have very much, probably an oversight. He grabbed olive oil and vinegar from underneath his sink and mixed them in the salad, throwing some alien spices on them that smelled good.
"Done?" Marie asked.
"Looks like it. I'm going to throw in some cucumbers."
"We've got some gedde fruit in the fridge."
"What's that?" Chris asked,
"I bought it at the market the other day. Comes from Cirpiro."
Chris opened up the fridge again and looked inside. Right away he noticed the strange lumpy-looking fruit. At first, he wondered if it had gone bad, but looking again, it was the fruit that he was looking for. He thought to what his grandfather said about working with new food – analyze everything.
The gedde fruit had a skin texture that was like very light sandpaper. It likely wasn't good for eating on the outer part. But when Chris cut the fruit open, he saw that the yellow outer color was replaced by a sweet red. The fruit's interior looked like watermelons. Nine seeds were spaced around the interior. They had to be scooped out. The fruit itself tasted like an apple, but with the consistency of a watermelon. It tasted good."
"Verdict?" his mother asked.
"We slice it up in wedges. Those are going to taste nice."
With that, they heard a knock at the door. Marie called, "It's open!"
Jack flew out of the room to greet their new visitor. A second later, a man rounded the corner. Chris smiled. "Hey dad!"
Robert was dressed up in a suit, likely coming home from a court case. In one hand, he carried a briefcase with his initials on it in gold stitching. In his other hand, he carried a datapad, and a hat that he was wearing a moment before. Translucent framed glasses rested over his eyes. Robert was always the traditionalist, even in the way he dressed – retro fashion they called it.
"Hello family!" Robert said with a smile. He kissed his wife. "How was your day?"
"I had to finish the filing of the Petsterin Suit." Marie said. "200 page report."
Robert winced. "Mmm, better than my day. I had to go through yet another day of proceedings."
"The 'Mdolii case?" Marie asked.
"Yes, the 'Mdolii case." Robert repeated.
"That Sangheili neighborhood minister?" Chris asked.
Robert saw his son and smiled. "Hey, kiddo!" He gave him a hug. "How are you?"
"I'm… I'm doing wonderful." Chris responded.
"Keeping up with me in the news logs?"
"Every day."
"Well, then you should know about the issue with the people who have accused Mr. 'Mdolii of embezzlement and blackmailing."
"How's your defense?"
Robert sighed and fixed his glasses. "Well, not the best right now. My team and I have got to get in contact with Mr. 'Mdolii's associates and people who may have had something against him. I think we've got a chance in the long run. But let's leave work at work." The family moved to sit down. Jack had already laid down the silverware.
"Thank you, Jack!" Marie called, to which the robot chirped in appreciation.
Chris took a seat with his parents at the table. The food was all laid out, gentle jazz music played from the holodisc player.
"You both sound like you've got a lot of work to do." Chris noted.
"Yeah, you're right kiddo. We do." Robert said, taking off his jacket and loosening his tie. "But that can wait. Tonight, we all eat together as a family. We spend this time with one another. Live every day with your family like it's your last."
"Here's to that." Marie said raising a glass of red wine.
"Here's to my family." Chris said, smiling.
"And here's to you, son." Robert said.
He opened his eyes.
"What… what happened?" He asked. He saw that he was walking down some sort of alleyway. He looked around him and saw that they were no longer in the ship. The sky above was showing traces of blue. They were now in the city. "Was I out while walking?"
"You were." Sally said. He looked to his side and saw that she was supporting him on his left. She gave him a weak smile. "You said something every now and again." She noticed something. "Are you crying?"
Chris felt his face, and his fingers came away wet. He was indeed weeping. "Yeah. I guess I am." He wiped them away."
"Did you have another vision?" Rouge asked.
"Yes." Chris replied.
"Was it a bad one?" Sally wondered.
"No." he replied. "A good one."
June 10th, 3239, 1045 hours
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
The Camilla
The Captain was silent for a long time, locked up in one of the ship's bedrooms. Everyone had waited to see if he would come out with a plan or anything like that, but it was clear that he desired to be alone. Sally was quiet as well, but that was for a different reason. She was upset. Very upset.
Sonic had tried to speak with her, but she didn't want to talk very much. Just before sunrise, she finally talked to him.
"Have you ever had a time when you felt like everything was falling apart?" She had asked.
"You're asking me this now?" Sonic replied. "Yeah, everything's falling apart. Probably has been for a while."
"I should have told him right from the start." She said, looking at the deck. "I should have told him."
"What?" the hedgehog asked confused.
"That I was pregnant."
"Oh." Sonic said, a bit shocked, but he looked at her, looked at the wall, and then fell silent. "How long?" he managed to say.
"About a month… when this whole mess started."
"Is it his?"
She looked at him seriously. "It's sure not yours." She buried her face in her hands. "I'm screwed. We're screwed." She got up and paced around. "And I'm probably going to lose him, am I?"
Sonic didn't answer. For all of his quips, quotes, and cracking jokes that he could make up on the spot, there was not a single thing he could say to his friend. Nothing that she would like to hear anyway. Sonic was scared. Not for Sally, or even for the Human, but because he was becoming aware of how… small he felt at that moment. A war on the horizon that could only be stopped only if they worked together, a corrupt politician that had popular support, and the Prisoner… he didn't know what to do.
"I don't know." Is all he had said. He hugged Sally closely, choosing to be brave in the face of impossible odds. "But we're not going to lose him without a fight."
He had been in here for hours. He had turned off the lights and closed the shutters on the ship's window. Sunlight came through only in the barest glints. Otherwise, this room was more than dark. Chris paced around the bed in this room. He noted the size of the room, and shook his head in amazement. Civilians always had the best sleeping spaces.
He was reminded of the palace beds for some reason. He remembered that they were the softest things he had ever slept on. Softer even than his own bed back at home. They were meant for kings, not soldiers. He didn't feel comfortable lying down on something that was comfortable.
So, the knife twists deeper.
He groaned and turned, expecting Kapplin's skeleton back to bother him. Instead, he was shocked to see that it was less than that – a narrow cloud of ether with two glowing eyes. An uncomfortable low humming filled his ears. He couldn't tell where it was coming from.
"Buzz off, Greg." Chris said steadying himself.
Telling me to leave? Why did you call me here then?
"Oh believe me, I never wanted to be in the same room as you when you were alive, let alone dead."
A spike of pain shot through him. His head pounded.
Watch it, boot. Stress and anger are real killers.
He ignored the specter. Perhaps if he just focused his thoughts, maybe the ghost would just… fade.
Alright, happy thoughts. Happy thought. Unicorns and rainbows…
The Captain turned. Kapplin was gone. The room returned to its calm silence. He made a slight laugh
"Are you OK?" a soft voice called.
Chris bolted up, shocked by the sudden sound. He turned to the door and saw a pair of twinkling eyes in the near darkness, like two bright stars outshining all the others. His heart slowed and he smiled.
"I'm better now. Can you sit down?"
"You look like you need a friend." Sally made her way around the room. "How's the…" She made the slightest point to her head. "How are…"
"Do you even need to ask anymore?" That was a darker answer than he expected to give, but no less true to him.
She sat down next to him and leaned on his shoulder. "We're almost done. We can fix you."
"Can you?" he asked.
"We will fix you." She said. "We just have to. You're stronger than this. You can beat it."
"As long as you're here, it'll help."
"Don't you know Human? I'm always in here." She pressed her hand on his heart. "And here." She touched his head.
"What? You're right here." He blinked only once, and she was gone. There was nothing but an empty space next to him.
"Sally?" he called. There was nothing but an empty room. His eyes darted around hoping, just hoping that she was playing a trick on him. He paced around the room. "Sally, please come out. Don't do this to me!"
His heart started racing again. She wasn't real! She wasn't there! Another… thing spawned from his mind. This is what it came to. He saw just how crazy he had become. He couldn't take it any longer and fell down on the bed. He heard a laugh somewhere deep within his mind. Some sick and twisted specter, maybe Greg, maybe Benedict, maybe even the Didact's image chuckled at his lowness. Chris did the only thing that seemed right to him. He smiled widely and laughed along with them.
"Can I ask you something?" Sonic asked Sally while they walked through the Camilla's hallways.
"Of course." She responded.
"If…" he began to say. He tapped the wall next to him searching for the question. "If the Indomitable never came to Mobius… and if you never met the Captain… would things have been different between us?"
She looked at him. "You're asking me this now?"
"Everything is… so messed up lately that I need to set the record straight, you know?"
Sally sighed. "Of course things would have been different. A lot of things would be different. We wouldn't be here now. We wouldn't have to worry about monsters or Forerunners or anything. We could have been together, of course… but that's not the way things happened."
"I wanted it to be different so much."
"If it's any consolation, there's certainly a universe where we did fall in love… and are spending our lives together."
"That doesn't make me feel better at all."
"Look at the Primes. There things may have worked out, but they have no idea what's at the heart of their galaxy. If things went differently, we would have no idea what's out there waiting for us."
"I…" Sonic struggled to find the words that he was looking for. He was quiet as the two walked towards the bridge, but then he sighed and placed his hands on his hips. "I… guess you're right. There's so much waiting for us soon, but it won't change the way I feel."
"You're not happy with Amy?"
Sonic leaned on the wall. "I love her so much. But I still love you."
"And believe me, Sonic, I've never stopped loving you either, but you've got to understand something… he needs me more than he'll ever realize. I… I think I'm all he has to hold onto. I think I you know very much what it means to lose the one you love." She gave him a disappointed look. "Amy told me what you tried to do when you thought I was dead, you know."
Sonic's face showed guilt. It was non-characteristic, and jarring for her to see. "That was years ago."
"Doesn't change that you tried to do it. Did you think that putting a gun to your head would solve anything?"
"I thought I had no reason to live. You were everything to me."
"And Amy saved you."
"She did." Sonic said looking at the floor; hands in his pockets. "She changed everything."
Sally kept her eyes looking straight at him though. "Would you wish that on him? I'm everything he has. If I were to leave, or if I were taken… can you imagine what would happen to him? What happened to you will be nothing compared what will happen to him."
Sonic's mouth got dry. He knew that what Chris was going through was bad… but he couldn't guess what it getting even worse would look like. Sonic knew that he would never want to trade spaces with the Human under no circumstances. He closed his eyes in realization. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I know. Go get comfortable. I'm going to check on our friend."
"This is mad shit, Sarge." Ryan said as he sat on what he assumed was once a couch. He looked around the cavernous space that was the Freedom Fighter's old headquarters. "Can you imagine that this was where the resistance movement was centered?"
Johnson took a drag on his cigar and paced patiently, glancing carefully towards the ladder. "Percy, I've seen my fair share of resistance movements, and I've seen places more badass than this."
Bindo huffed in amusement. Like Johnson, he too was pacing, but his mind was sharp, constantly meditating on what was going to happen next. Even though he was far from his home and no longer felt the Force, he could still be mindful of his surroundings and his situation. That being said, he was more than willing to stick it to the others.
"Boys, I've been cruising around smuggling supplies and fighting bush wars since you were both probably in diapers. I think I've seen more planets and struggles than the whole lot of you. I've seen palaces that were devoted to nothing but fighting bad governments. The Mobians are truly fortunate people for this to be the worst that they've ever seen."
"You should have seen Earth when it was under siege in…" Johnson stopped for a second and rolled his cigar, eyes distant. "700 years ago." He said the words with effort, but steadied himself, becoming the staunch badass again. "The entire planet was on fire, people dying left and right with our numbers whittled down."
Jolee had an answer to this. "I've seen this so many times you wouldn't even believe it. How many wars are fought every day? How many of the stars out there have people you've never seen before? You even want to guess how many wars are happening right at this second?"
"A lot I bet. Was Humanity on its last legs for you?" Johnson asked with intent.
Jolee paused. After a few seconds, he said, "No. There was never any danger of Humans being wiped out. I can't imagine it. Comes with being a galaxy-spanning empire."
Ryan spoke up. "Well, what happens when the war between Mobius and Earth finally happens? What happens then? Closing that gate won't do anything!" He got up and paced around the Freedom Fighters' HQ. "The Mobians won't be able to win. Look, I'm sorry guys, but that's a fact."
None of the men said anything. Ryan was right, and had made a strong point – something that they didn't like to hear. Humans had anti-matter warheads, starships, legions of troopers, and Chaos Emeralds to boot. Mobians didn't have much in that respect. That made stopping this war a lot more important to them.
"So, what do we do then?" Ryan asked.
"We make our way back to the castle." Johnson said, chomping on his cigar. "Then we tell everyone we can. Marshall's attack dogs won't be able to stop us if we say enough."
"How do you know there ain't any Spartans up there waiting for us? For all we know, they watched us spy on their ship." Percy said.
"I don't. We can either stay here, and the world will be doomed, but we'll be happy in this little bunker with the couch and everything, or we can be men and try."
"Hell I'm in." Jolee said. "Been a while since this old man had a good run. Might even be fun."
"I think the definition of 'fun' might be different across universes." Ryan said as he cracked his neck. "This is not going to be fun."
"Not with that attitude it isn't, sonny!" Jolee growled. "Now make like a wookiee and climb!"
Ryan, Johnson and Bindo started climbing up the ladder, leaving the safety of the underground HQ. It was a quick and silent climb. Ryan tilted the protective cover of the ladder's top up to do a quick search around. The area seemed to be clear. However, this was not the time to take chances. Ryan exited the ladder and scanned visually. Once again, he didn't see anything, but there was a tingling sensation at the base of his skull that he just couldn't shake. Something felt off, but his eyes were telling him otherwise – that there was nothing to worry about.
What he was worrying about was that his eyes could be wrong.
"OK, everyone up." He announced. "We should be able to find our way back to the castle."
Johnson and Jolee followed. Once out of the secret ladder, and with the fake tree-stump cover down over it, an unnatural silence befell the group. No birds sung, no wind blew. They felt very much alone. "Move." Johnson said. "I don't like this.
The sky was free of clouds, leaving the ocean to extend in all direction for miles. The sun was up now and painting the sky with a light blue sheen while a glittering reflection was splayed across the waves. The Camilla had to be getting close to the Western coast of North America by this point. Major Abigail Hera kept on watching the space ahead of her, barely making out the engine exhaust of the next ship a half mile in front of her. The autopilot made sure that they wouldn't get into any flight trouble on the flight path.
Flying over the ocean was like flying in space. It got exciting for the first few hours, but then you realized that once you saw the initial blackness with stars, there really wasn't anything particularly exciting besides a planet, moon, nebulae that were pretty much empty space once you got inside them, or an asteroid, which if you were able to make out clearly, it was a bad sign anyway.
Hera had seen her fair share of space in the last fifteen years. She had most definitely seen enough ocean for the last eight or so hours. There was an interesting artificial island every now and again and most interesting of all were circular floating cities that voyaged across the oceans. She was amazed by the technology to make them do so. Her home Mobius didn't have that technology. She wondered why it was so hard for her people to just extend the hand of peace and work with the Humans aboard the Prometheus. Maybe, just maybe, her people could have had floating cities like the ones in the oceans here. Maybe they could have had these wonderful ships. Maybe everybody she loved like her mother and father would still be alive.
She sighed, there was really no point wallowing in the past. The only way was to move forward. To dwell was to be depressed, and she had gone through that phase already. Something caught her eye in the distance and her ears perked. Hera squinted to see what was out in the distance. It was hazy at first, but eventually it was revealed to be a giant tower. A building was emerging out of the air. She smiled when she saw this. There was only one good reason why she would start to see buildings. The Major hit the intercom and said, "All hands report to the bridge! Civilization ho!"
Everyone gathered around an available window getting a look outside. It was indeed a city that was coming up. Buildings upon buildings were soon visible in the distance. Many different types and shapes rose into the sky – a few of them poking through the clouds. On the water was a single solitary figure that seemed so out of place against the metropolis: a statue of a woman stood on a small speck of land, comparatively tiny against the city, but a shrine stretched out around her. It was clear she was important, but with that lady, they knew where they were beyond a shadow of a doubt.
"Welcome to New York City everyone – center of the universe."
Hera looked around the room for the one person who would enjoy seeing their home city again. Hera's smile straightened out. "Where's the Captain?"
Was it all a fake? Was it a hallucination? What's real? What's imagined?
Chris lay face up on the bed, eyes pried wide open staring at the ceiling. His brain was strained, like an inept violinist was dragging a bow over the instrument, screeching and scratching and producing this horrible noise.
Did you hear what they said? You're Home.
"Home?"
Start spreading the news…
"Stop this. Now!"
I'm leaving today…!
"Don't do this to me now! Shut up! Shut up!" He was fighting not to scream.
Who was he talking to? Who was listening?
It's been so long, Christopher. But finally, you're back home with me.
He knew that voice, but the mere sound of it brought about a feeling of dread that didn't even feel humanly possible.
"Michelle?"
He listed himself up. Standing in front of the window was a woman – no, a shadow of a woman. A shade of a person he used to know. Her long brown hair fell to shoulder length, and the distant twinkle of her eyes called back to him a memory of so long ago – a loved one's touch. One that he would never wish to forget. The dead should stay dead, but this was too far. This hurt too much.
"Just leave me alone!"
But why? She asked. I thought you would have been glad to see me! This is probably the last time we'll be together before you have to leave! Please, Christopher, don't let our last night together be a lonely one.
"Michelle, this is important. They need me. The transport leaves tomorrow morning and I need some sleep." The outside of his apartment window was dim. The sun was starting to sink below the skyline and the artificial starshine of thousands of buildings started to take over the natural.
"Please understand! You're going to be gone! Do you get it? I won't see you, I won't hear you!"
"I can call. I can talk to you from there."
"No! Fuck that! Talk to me now! Be with me now! If you're going… I want to be with you just one more night!"
He couldn't say anything to dissuade her. She was right. He didn't want to be alone, and if there was going to be one more moment, he would spend all night with her and count the stars from the roof if need be. He would spend every last moment that he could with her.
Chris walked over to Michelle. She held out her hand. "Please, sweetheart." She said. "Take my hand."
"Only if you take mine." He smiled, as did she. She pulled him in and hugged him tightly. She started to cry into his shoulder. "I'm going to miss you!"
"I'll miss you more."
"I don't want to live my life waiting! I don't want to wait for the day they come and tell me…! That they…!" She sniffed.
"That won't happen." He said.
"Please don't leave me alone! Please come back!"
He kissed her hair. "I will come back. Even if I have to walk."
She laughed once. "If we can't be together… I don't see the point of living. Christopher, I lo-"
His hearing went fuzzy. A ringing noise filled the world. He was unsure of what happened. He looked at Michelle. She blinked a few times, and she tried to say something. She looked dizzy.
"Michelle?"
She grabbed onto his shoulder. Something was wrong. He looked at her hands. They were smeared. Something red.
Blood.
"Michelle?!"
She stumbled, and he caught her. She tried to hold his face, but she seemed to miss. She was saying something, but he couldn't hear it. Tears streamed down her face. "Don't…"
"This is wrong! This IS WRONG!" He cried to the heavens.
"Don't… leave…" She whispered, barely louder than a whisper. Her head sunk back, and her hands fell from his face, leaving bloody trails on his skin. She lay on the carpet, blood staining the fibers and slowly moving onto the hardwood.
He screamed in anger. He knocked picture frames, bottles, and books off of the countertops and smashed the mirror.
"Well, she said it." Another voice he knew.
Oh please, Christ no. Christ in Heaven, no!
He turned around so slowly that it felt like the air was molasses. He dreaded to see who was waiting for him, but he felt like he already knew the answer. Standing in an open doorway holding a smoking pistol was Sally. Right away though he could tell this was incredibly wrong. She stood still bleeding from the wound in her chest, which seemed to be perpetually flowing, her eyes were nothing but empty pits that masqueraded as beautiful blue eyes; he could see that there was nothing within them. What terrified him was the smile that she had. It was not a smile – not a smile that a Mobian… no, that any person should be able to make. It seemed stretched past the point that seemed physically possible. She looked more like the Cheshire Cat than Sally Acorn.
"She said she would rather die than leave you!" Sally said. "You know that it had to happen, right? You were always meant to be with me."
"She didn't have to die!"
The Cheshire smile faded slightly, but still kept its surreal appearance. "Sometimes, my sweet, they all have to die. Sacrifices have to be made to make it all work out in the end." She walked closer to him, dripping her blood onto the carpet, and eventually it meshed with Michelle's blood. She sat on the bed and threw the gun on the pillows. "Come sit down, my Human. Let's watch the sunset."
Chris didn't say anything, fixated on Michelle, who was sprawled with eyes glaring up at the ceiling. The demon Sally noticed his gaze. "You know she really killed herself, right?"
"What are you saying? I saw…" then he saw that Michelle was gripping a pistol tightly in her hand with a shell laying close to her body. The same pistol he could have sworn that Sally was holding a second ago. But the area of the bed that he could have sworn the gun was on was empty.
"She… killed herself."
Demon Sally nodded with a wide smile. Too many teeth. Way too many teeth. "Mmhmm!" She hummed with a very misplaced sense of joy. "The day that she decided to stick with that damned drunk was the day she killed herself. She could have saved herself, but she had to be a fool."
"A fool." Chris said under his breath.
"An idiot." Sally whispered.
"An idiot." Chris repeated.
"Is that why you killed her?"
"What?" was all Chris could make out before glaring down into his hBeeands to see a bloody smoking gun in his hand. He was too scared to drop the gun, but stare at Michelle's corpse. "I… I killed her?"
"Maybe not with the gun, but just as well with your mind."
"I don't understand."
"Of course not, silly!" Sally smiled toothily. He couldn't ever think of a time when Sally had called him 'silly'. "That's because you're insane! She was dead to you the day you walked away from her door! She was a burden on your mind and to your heart. So 'bang'," Sally said pointing out with her finger-pistol. The sound of a gunshot filled the room which made Chris flinch. A fist hit him, and he stumbled as if shot. He reached for his heart, but felt no blood or bullet wound. "You killed her."
She splayed herself on the bed. "And now all of your guilt and your sadness is building up. Don't you wish that there was a way to end it?"
The gun was back in his hand.
"One pull, and all of your troubles will disappear. Then you and I will be together forever!"
Chris looked at the pistol in his hand and fiddled with the safety and checked the chamber. There was indeed one bullet in there. Chris absentmindedly wondered if the gun was actually real, of if this was yet another trick.
"You know…" he started. "I may be crazy." But he threw the gun on the floor. "But I'm not stupid. And you're not real. You and Greg go back to that dark hole where you came from."
Sally's eyes then began to weep. They were not tears, but blood. She got to her feet and walked slowly to Chris, not making a sound. She kissed him. It was the most disgusting thing he had tasted.
"You know…" she said when she was done, "If we're not real, how come you keep talking to us?"
Chris blinked, and she was gone. The room was dark and empty again with the sunlight poking through the window. Chris checked his face, but there was no blood. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was all fake. He wondered why he was relieved. He knew it was a hallucination all along. Right?
He gazed at the floor and gave a laugh. The gun was still there. Of everything, the only real thing was the gun.
It was a cruel joke, and he laughed.
There was a knock on the door. He kicked the gun under the bed, thinking that the last thing he wanted was attention like this. He scratched his chin, admiring the new stubble.
"Who's there?" he asked.
"It's me." A voice said.
"Who's 'me'?" the Captain asked, cautiously looking back where he kicked the gun. The voice sounded familiar, but he needed to place the face.
"Please let me in, Human. I just want to see you."
The voice sounded kind. He wanted to please the voice. Chris got to the door and pulled it open. Sally was standing in the doorway with a smile. Her eyes though were full of worry. Chris smiled. The voice had been hers. Though a pang of sadness went through him. He should have known that.
"Sal."
"How are you?"
"Feels like the time I had some bad shellfish." He was glad to see he hadn't forgotten his sense of humor.
"We're home, you know."
"Home? Mobius?"
"No. Your home – New York."
"Right. Right. I knew that."
"Did you? Your mind isn't falling apart?" She demanded to know this.
"Of course." Chris lied through his teeth. "I looked out the window on the way here."
Sally decided to believe this and asked him if he wanted to come up to the front of the ship to see the city he was born in. Chris nodded and got up to leave, stepping on ginger feet out of this room. Every step felt like a mile to him. Shadows appeared on the walls that disappeared when he stopped to look. Sally couldn't find anything else to say about this. She was concerned for the troubled young man, but it was clear that this problem was far beyond her. A small humming noise appeared in his hearing. It was like a bomb went off and his hearing went out, but it was always there, not going away. All the while, the sharp piercing pain in his head was almost debilitating. Only his training and sheer willpower kept it down.
The walk to the Camilla's bridge only lasted a few minutes. Allen and Borne met them halfway and asked if the Captain was OK. Chris waved them off silently, saying that he was fine. Just after this, he stumbled, and Sally caught him. She groaned as she supported a man with nearly twice the mass of her. Together, they all made their way towards the bridge. Eventually, Chris got some of his strength back and insisted that he was walking on his own. The group of people entered the bridge. The Captain was greeted with the image of the vista of his home city.
The image didn't even register for a moment in his mind. The shock that he forgot about the city he was born in was completely lost to him. The only thing he saw was the towers, hundreds of them stretching into the sky. They had many different shapes, colors, and sizes. From this high up, only the tallest of the stratoscrapers could reach them.
The only thing he could saw was, "Wow."
"Yeah, it's something, isn't it?" Hera said, completely enthralled by the city.
The city shimmered in the sunlight as if it was a desert illusion. The core of the city was clustered on Manhattan Island and stretched out upstate. Hundreds of years ago, the city had been divided into 'boroughs' that were part of the city yet retained their own identities. Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island; these were now just large neighborhoods that were part of this sprawling urban center. The city was one of the most iconic on Earth, and it was clear by the looks on everyone's face that its charm didn't fail to deliver. Off in the distance, one could make out an orbital elevator stretching out towards the sky in the Atlantic Ocean. Even cruising at hundreds of miles per hour, it took quite some time to reach the outer edges of the city itself.
Hera was able to tear her eyes away from the vista. "I'm, uh… going to try to get us slotted into midtown. We can try to find an area to land the Camilla."
"We weren't followed, were we?" Sally asked, uncertain about everything.
"There's always the possibility." The Major admitted. "Though with a scrubbed ID tag, that makes them tracking us far more difficult. Ever try finding one car out of a million after you have the plates changed?"
"Point taken." Sally said. "Not impossible, but not easy either.
NICOLE appeared with a smile on her face. "How about we multiply those odds a little." She placed her right index finger to her temple and said, "Now some unlucky fool out here has the identity of the Alameda, transmitting its frequency on the public airwaves."
Sally and Hera both arched an eyebrow. "Is that legal?" the Princess asked.
NICOLE shrugged. "Probably not."
"Did you have to do that?" Hera asked.
"It will certainly buy us time. Congratulations Major – the parking lot has multiplied by a million now."
If NICOLE was telling the truth about what she had just done, then the Alameda's identity could have just been assigned to any large cargo vessel on Earth. Chris had to smile imagining an ONI signal operative tearing his hair out in absolute anger.
The deck shifted. Hera was merging out of the main Skyway into a lower city route. The speed of the Camilla dropped significantly to comply with city flying. The routes through New York were programmed through a collection of "Dumb" AIs known as the 'Superintendant Council' that handled the computerized aspects of the city's infrastructure. There were five AIs that served on the Council – Tabitha, Clarice, Fermi, Losanto, and Qualia. Each of them controlled a different part of the city's electronic infrastructure. Fermi was considered the 'Travel Minister' within the Council. He also had a… unique… personality.
Within official meetings regarding the AI Council, Fermi kept his head. Outside of the meetings however, Fermi was a clown. He chose to take the avatar of a person obsessed with an obscure genre of music called 'disco'. In his public service announcements involving new road rulings and safety tips, he always chose to wear a hard-hat over a ridiculous-looking afro. Kids loved him, making art to put up at schools. Adults just thought he was plain weird.
Regardless of what people thought, Fermi was the AI in control of all of the traffic systems, and he did his job well. Hera was following all of the instructions that he had written himself to optimize traffic. In terms of aircraft, no 'physical' roads existed. All of them virtually existed though in computer overlays. Any ship that was equipped with a Heads Up Display, which was essentially all of them, would see the lanes. Right now, Hera let the autopilot glide on these 'sky roads'.
"Do we have any place to land?" Sally asked.
"I'll find us a spot. Same deal as in Tokyo. I'll work out an official reason as to why we're here."
The Camilla coasted through a tunnel in one of the large skyscrapers of the city. NICOLE spoke to Cortana and tried to determine a place for them to land. Both AIs sorted through thousands of potential landing sites, eventually settling the ship down towards the ground.
"Are you suggesting we land in the slums?" NICOLE tried to clarify.
"That's exactly what we should do. We should also leave the doors unlocked, if you catch my drift."
"I understand. We don't need this ship anymore."
It was minutes before the landing somewhere in the lower levels of Manhattan. Everyone on the ship was advised to get all of the equipment that they could carry.
Konstantinos and Reyes were in the main lounge of the Camilla packing up their ammunition and weapons into their rucksacks.
"Figures. Every time we get on a ship, we have to get off." Alex sighed.
"Been a lot of running around since things went south. All because of those God damned Emeralds." Reyes replied.
"How could we have known what was going to happen when we grabbed those things? Huh? We were only doing our jobs, and now someone wants to put us up against the wall! It's bullshit!"
"This is not what I signed up for." Reyes said slowly looking his friend in the eye.
"Examine and Adapt, Reyes." Alex said disassembling his pistol. "We're going to have to forego Termination on this one."
"We're dead men. I don't think we can run forever."
"Listen to yourself!" Konstantinos said grabbing a datapad from one of the drawers in the lounge. He quickly turned it over in his hand and tested it out before shrugging and putting it in his sack. "You're starting to sound like the Captain."
"That was uncalled for."
"I may not like it, but it's true!"
Before they were done, they heard the familiar sounds of metal on metal. John rounded the corner and stopped when he saw them.
"Actually," Konstantinos said, "I think we have a new problem."
The lower levels of Manhattan were less travelled by the aircraft of the upper levels, but it was by no means uninhabited. Plenty of road traffic was on the ground with cars streaking up and down the avenues. Clouds of pedestrians gathered on the sidewalks down below. Hera was impressed with all of it. In her travels, she had seen many cities all over different universes. How many versions of this planet had she seen? She lost count for almost twenty years, but she was always impressed by what she saw.
Cortana was doing the majority of the flying right now. She was slowly guiding the Camilla into the lower airspeed regions of the city. The closer to the ground one was, the slower one needed to travel as ships were merging in with aircars. Hera knew that lower speeds meant that the ship's belly engines needed to be used, which used more fuel. However, it wasn't as if they would be holding onto the Camilla for much longer.
Typically in these regions, there were much cheaper landing pads than in the upper parts of the city. These landing pads were cheaper, true, but they were also much less secure than other areas in the city. Pads in the lower area of the city had much higher reports of theft, vandalism, and outright destruction of ships. If you were willing to chip in a bit more for the better treatment in the upper levels, you were far more likely to actually find your ship waiting for you when you got back.
"All hands get ready to haul your butts off this tub." Hera said hitting the COM. "Coming in for a landing, for the last time."
The Camilla coasted over a double level highway somewhere over 84th Street. The ship diverted away from traffic by taking a gentle right into a ship landing structure. The automated computer system picked out an empty spot for the Camilla to land, right next to a rusted iron Parrot BD6 Hauler. Compared to the Camilla, that rust bucket looked like it should be taking a long walk to the compactor. Hera wasn't even sure how that thing was even capable of flight any more. The Major tapped the thrusters on the bottom of the ship to gently put her down on the metal pad. A few more seconds of waiting, and the ship set down on the ground, bouncing on its tires. Hera killed the engine and laid back in her chair, doing a post-flight check on the ship's systems. Something of a reflex rather than a necessity at this point.
"Excellent flying, Cortana."
"Excellent landing, Major."
Abigail made sure to grab Cortana's data chip from the computer bank and held it gingerly. She would bring it back to John as quick and gingerly as she could. In her current state, Cortana could not talk or interface with anybody. She could only do that with an interface.
Before she could get up, John himself rounded the corner, helmet under his arm, with Reyes and Konstantinos at either side. Compared to them, he was a giant.
"Guys, what's up?"
"There's an obvious problem, Major." Konstantinos said. "What do we do with the Lieutenant?"
She saw the problem right away. There might be millions of people of different types in the city, but a seven foot tall heavily armored green cyborg would stand out, and would stand out hard. The MJOLNIR armor would have to go, unless someone else had a better idea.
"Reyes and Konstantinos are right." John said. "I walk off this ship; we get spotted within ten minutes."
"Then we leave the armor." Hera decided. The Lieutenant shook his head. "That's not an option. If anybody else but a Spartan puts this on, they'll be hurt, or worse."
Hera placed her hands on her head and spun around in the pilot's chair, thinking about what to do. "OK. OK, let me think. Let me think. John, stay on the ship for a few minutes. Let a couple of us go out there and look around. When we give you the go-ahead, you can come out." She tapped the COMs. "Jackson, Roan, Borne! Get out there and look around. Keep in contact, and take some peashooters with you. I don't like this neighborhood."
She heard footsteps from further behind her, meaning that the three were getting ready to leave.
Jackson slipped her Norton .38 into her hip holster. She was partial to Mobian-made hardware to keep her safe. True, Human stuff had some punch, but bias was a bitch. Roan likewise slipped his 1911 into his holster, and Borne equipped his custom Misriah piece on an upper thigh holster.
Borne assumed command. He had the most combat experience of a lot of them. While Jackson and Roan were good at infiltration and data collection, Borne was unparalleled in this group. Being an ODST certainly helped matters. Borne gave them simple orders, 'Stay close to me, fire if fire upon'. He keyed open the doorway that led out of the ship. A brief alarm sounded. It must have been a standard airlock cycling warning. Slowly, the door fell away, turning into a staircase touching down to the floor of the landing bay. Borne descended first, making sure his short-sleeved shirt covered as much of his holster as it could. Legally speaking, weapons weren't uncommon around these parts of the lower city, but people were still generally uncomfortable when people walked around openly carrying firearms.
Roan and Jackson brought up the rear, looking alert, but still with their guns holstered. The bay that they walked into was dark, but had a few high-powered lights that were attached to the ceiling. A few advertisements covered the walls. Among it all, a large capital 'G' was painted on the wall. Roan pointed to it. "Remember where we parked, everyone."
Borne chuckled with a smile. Jackson remained stonefaced, though she huffed in amusement.
The landing area seemed to be empty with the exception of a few robots floating through the air. These were most likely local establishment security bots. They were a surprisingly more expensive to see around here. Standard video cameras would have been more common here. The thought was on everyone's mind, but Cortana's voice piped through their earpieces.
"You don't have to worry about those. This security system is pretty much only for this establishment. I doubt ONI would be highjacking any of these drones."
That put the group at ease. They walked past a large General Motors Aerospace Caterpiller-2 hauler that sported an attractive looking one and a half meter dent on the hull and what they were sure were bullet craters. Borne tapped his earpiece. "Seems pretty docile out here." He reported. "I think we're good to move."
"I hear that." Hera said. "We still have the Lieutenant to worry about."
Borne hummed in frustration. "Hmm… give us a second."
It took another five minutes of walking. "Hey, look over there." Jackson said, pointing out a burning barrel, or rather, the man standing next to it. A homeless man by the looks of it was holding his hands close to the flame. The group felt a bit of pity for the man. It seemed like poverty was still something that people would have to deal with, even in a world where resources could come easily. Then Borne pointed out something.
"He has a pretty large overcoat."
Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Big enough to cover a Spartan?"
"Most of him anyway." Borne said. "Excuse me, sir?"
The homeless man looked up from the fire. "Whatcha want?" His face needed a good shave, and his eyes were sunken. His voice also had a gravelly tone to it, which may have suggested that he was a smoker.
William held up his hands. "I just want to talk, sir."
"Beat it, fuzzy." The man said. "I don't wanna talk to you."
"Sorry. I just wanted to know if you'd be up for a bit of trading."
The homeless man looked at William, sizing him up. He didn't seem like he had seen very many Mobians before, but he clearly didn't care. "What do you have that I would want?" His eyes drifted to the gun on his leg, frowning, but not showing any other emotion. "What are you guys? Cops? Crooks? You don't seem like the rabble around here.
"Neither."
"Alright kid. What do you want? What could I possibly have that interests you?"
"All I want is your overcoat." Borne replied.
The homeless man laughed. He laughed so hard he started coughing. When he was able to calm himself down he chuckled a bit more. "Jeezus Christ! That was a good one. My overcoat! Get the hell out of here, kid. Before I call the cops on you."
"No, I'm serious!" The Mobian said, holding his hands up again as a sign of honesty, though he smiled to convey non-aggressiveness. "All I want is the overcoat."
The homeless man sighed after a second of thinking. He pulled a carton of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up with a flip-open lighter. "Alright, alright! If it'll shut you up! Jeezus Christ! And what are you offering?"
Borne smiled again. "You get our ship."
The cigarette fell from the man's mouth. "A… ship?" He was so stunned that he couldn't even reply for a moment.
"We don't need it anymore."
"It's a trick!" He looked around. "Am I on some sort of goddamned reality TV show?!"
"I've got a bunch of crewmembers back on board, my associates included," Borne motioned to the other two who waved, "who need to move. You want the ship, you can have it."
The homeless man stood slack-jawed, absolutely stunned by this ordeal. He just couldn't believe what was happening. "What… wh… what am I gonna do with a ship?"
Jackson shrugged. "I don't know. There has to be a few things in there you can use to get away from this flaming barrel."
When the man caught his breath, he said, "I want to see it."
It only took a few minutes for them to walk back to the Camilla. When the homeless man saw the ship, his eyes lit up, and once again, a cigarette fell from his mouth. "Holy… moley!"
"Go nuts." Borne said clapping his shoulder. "Just be sure to get the good stuff before some other guys start tearing her apart. Give us five minutes, then she's all yours."
Borne, Jackson, and Roan stepped back inside to the Camilla one more time as the homeless man started laughing loudly and started dancing. "Thank you, Jesus!" He whispered to himself.
"We're good." Borne's voice came over the radio.
"What, seriously?!" Hera said in surprise.
"Yup! Got a buyer too!"
Hera smiled widely. "Alright everyone! We're getting out of here! Grab your gear and let's go."
Everyone gathered less than five minutes later. Nobody took time to feel for the ship that got them out of danger. It meant nothing to them – a means to an end. The sooner they ditched a loose end, the better.
Hera checked on everyone else leaving, though she was searching for the Captain. She found him being held up by Sally. He had his arm draped over her shoulder, blinking quickly, but it seemed his mind was still intact for right now.
"How is he?" she asked.
"You don't need to ask anymore." Sally replied. "He's been whispering in some language, or gibberish, or… something."
"No… no…" Chris whispered. His voice sounded distant. "No… that doesn't make sense…"
"What doesn't?" the Major asked.
"No point in talking to him. He hasn't said anything to us in the last twenty minutes. Nothing useful to us anyway."
"Brain activity is spiking again." NICOLE's form said. "Guess where."
"Visual Cortex." Hera determined. "Guess this Didact guy is paying him another visit."
"Or maybe the Librarian." Sally said.
"Well, I'm sure he knows more than any of us right now."
"No… that doesn't make sense…"
"What doesn't?" his mother asked him. "What's wrong?"
"Something… something felt wrong for a second."
She smiled sweetly and kept on chopping up the carrots on the table. The sunlight glinted off her blazing red hair and cast a long sharp shadow across the kitchen counter. She made quick cuts on the vegetables.
Marie… Marie O'Conner.
"Come here. Maybe you can help me cut this lettuce. I'm hoping this'll help your father lose a little bit of weight."
"Dad's not overweight!"
"Oh, eating healthy is always important. Jack, can you hand me a bigger knife, please?"
A small bobbing robot wheeled around the corner. It chirped, eager to help out. Jack hovered higher into the air and grabbed one of the kitchen knives in its invisible grip. The knife flipped so that it was facing Marie grip first. She grabbed it with a smile. "Thank you, Jack!"
The robot beeped and floated away.
"You know, Jack's part of the family and all…" Chris said, "But I don't think you should be letting him handle knives or anything like that."
"Christopher, relax. I can trust Jack!"
"I know, but…"
"No buts. Come chop this up, please!" She smiled and held out the knife. For some reason, he was apprehensive to grab it. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just felt strange for a second." He let himself smile and took the knife, chopping up the lettuce that his mother laid out for him. He was pretty good at cutting, able to chop up anything in seconds. "You know, I don't know why you didn't let me go to Chicago to work at the restaurant."
"You know how your father feels about that. He wants you to go to finish up your education!"
"So I can be a lawyer like you and him."
"Christopher, there's nothing wrong about being a lawyer."
"But is there anything wrong about working in the restaurant either with my grandfather?"
His mother bit her lip. "No, there's nothing wrong either, but think of how much money you could be making!"
"Yeah, I've thought about it." He said a bit bitterly. His mother looked at him for a second, but sighed and smiled sadly. "Your father and I only want you to know there's always a choice in life. What you want to do is totally up to you." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We may not agree with something that you choose to do, but you will always be our son, and we will love you no matter what."
"What about a Marine?"
That came out of nowhere. Even he wasn't sure what he was saying.
"A Marine?" His mother said looking at him. "Why would you ever want to do that? You know what happens to those people? They fight wars on terrible planets, dying in the soil thousands of lightyears from home. Christopher, those are people's sons and daughters getting killed, and they never go back home! I would be terrified if you did that!"
"But you would still love me?"
"Every day! I would be scared out of my mind for you, but I'll always love you! You're my son! I would do anything for you!" She kissed him on the head. "Chop. Your father will be home soon. I want to see a salad. You up to it?"
"Alright, mom." He said smiling, chopping through the lettuce as if he were a master chef. He allowed himself to smile as he did his work, glancing at his mother from time to time, happy for some reason. As he cut, Chris looked out the window, admiring the late-afternoon sunlight. Up at these heights, the air was a bit thinner than it was down below. This meant that sunlight was much more vibrant that it was down lower in the city. After he chopped up the lettuce, he tried to find dressing. After searching the fridge, he realized they didn't have very much, probably an oversight. He grabbed olive oil and vinegar from underneath his sink and mixed them in the salad, throwing some alien spices on them that smelled good.
"Done?" Marie asked.
"Looks like it. I'm going to throw in some cucumbers."
"We've got some gedde fruit in the fridge."
"What's that?" Chris asked,
"I bought it at the market the other day. Comes from Cirpiro."
Chris opened up the fridge again and looked inside. Right away he noticed the strange lumpy-looking fruit. At first, he wondered if it had gone bad, but looking again, it was the fruit that he was looking for. He thought to what his grandfather said about working with new food – analyze everything.
The gedde fruit had a skin texture that was like very light sandpaper. It likely wasn't good for eating on the outer part. But when Chris cut the fruit open, he saw that the yellow outer color was replaced by a sweet red. The fruit's interior looked like watermelons. Nine seeds were spaced around the interior. They had to be scooped out. The fruit itself tasted like an apple, but with the consistency of a watermelon. It tasted good."
"Verdict?" his mother asked.
"We slice it up in wedges. Those are going to taste nice."
With that, they heard a knock at the door. Marie called, "It's open!"
Jack flew out of the room to greet their new visitor. A second later, a man rounded the corner. Chris smiled. "Hey dad!"
Robert was dressed up in a suit, likely coming home from a court case. In one hand, he carried a briefcase with his initials on it in gold stitching. In his other hand, he carried a datapad, and a hat that he was wearing a moment before. Translucent framed glasses rested over his eyes. Robert was always the traditionalist, even in the way he dressed – retro fashion they called it.
"Hello family!" Robert said with a smile. He kissed his wife. "How was your day?"
"I had to finish the filing of the Petsterin Suit." Marie said. "200 page report."
Robert winced. "Mmm, better than my day. I had to go through yet another day of proceedings."
"The 'Mdolii case?" Marie asked.
"Yes, the 'Mdolii case." Robert repeated.
"That Sangheili neighborhood minister?" Chris asked.
Robert saw his son and smiled. "Hey, kiddo!" He gave him a hug. "How are you?"
"I'm… I'm doing wonderful." Chris responded.
"Keeping up with me in the news logs?"
"Every day."
"Well, then you should know about the issue with the people who have accused Mr. 'Mdolii of embezzlement and blackmailing."
"How's your defense?"
Robert sighed and fixed his glasses. "Well, not the best right now. My team and I have got to get in contact with Mr. 'Mdolii's associates and people who may have had something against him. I think we've got a chance in the long run. But let's leave work at work." The family moved to sit down. Jack had already laid down the silverware.
"Thank you, Jack!" Marie called, to which the robot chirped in appreciation.
Chris took a seat with his parents at the table. The food was all laid out, gentle jazz music played from the holodisc player.
"You both sound like you've got a lot of work to do." Chris noted.
"Yeah, you're right kiddo. We do." Robert said, taking off his jacket and loosening his tie. "But that can wait. Tonight, we all eat together as a family. We spend this time with one another. Live every day with your family like it's your last."
"Here's to that." Marie said raising a glass of red wine.
"Here's to my family." Chris said, smiling.
"And here's to you, son." Robert said.
He opened his eyes.
"What… what happened?" He asked. He saw that he was walking down some sort of alleyway. He looked around him and saw that they were no longer in the ship. The sky above was showing traces of blue. They were now in the city. "Was I out while walking?"
"You were." Sally said. He looked to his side and saw that she was supporting him on his left. She gave him a weak smile. "You said something every now and again." She noticed something. "Are you crying?"
Chris felt his face, and his fingers came away wet. He was indeed weeping. "Yeah. I guess I am." He wiped them away."
"Did you have another vision?" Rouge asked.
"Yes." Chris replied.
"Was it a bad one?" Sally wondered.
"No." he replied. "A good one."
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