Samael's Fire (12 page)

“I’m glad it makes you feel bad.” There was no way to explain it. “It was an accident.”

“I’m glad it was an accident.” There. The beginning of a smile.

“Yeah.” Now she was babbling. “It was.”

He faced her squarely and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m going to kiss you now. It won’t be an accident.”

His voice was warm and his eyes were kind, and he was real. So what if it was the end of the old world and there was only a minuscule chance of a new world to come. As long as she could stand in this galley with Jake’s arms around her and his lips on hers, none of it mattered.

She wanted nothing. She had everything.

Jake was some long-missing part of her that had been restored. This wasn’t a bad time to fall in love. It was the best time. Love was more necessary than ever. To make life bearable. To have hope without feeling ridiculous.

She could live in Corcovado. She could live anywhere as long as Jake was in her life.

“I need to check on Rani.” Jake let her go. “But once I’ve got my
Junque
in order, I want to show you the captain’s quarters.”

His stupid joke sent a tingle of anticipation through her. How strange and unexpected to feel so happy.

Jake almost ran into Mike standing at the door. It had been ajar, but Mike seemed to have just arrived. He showed them a drive in the palm of his hand. “I copied the subnet protocols from the runner to install in
the
Junque’s
com system
.”

“Great minds think alike.” There was a hint of triumph in Jake’s comment. Men could be so territorial, but it was kind of nice when you
wanted
them to feel that way. “Let’s know what’s out there before we make ourselves too obvious.”

“I’ll install it now and search after we eat.” Mike stepped through into the cockpit. “The old lady suggested we all sit down together for a meal, and now Durga is insisting on it. That one is a natural leader.” He didn’t hide his admiration. “An irresistible force.”

That sounded good; Char couldn’t remember when she last ate. Dessert in the captain’s quarters sounded even better.

—o0o—

“Corcovado is desecrated ground.” Rani popped a few more blackberries into her mouth. “When I left, I made a vow never to return.” She pointed to her chest. “A vow to myself.”

They were all sitting around the table in the dining room. Char had forgotten the
Junque
was a commercial shuttle that offered meal service. They’d prepared the food—fruit salad, vegetable salad, and protein packs—in the modest but well-outfitted kitchen.

Mike sat at one end of the table. He’d just reintroduced the idea of going to Corcovado.

At the other end of the table the matriarch said, “Then we must consecrate the ground. We will rededicate it to a higher purpose and drive out the demons that haunt you.”

Rani’s eyes widened. Now that Char was used to those irises, she thought they were beautiful and intriguing. She’d noticed they changed color slightly when Rani felt strong emotions. The phenomenon was barely noticeable—except when Rani got mad and they seemed to light on fire. Char had only seen that once, and it was pretty scary.

“You think I’m afraid?” Rani said. “No. I am appalled. The ‘aldos destroy whatever joy could be in the world. Your girls won’t change them. But they will change the girls.”

Durga scoffed. “What are two men when the world is full of monsters?”

The other girls all brightened and looked at each other like they were bursting with a secret. Chita said, “Durga killed a monster once.”

From the satisfied expression on Durga’s face, Char believed it.

“A giant bird came when we were on a picnic. Durga stuck it with a knife.”

“Girls, don’t tell stories.” The matriarch sighed as if she’d stopped the telling of this tale a hundred times. “There is no such thing as giant birds.”

“She cut out its heart,” Chita added.

Durga didn’t correct the matriarch, but she didn’t stop the girls talking either.

“It was exgusting.” The youngest girl, Maribel, grinned and wrinkled her nose. The others laughed and said
eww
and made noises in keeping with their gleeful approval of the “exgusting” deed.

“All I meant—“ Durga stood up. “—was that monsters are everywhere. If they try to kill you, you kill them first.”

Rani’s irises flickered and she seemed to consider. “You are a warrior worthy of your name, Durga. If I am to be grounded, if I must leave
the
Space Junque
, then I make a new commitment. I will be your protector always.”

Char hadn’t known Rani long, but she appreciated how huge that was. Jake kept his eyes on his empty plate. Soon
the
Junque
wouldn’t be able to fly. It wasn’t just a matter of no fuel. There wouldn’t be anywhere to go.

Would it break his heart to never fly again? Char wanted to know. She could spend a lifetime learning everything about him.

“Corcovado won’t be bad at all,” Mike told the girls. “The land all around is so clean you can eat fish caught in the bay.”
He had been unusually cheerful throughout the meal, and with Rani’s decision he was almost giddy. “
I’ve heard of a waterfall in the hills that runs warm, pure water all year round. Before he died, the Emperor invested a fortune getting the place ready for…”

Char suppressed a smile. How could Mike possibly end that sentence? Getting the place ready to house breeders for the world’s elite families? Exgusting!

Durga had no problem with the subject. “Asherah says we’re going to make babies in our tummies like dogs and cats. People used to do it that way.”

Char felt a twinge of jealousy. Asherah sure talked to Durga a lot.

“There won’t be very many of us,” Durga continued, “so Asherah says any girl who bleeds will live a hundred and fifty years.”

Bleeds.
Char had forgotten about that. Like most females, she’d had menstrual bleeding during puberty. That’s when her eggs had been harvested for future use. Like most girls, the bleeding had stopped before a year had gone by. She didn’t miss it.

But living a hundred and fifty years would be good. She looked at Jake. Maybe not. “Did Asherah say men would live longer too?”

Durga shook her head. “Only bleeders.” She opened another protein pack, oblivious to the effect of that little piece of information. “All their children will live longer than baggers. Not a hundred and fifty though.”

“I don’t know if I’d want to live so long after everyone I loved…” Char didn’t finish her sentence either. The room went quiet. Chita buried her face in her hands.

“Don’t cry,” Durga said, as if commanding sorrow away could make it so. It had just sunk in that everyone at the table was an orphan now. Except Jake, if his mother was still alive.

Rani’s face was in her hands too.
She looked up. “I don’t feel so well.” Her normal gorgeous brown complexion had gone sickly pale as a—as a ghost.

“You should take some antibiotics,” Char said, “just as a precaution.”

“They’re stored in the cargo hold,” Jake said. With another sickening moan from Rani, he was up and at the door. “I’ll be right back.”

Rani refused a drink of water. “Tell Jake I’m going to my room,” she said. After two steps she fell to the floor.

“Rani!” Durga cried. She ran out of the dining room and came back carrying cushions from the passenger cabin. Char and Mike put one under Rani’s head and the other under her knees.

“I’m going to check your wound,” Char said. She loosened Rani’s flight pants and eased the top down a little. Rani groaned and went paler.

Mike knelt close to Char and examined Rani’s skin. “This bruise is not good. That shibdung used the disruptor.” He outlined a faint discoloration on Rani’s hip and said in Char’s ear, “Let’s hope it didn’t clip her intestine.”

“Don’t die,” Durga said.

Rani managed a weak smile. “That is not my plan, little warrior. Char is right. I only need to let the antibiotics do their job.”

“I’ll start the subnet search,” Mike said. “Rani probably does just need antibiotics, but we should get her to an infirmary on the surface.” At the door, he gave them all a thumbs-up.

During dinner, Mike had been genuinely upbeat about something—probably Rani’s capitulation over Corcovado—but Char was positive he wasn’t happy about her and Jake being together.

She couldn’t expect him to be thrilled about it, but she wanted to be sure he had no hard feelings. She decided to keep him company while he worked on the subnet.

Entering the galley, she heard him talking to someone. That was quick work.

“I suppose it’s sentimental,” he said. “They want to reward me for saving the children.”

A pause, then he said, “Of course
I
think it’s ridiculous. But if it means restoring order after all this chaos, I suppose it’s my duty.”

Another pause. He was using an earpiece. But who was he talking to? And taking credit for saving the girls was pretty audacious.

“Well, yes. I suppose I
was
an exceptional governor. I’ll be an exceptional emperor too. I don’t mind saying it.”

Did she hear that right?

“All the CEOs are on board. Even Garrick.”

Emperor.
That’s why he was so bubbly at dinner. She thought back over the last few days. She’d never heard him talking to anyone, but now she realized he’d intended it that way.

When Geraldo made contact, Mike had immediately cut him off. Maybe it hadn’t been about security at all. Maybe Mike had wanted to make sure Geraldo didn’t say anything about their plans.

“I’ll drop the
Michael
, though. Emperor Augustine sounds more impressive.” He laughed at his own joke.

She had suspected he was lying to her just before the
Space Junque
arrived at the annex. He’d closed the orbit runner’s canopy. How did she miss that? Why would he do that unless he was hiding something?

She had to get back to the others. She had to tell Jake and Rani.

“They want you as much as they want me, Sky. Your
Tesla
units will save civilization.”

What the hell? Char wheeled around. Her throat went dry and she could hardly breathe as it dawned on her just who was on the other side of that conversation.

“You’ll be my empress,” Mike said. “The world will adore you.”

“You bastard!” Char stormed into the cockpit. Mike was sitting in Tyler’s chair. When he saw her, he pulled the drive out of the com and stuck it in his pocket. “Sky’s alive?”

He stood up and eased into the galley. Char flew at him and pounded on his chest. “How could you? You said
Tesla
was cut off. You let me think she was dead!”

“It’s not like that,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do.” He grabbed her wrists. “Look at me.”

“Let me talk to her.”
God. Sky, Sky
. “Put it back in.”

“Maybe I made a mistake.” He ignored her plea. “I thought if I told you and things went wrong, it would be like losing her twice.”

“Liar!” She struggled against his grasp, but he was too strong.

“Yes, I’m a liar, Char. I have to be. The truth is Sky and the others can never come out of the vault. She doesn’t know it. I let her think plans are being made to bring them up. It’s a kindness, Char.”

“Oh, my god.” He was a monster, and he didn’t even know it. “Why did you bring me up here?”

“You’re the closest thing to Sky I’ll ever have. Beautiful, intelligent. Naïve, but that can work to one’s advantage. Chemical-free. You have many good qualities, Char. The rabble will love you. And a man in my position needs an official wife.”

A monster, and insane. “I don’t love you.”

He laughed as if she’d uttered a non sequitur. “I really wish you hadn’t heard any of this.”

“What, that you’re going to be ruler of the world? And you were so broken-hearted over your Emperor. For all I know, you worked with the DOGs to engineer the whole thing.”

Mighty Asherah
, she had stumbled onto the truth. She saw it on his face.

“He was useless. And more corrupt than all the CEOs combined. Even your precious Jake couldn’t stand him.”

In the next instant she watched him consider what to do. He looked at her strangely and reached for her throat. He would kill her. She’d become collateral damage, like Tyler and everyone else at the airport. Like the tens of millions who died in the first nuclear strikes and the billions killed after that.

Like Sky. He had sent her into the vault knowing she was being buried alive.