HMS Valediction

Part II -- Chapter 22

I'm not a prisoner. There aren't shackles on my wrists or ankles, yet I sense my own free will seeping from my pores as I follow this stranger from the city's center.

"Where are we going?"

"Where do you think?" His gaze remains forward, eyes — I mean eye — on his target.

The enormous ship, one twice as big as ARC10, hovers in the sky. The shimmering underbelly still sparkles like a brilliant ocean under a blaring sun.

It's not the first time I was fooled by beauty. I remember the dazzling lights of the Invader beams just before they melted my people, the majesty of a rising sun obscuring the Invader ships from sight, the proud patriotism of a woman giving her body to her country. Beauty is an effective mask. Nothing more.

I shake my head to clear the rising anger. Don't trust this ship. Don't trust this person. Remember your single objective. Find your son. "I have to return to my ship."

"Why? To pack? We have everything you need already."

"No."

John trails behind us. The muffled pattering of his metal legs against the sand calms me. "You have to stay with them." I nod in the other direction to where I know the people of Earth are embarking ARC10.

He doesn't acknowledge that he understands me.

"It's part of the bargain. I go there, you stay on the ship." My eyes widen as I remember my discovery. "Or the bigger you. Fuck. We still need to talk about that. How come no one ever told me we were living inside a Xani this whole time?"

"That's foul," Captain Moon says, sneering behind his curtain of black hair. "If you couldn't tell you were in the belly of a sentient mechanism, you're more stupid than I anticipated." His dark chuckle rattles off his chest.

I ignore him and return my attention to John. "I need you to keep them safe. Knuckles especially."

His jello-y torso bellows steam as tiny lights along his legs blink erratically.

"I knew you'd like that."

"If you're done coddling the inverted blender, we need to move along."

"Fuck, you're impatient. I need to give final orders."

"We don't have time."

"You have ten minutes."

He raises a single black eyebrow over his gold eye socket at me. "Earth time. It's been a while." With the toe of his boot, he taps a dead golden soldier's helmeted head. "We can spare no more than six sondits."

"I'm going to assume that's ten minutes."

"It's six sondits."

I attempt to muffle my snarl by kicking sand as we start down the road toward my ship.

Moyra rushes over with one of her HEL pistols in her hand. She aims it at Captain Moon's head.

"Don't shoot. He's with me." With my hunched shoulders and deadened tone, I wonder if she believes me. I wouldn't believe me. I must look as defeated as I feel.

She eyes him up and down. "We're ready for launch, Commander. Should I take the prisoner to the brig?"

Moon bristles. I can sense him about to fly off his handle, but that would make this situation infinitely worse. I need Moyra to believe this is a good idea — that I'm in capable hands. That he's here to help. He needs to be a good guy, even if I'm still not sure what he is.

I hold his bicep and squeeze before he speaks. "No, Mo. You'll be taking command in my stead."

Whatever Moyra expected me to say, it must not have been that. Her mouth forms a perfect 'o' of disbelief. "What do you mean 'in my stead'?"

"Captain Moon knows where my son is. I have to go."

She raises her pistol again, aiming for his forehead. "And how do you know you can trust him?"

I'm not sure why, but I feel him leaning toward the gun. As if he's attempting to align himself with her aim.

"I don't." I step between them to reach out and push her arm down until she's pointing at the ground. "But what other choice do I have? I'll accompany him on his ship the H... HN... Valent..."

"The HMS Valediction," Captain Moon fills in for me.

"Right. I won't be far. I need ARC10 to trail close behind."

Moyra sneers.

Behind her, Knuckles appears. He's the same thin, bald curmudgeon covered in blood. John taps toward him.

Good. The people will have Moyra and Coodi. Knuckles will have John. All my bases are covered.

"Let's go, Captain." I march forward, passing Moon, brushing his shoulder as I go. I feel the anger-fueled heat rising from his body. As commander of my own ship, I know this little performance insults him. "Please. Play along. For them," I whisper as I pass.

When he faces me, his passive expression masks the hell-fire grit in his voice. "You're going to pay for that." His threat is inches from my ear. "I can make this journey a living hell for you."

I smirk. If only he knew what I've been through already.

Knuckles rushes up to me, passing Captain Moon. "Take care," he says, enveloping me in an enormous embrace, squeezing the breath from my body. "I believe in that fool-hardy assery of yours. If anyone can save him, you and your super-human stubbornness can. You will."

Tears gather behind my eyes. This isn't goodbye. But why does it feel like one?

"Take care of my VIPERs, Knuckles."

He backs away.

Over his shoulder, I see Moyra glaring at Moon's back. I've never seen fear displayed so nakedly in her eyes before. Not in all the times we rolled the Topside together. "Follow close, Sister. We'll be back on course soon once I grab my kid. We leave no one behind."

"Yes, ma'am," Moyra salutes me, a tear running down her cheek.

Coodi runs up behind her. "Take me with you," she shouts, stopping in front of me and righting herself. She stands ramrod straight, saluting me with grim determination written in the frown across her dirty lips. "I volunteer, Commander."

Of course Coodi would be my undoing. I choke back a sob as I frown at her. "Warrant Officer, I need you here. Keep my spot in the Nest warm."

Moyra approaches Coodi from behind. She wraps her arms around my trembling second-in-command and pulls her back, whispering into her ear. Moyra's tears stream down her cheeks, wetting the dirt on Coodi's neck.

I can't look anymore. With everyone falling apart, I need to leave before they realize my confidence is a weak facade. "Let's go, Captain."

Our walk through the boney graveyard that used to be littered with fresh, plump corpses is brief. Three times, I check behind me to see if John is following. I swear I hear him, his gears whirring, his hydraulics making their soft puffing. But he's nowhere. ARC10 disappears beyond the border of the city and I hope, I pray, that this will not be the last time I see it or them.

We face the city again where I can see the HMS Valediction docked beyond the buildings. I smile until Moon clasps my wrist in a vice grip.

"Juno's back." He snarls at the sky.

"Who?"

Moon releases me and sprints away, his coattails flapping behind him. He glances over his shoulder and shouts, "Run."