The Haunted Galaxy: Chapter 15

[White's Journal. Seventh of Epiphany, Anno Domini 3172.] Just when I thought things could get no worse, the unthinkable happened. We had been no closer to discovering either the Nadirite's plan or Maxwell, though at least Princess Valencia had somehow been rescued by her own people. But Blue, seemingly fed up with our slow progress, had challenged Gold and in reaction, he had quit his position and left the Corps.

There was a long sigh and then Blue let out a short, almost inaudible sigh. “Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.” She turned around and faced the remaining members of the Corps, all of whom were staring at her. She leaned down and scooped up Gold's jacket, throwing it loosely over her own so that it hung from her shoulders.

"That clashes. And I'm not even a fashion expert." Black spoke with her ordinary nonchalance, but the next moment she took a step forward and spoke in a different voice. "What in the Cosmos was that?"

Blue was still cool. "My one shot at getting us through this mission successfully. I didn't join the Corps to lose."

"In which case, I'm not sure you're the right one to be lecturing Gold about his pride."

Red, as usual, was a few steps behind everyone else. While Black spoke, he had seemed insensible but now he leaped forward, also confronting Blue. "How could you--what was--why did you do that?"

"I believe I've already explained myself."

But Red wasn't paying much attention. "We're in the middle of the crisis here! Maxwell was able to kidnap the princess right under our noses--and then some small-time flunky manages to rescue her--right under our noses! We still don't know what Erybus is up to or where Maxwell is! And you're wasting your time fighting with Gold?" He didn't wait for her to answer. He turned around and glared at Silver. "And you sided with her? How dare you?"

With everything else going on, White couldn't help a feeling of shock. She would never have dreamed that Red would dare confront Silver like that. Even though Silver was gentle enough, he was still twice Red's size.

Silver turned on him with a somewhat blank stare. "I--" He began uncertainly.

"Silver understands that leadership is key to success at this juncture."

"No." Silver bowed his head. "I did not mean--I thought you and Gold were going to fight. And the one thing I have learned since I left Bellas it is that friends should never fight with friends. I thought I could prevent it..."

Blue frowned, for one moment showing her emotion. "Well, so long as it worked that's all that matters."

"But with Gold gone, we can't activate the Matrix," Black pointed out.

"We haven't been able to activate the Matrix anyway. So there's no loss there.”

“But Gold is our leader,” pointed out Silver, who seemed unable to process what was going on.

“Not anymore." Blue was emotionless, but White noticed she tugged on one strand of hair. White wondered if she hadn't expected to meet resistance from the other members of the Corps.

"Look, this is dumb." Red was still not satisfied. "Maybe after all this over, you and Gold can fight this out. But not now. Not in the middle of this thing."

Blue smiled just slightly with the corner of her mouth. "Well, then: call him back." She looked at White. "Do you think he'd come back?"

White sighed. "No. He won't." After the way Gold had stomped out, White knew he wouldn't just turn around and come back. Gold had too strong of a sense of pride to do that. Even if there was nothing else involved. There wasn't anything else, was there?

"Even so," said Black, putting one hand on her hip, "White is the deputy leader. In Gold's absence, she should take command."

"This is not time to be standing on issues of protocol," said White quickly. "This is Blue's game now. We should let her play it her way."

"Which translates to: you got us into this mess, now get us out...?" suggested Black.

That wasn't exactly White's thought, but she didn't press the point. She was sure that pushing a conflict with Blue would accomplish nothing at this point. If Blue were merely ambitious and angry with Gold's leadership, it would be better to let her try. Pushing the issue would only make things worse. And if there were something else involved, the only way to find out what it was would be by letting it play out.

Blue adjusted her jacket and turned to face Red. “So, for better or for worse, you'll have to deal with me as leader, won't you?”

Red took a deep breath. “Sure. So you've got a plan for defeating the Nadirites? That's what we promised Valencia.”

“What you promised Valencia,” Black corrected.

“If we can accomplish that, I don't care who leads the team.”

“But can you?” Black challenged.

Blue sat down in the control chair. “Naturally. We're going to repair the Guidance Beacon. Obviously, someone doesn't want us to be able to communicate with the rest of the universe for some reason. The most logical course of action is to cross their purpose by reactivating it. That may force their hand and, in any event, allow us to contact Ursa Prime and let them know what's going on here--and, if necessary, to call in reinforcements.”

Green pushed his hat back. “But we lack the equipment necessary to repair the Guidance Beacon. And with Hath'ellah destroyed, I question the likelihood of finding the necessary equipment without leaving the Altayra System.”

Blue had already turned around and put the ship into motion. “We have easy access to a sizable amount of advanced communication equipment,” she answered without turning around.

“I don't understand.”

“It's very simple. We'll dismantle the communication system from The Crystallair and jury-rig it into the Guidance Beacon. It's unconventional, but I'm certain we can make it work.”

“I-I suppose so, but that seems a very--rash--move.”

“We can communicate with each other via our personal communicators and as things stand we can't communicate with anyone else, anyway. Sacrificing the equipment will be inconsequential if we can get the Guidance Beacon reactivated.”

“Why didn't you suggest this earlier?” asked Black coming up to stand behind Blue, one hand on her hip.

“Nobody asked.” Blue paused and then added, “Besides, it is a desperate step and we were right to explore every other possibility first. But at this point, it is the option left.”

White had watched Blue as she manipulated the controls of the ship and she knew she had already started steering them towards Altayra Vorphintus. It would be a short trip, and White knew this was her one chance to get alone, so she slipped out of the cabin and into the medical chamber.

She just needed a minute or two to think. What had just happened? Was there more to it than met the eye? Ever since the battle on the Wanderer, Blue had been acting more and more on edge, more and more dissatisfied with Gold's leadership. White didn't entirely blame her. Gold was a good leader but White now had to admit that his pride and anger had been causing him to make bad decisions. And this present plan of Blue's seemed reasonable if a little risky. She wondered how much of it sprang from the conversation they had had earlier that day. Then Blue had questioned whether the people of Altayra might be hiding something from them. The strange rescue of Princess Valencia by Kaisai--and the Sages' refusal to comment on it--confirmed that. Did she suspect that the Altayrans might have had a hand in the deactivation of the Guidance Beacon?

What was it Blue had said then?--that things might not be what they seemed to be. And that was what made White feel so unnerved. The back of her head was tingling as she tried to sort out her thoughts. She couldn't forget the primary thing. Ever since the mission began--ever since they first battled Erybus on the Nadirite mothership--there had been something strange. The Nadirites had repeatedly seemed to know things about the Corps that they shouldn't have known, had done things they shouldn't have been able to do. It was almost as if they were being given inside information. And yet, several times that Nadirites had the Corps at a disadvantage and yet hadn't pressed the situation. It was almost as if the entire scenario were being manipulated, perhaps from the inside. And then there was that matter of the Nth-Dimensional Holocube. Someone--and it had to be a member of the Corps--had to have taken it from the Wanderer and stowed it in +(1)d and then later removed it. And yet no one had ever mentioned it.

It all added up to one thing. Someone in the Corps was a traitor. Someone was giving the Nadirites information. Perhaps to protect that person, the Nadirites were deliberately not pushing as hard as they could. White couldn't quite see why that person would have stolen the NDHC, but there could be a variety of reasons for that. It could even be that the traitor was responsible for the continued failure of the Matrix. The fact that the Corps' ultimate weapon still refused to work had bothered her--Gold had suggested that one of them might be deliberately sabotaging it. It certainly could be.

In the face of everything that had happened, and now forcing herself to think coolly and rationally, White had to admit the reality. Someone in the Corps was betraying them to the Nadirites. She hated to admit it. She hated even to consider it. But at this point, she couldn't deny it.

And with that knowledge came to other thoughts. One was that if Blue were the traitor, this play for leadership put her in a prime position to lead the Corps into some kind of trap.

The other was that if Gold were the traitor, his angry exit put him in a prime position to leave the Corps and rejoin the Nadirites, perhaps to execute some kind of final strike.

Either one could be true--or it might be that she was completely off track. That was the worst of it. She still had no way to know what was really go on and without that knowledge, there was nothing she could do.

Nothing except wait and pray--and keep her eyes open.

*

When Gold left The Crystallair, he flew in a straight line away from the ship. One might have thought, given his mood when he left, that his flight would have been more erratic. If anyone had been observing him, it would have soon been clear that he was not merely venting his frustration and going off in a huff. He was flying in a very definite pattern towards a predetermined goal.

His flight took him away from Altayra Rex where The Crystallair hovered and out through the empty space of the Altayra system. The armor of the Corps had not been designed for space travel, but the Altayra system was small enough that the passage was possible, especially as the various planet were close together at this point--for it was to another planet that he headed, towards the black bulk of Altayra Conaurrah.

Still flying quickly and unhesitatingly, he circled the planet. It was night now and almost light was coming up from the subterranean veins of the planet. While all of Altayra Conaurrah was rugged, there was one section where the terrain rose to a series of tall peaks. These were obviously what Kaisai had called The Great Mountains.

Without pause, the figure in the golden armor shot downward into the shadows at the base of the mountains, coming finally to a stop beside a large projection of rock.

Dropping down beside it, one could see something which would have been impossible to see from any other angle--the small spaceship hidden underneath the ledge. It was an unusual ship--clearly a patch job--but large enough for two people.

Gold dropped down to the ground and for the first time paused for just a moment. Phasing off his armor, he moved forward slowly, his left fist clenched and his face hard.

And then as he moved, there was a crack and a roar and a flash of light. Gold's reflexes, as good as they were, weren't quick enough--before he could move or even think, a portion of the ledge of rock above detached and crashed over him in an avalanche of rubble.

“Oh man,” said Maxwell, dropping to the ground beside the rubble. “Oh-man-oh-man-oh-man-oh-man.” For a long moment, he just stood there, staring at the rocks. “Right,” he said after a moment. “I can this. Um, yeah. Totally.” He smacked his left fist into the palm of his right. “Something something mnemic symbiosis intimidation power, form of something, aagh!” He shook his head and then drove his prosthetic arm into one of the rocks. There was enough metallic ore in the rock for the metal of his exoskeleton to merge with it. For a moment he knelt at the side of the pile, his face concentrated with effort. An instant later, he slowly rose to his feet, the entire pile of rock hanging from the end of his arm. If it had all been metal, it would have been easy for him, but it was tricky work merging with the small amount of metallic ore and using that to move the whole pile. But it had worked. With an effort, he threw the rocks aside.

There on the ground lay Gold.

“O man, this is bad.” Maxwell moved to his side. “This is really, really, you know, bad.”

Gold did look rather banged up, but after a moment or two of inspection, it was clear that he was still alive.

Maxwell frowned for a moment and then very carefully lifted Gold from the ground and moved with him towards his ship.

*

When the Corps returned the Guidance Beacon, they found the station quiet and deserted. Before entering, they did some reconnaissance and Blue did a little testing with his armor, but there was no sign that Erybus or his people had returned to the area after the previous battle. The last thing they wanted was to be ambushed the way they had been in their previous visit to the Guidance Beacon.

It was late in the day and the Corps had been busy all day, so Blue had the group working in shifts. Once they had dismantled the ship's comm system and brought it into the central chamber of the station, she, White, and Green took turns working at converting it and integrating it into the station, while Black, Red, and Silver patrolled at intervals around the station. It wasn't the best set-up, but it did allow them to get a little bit of rest.

It was in the early hours of the morning. White had phased to +(1)d to get a little sense of safety and privacy for a brief nap. As she returned to =(0)d, she saw Green and Blue standing together in front of the massive control panel of the Guidance Beacon.

“How is it going?” she asked as soon as she recovered from phasing.

Green shook his head and adjusted his hat uneasily. “I said before I believed this to be a risky venture.”

“We're making progress,” said Blue, but White noted that again she tugged at one strand of her hair.

Green pushed his hat back and turned to look at Blue--and White who come up to stand beside them. “I'm sorry, but I do not think there is any point in progressing with this plan. The Guidance Beacon is a very sophisticated system and I do not think we can return its functionality using this piecemeal approach. It would work in most contexts since even a poorly functioning system is usually better than nothing, but in this case, the Guidance Beacon is either active or not--there is no middle ground.”

“So things aren't going so well?” suggested Black, entering the room.

“This ought to work,” said Blue in an emotionless voice.

Green was fidgeting with his hat again. “In any ordinary case, maybe. But it is quite clear now that the Nadirites deliberately sabotaged this station, causing the Guidance Beacon to become inactive. They removed several key components which we cannot replicate even using the tech we took from The Crystallair.”

“So, now what?” challenged Black. “This was your idea.”

“Yeah,” agreed Red, who had also entered the room, followed by Silver. “Was this all a waste of time?”

Blue's eyes were cold and set. “I'm not giving up without making absolutely sure we can't make this work. But if it doesn't, we'll just have to try something else.”

“Like what exactly?” Black pressed.

Blue turned around to face the group. “General Kenton and his group should be keeping the Nadirite blockade occupied. In which case, it will be easy enough for us to slip through the Void, using my armor's power, and get to Centauri City. There we can pick up the materials we need as well as updating the Prefect on what's going on here.”

“So you're just going to run away?” Red's voice rose.

“Tactical retreat.”

Green nodded. “I agree that that is probably our best course of action. I would have suggested that at the beginning, but I do not think Gold would have been willing to act on it.”

“Gold had too much pride and honor, but now the Corps is free of that.”

“Exactly, and--” Blue stopped and looked around blankly. “What? Who said that?”

“I did.” The lights on the control panel of the station lit up and Erybus' face appeared on one of the monitor's. “I hope you'll pardon my eavesdropping on your little private fight--”

“Erybus!” exclaimed Red, taking two steps forward. Red was never bothered by stating the obvious.

“Incorporating your ship's comm system into this station,” the Nadirite captain continued placidly-- “that was both a stroke of genius and a stroke of charity since it made it very simple for me to listen in on your conversation.”

“So, what, did you plant another bomb here? Do you have no originality?” asked Black, unshaken as always.

“Another bomb? Do you know how much it costs to create a KP-Bomb? Far more than my budget for this mission allows.” Erybus bowed slightly. “Such are the cruel realities of our finite existence. That other 'bomb' was just a full-scale model. It was far too early in the game to risk any of your deaths, anyway. But that was then and this is now--in so far as time and sequence have any bearing on reality at all.”

Blue had lost her composure for just one instant when Erybus appeared but now she was collected again. “What do you want, Erybus?”

“I want you, Corps. I want the fractals of your shattered ideals, the decadent scent of dying dreams, the haunted echo of your retreating honor. And if that is too metaphysical for your more prosaic minds,” he continued, placing his hands together in the sleeves of his robe, “I will put it simply. I want your unconditional surrender.”

“And why should we surrender?” asked Blue.

Erybus bowed and smiled. “Pardon me for not saying so before--because we have the entire station surrounded. I was able to use a few decoy ships to lure General Kenton and his MBUs deep into the void and then brought the rest of my forces here to Altayra Vorphintus. I have a good many of my troops, including some of the powersuits (with which you have already attempted battle) on the ground around this station, while my ships, with their more powerful weapons, in the air above the station. Any way you try to leave, you will be walking right into my army. I think it will be best if you simply surrender.”

Blue stared at the monitor. “Do you really think we'll surrender?”

“Gold would not have. He was an honorable fool, trying to use the ideals of a schoolboy as counters in the man's game of war. But I am persuaded better things of you. You realize that a battle can only end in your death, while if you surrender, you'll remain alive. And with life there is hope, or at least the reasonable facsimile thereof.”

Blue hesitated for a moment. And in that moment, Red strode forward and confronted the image of Erybus. “Yeah, right. We'll never surrender. We're the only ones who can protect the Altayra system from you. Princess Valencia intrusted the safety of this system to us and we're not going to not going to stop fighting for that--no matter what.”

“And if we kill you? Who will protect the system then?”

Red drew himself up. “This is the Haunted Galaxy, isn't it? We'll come back as ghosts and fight you.” Black face-palmed but Red kept talking. “We promised Princess Valencia that we would protect this system, and if it kills us to keep that promise, that's what we'll do.”

“The princess,” repeated Erybus in a low, musical voice. “It always comes back to her, doesn't it? She is a princess and you are a prince in your own world. It's almost like a fairy tale. But not all fairy tales have happy endings, you know.” He turned away from the screen. “This entire universe is an enchanted forest. Try to grasp anything in your hands, and it will fade away. Love, honor, duty--they are phantom chains we create in a vain attempt to keep the world from slipping through our fingers. The fires that burn the brightest turn most quickly to ash and the ancient cold returns unchanged. It is better to bless the darkness than light one candle. Light is a cruel thing to a ghost--a reckless defiance which only causes us to chafe against our own nature. You love the princess, do you not? Love! Love is the greatest sin, for it is an attempt to define and hold part of the world as our own. To love a ghost is to treat as a living thing--the highest cruelty and highest insult. You must hold the world more loosely than that. 'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For the world passeth away, and the loves thereof.'”

White stepped forward to stand beside Red. “'But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever,'” she finished. She wasn't surprised with Erybus's education and metaphysical bent, he had studied Scripture at some point. (Though she wondered where in the Cosmos he had run across that old translation--the generally archaic Authorized 3567 Version.) “The world seems unreal to us because we were created to be more real than this world. We, as sentient creatures, transcend the world and either transmute it or degrade it. The universe is as ephemeral as you say--like glass waiting to be filled with light.”

Blue stepped between White and Red. “And since all this theological and metaphysical talk is probably supposed to distract us, I'm ending the transmission. We're not surrendering. Over and out. Black, slice.”

Black hesitated just an instant. “Are you sure that's a good idea?”

“Unfortunately, yes. With the communications system live, Erybus has a way in. We've got enough trouble with the Nadirites outside, without having them inside, too.”

Black nodded and with one swift motion used the blades on her armor to demolish the control panel of the system. White couldn't help thinking that Black probably wouldn't have hesitated like that if Gold had given the order.

Blue was still giving orders. “White, fly reconnaissance. Let's confirm that Erybus was telling the truth and if he was, whether any of the Nadirites have actually entered the station yet. Keep to the air but don't fly above the top of the station.”

White nodded. In one sense, the station was not a good place for a siege, given that it had an open roof. But if there really were Nadirite ships with weapons trained on the top of the station, that escape route was closed. And that was aside from the fact that residual radiation from the Guidance Beacon might cause an explosion if they tried to fly out that way anyway.

White rose into the air and shot off, threading her way through the maze-like concentric crescents which comprised the station. It only took her a matter of seconds to confirm two things--first, that there were no Nadirites inside the station itself yet and, second, that that wouldn't be true for very long. “Blue, there are Nadirites outside the station and they're moving towards the entrance.”

“Do anything you can to delay them. We're on our way. If possible, we need to keep them on the outside.”

White understood the strategy. If Erybus were telling the truth about not wanting to destroy the station unless he absolutely had to, then the forces would have to come in through the single entrance. (Though, since the powersuits could fly, somewhat, there was the possibility that they might try to come in through the roof.) So long as the Corps could hold them off at that entrance, the differences in numbers would not be as significant.

For there was a large difference in numbers. From the entryway, White could see more Nadarites then she could easily count. Most of them were foot soldiers, but there at least a couple dozen powersuits. The Nadirites must have been working hard to produce so many of those things. White wondered abstractedly whether these were new powersuits or whether some of those they had defeated in the previous two battles had been repaired.

But she had no time to consider the matter for the foremost of the troops were almost at the door. Fortunately, these were all foot soldiers. White looked at them and then her mind froze for just an instant.

Of course. They had forgotten one key thing. Gold might have remembered if he had been there but even if not, she ought to have remembered it. She was supposed to be the one with the quick thinking. “Blue, this isn't going to work. We can't stay in the station.”

“Why?”

“At least a quarter of these Nadirites are armed with Photon Disrupters. Those will pass right through the walls of the station. If we're on the outside at least we'll have more of a chance to avoid them.” Had Erybus deliberately tried to trick them into barricading themselves in the station in order to make them an easy target?

“Right.” White could almost see Blue pulling at her hair. “You've still got to clear an opening for us. We'll be coming out.”

“On it.” White took a deep breath and shot out, straight towards the incoming Nadirites. While they knew the Corps were inside and might have suspected that they would make a move, they had no way of know exactly when it would come, so when she actually appeared they weren't ready for her. Besides that, in a few seconds, she was moving too fast for them to see anyway. Coming around at an arc, she simply plowed through the first line of soldiers, knocking them everywhich way. Even though she wasn't the strongest member of the Corps, if you move fast enough brute strength doesn't matter. Anyway, she had had the advantage of surprise.

“Good, but not very original,” said Erybus, his voice echoing over the battlefield. “If you expect to win this battle, which you can't, you'll have to think of something better than that.”

“Target lock!” called out a Nadirite officer who stood near the wall of the station as he held up his weapon--the same weapon she had encountered the day before when fighting the three Nadirites on Altayra Conaurah. Somehow, as she had discovered, it really did have the ability to lock onto the energy signature of their armor, something which she wouldn't have thought would be possible.

If had fired, it might have been bad. But he didn't fire. Because at that exact moment, Red shot out of the station, teleported sideways, and knocked the weapon from the man's hand. And in the next instant, Blue, Black, Silver, and Green were also out in the open and the battle began in real earnest.

*

Gold came slowly to consciousness, his mind wading through a strange fog. For a few moments, he couldn't even remember who he was. That came back fairly quickly. But where he was proved a more difficult question and even once his mind was fully back he couldn't answer it. He pulled himself to a sitting position and glanced around. He was sitting on a bad at the side of some kind of ship, but definitely not The Crystallair. All he could remember was approaching Maxwell's hiding place on Altayra Conaurah and then...

“Hey, that actually worked.” Gold looked up to see Maxwell, wearing his hoodie, standing at the side of the room. “I stole that medical equipment from a black-market dealer on Syrioc X and really wasn't sure it was functional. Probably not as good as what you have on your own ship but I guess as long as you're all right, that's all that, you know, matters.”

“Maxwell?” Gold stood up a little gingerly. Glancing around it was clear that he was in Maxwell's ship. Everything about the small craft seemed in keeping with its owner. “What's going on?”

“Um, well, you standing there and I'm standing here and we're talking. I thought that was pretty much, you know, self-explanatory. Oh, sorry for the little rock-trap, by the way. That was for the Nadirites or any locals who wandered by. I never thought you'd be able to find me in the first place.”

Gold remembered the rocks collapsing on top of him. “Wait. So--what?--did you rescue you me?”

Maxwell shrugged. “It was simple enough. Just move the rocks on top of you and then get you in here and have that computer fix you. You were in a pretty bad way and it took it quite a while to get you fixed up--it was last evening when all that, you know, went down.”

“Oh.” Gold shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. It crossed his mind that he might still be delirious.

“By the way,” asked Maxwell after a minute, “how'd you ever manage to find me? I thought I was well-hidden here.”

“You were. But your mechog gave you away.” Gold spoke brusquely, but with a strange, distracted tone. “Maybe you figured out that we had him for a few minutes yesterday, but I didn't think you'd guess we put a tracer on him.”

Maxwell shook his head. “Nope, never crossed my mind. Well, I guess having a pet does have its, you know, downside. I'd sent him to fetch some stuff from my old campsite. I thought it took him a long time to get back, but I never thought you guys had captured him. That was a pretty good scheme--but why didn't you just follow him back here?”

“That's what the others wanted to do. But I thought either you or he would see through that, so I planted the tracer on him before we let him loose.”

Maxwell nodded and began to pace, his hands plunged into the pockets of his hoodie. “You came on your own, though, right? I didn't see any of the other around.”

“Yeah, I came on my own.” Gold moved forward and confronted Maxwell. “Things came up so that it was the best plan anyway, but I had wanted to come alone. I wanted to be the one to take you in, personally. You know that and you know why. So that's what I don't understand. Why did you rescue me? You could have just left me there under that rubble. You could have killed me. Why didn't you?”

Maxwell grinned sheepishly. “C'mon, did you really think I'd let you be crushed to death by a bunch of rocks? I'm your, you know, arch-enemy. I couldn't just let you die in a landslide--where's the point in that? What kind of story would that be? Anyway--” he turned around and for just an instant, there was a strange, serious gleam in his usually vacant eyes-- “you and I both know I could have.” He turned away and started pacing again. “Besides, I was raised as a monk, so helping my enemies is kind of a, you know, thing for me. And I could never face White again if anything happened to you, knowing how, you know, you two feel about each other.” He whirled around suddenly as if expecting something behind him.

Gold's face was set and expressionless. “Did you really think I would sneak up and attack you in the back?”

“No. I was afraid you might have just, you know, disappeared. That's what happened last time.”

“What?”

“You know, with Princess Valencia. I was talking to her here in the cabin and while my back was turned, she just vanished. She couldn't have gotten out through the door--besides, we were in orbit then. But one minute she was here and the next she wasn't.”

Gold frowned in concentration. “Disappeared, huh? Then Green must have been right. Somehow Kaisai teleported here and then teleported the princess away.”

Maxwell shook his head. “I don't know who Kaisai is, but if anyone used teleportation, they had to use a different kind than any I've ever known. I've got a tachyon shield around the ship to block teleportation--just in case Erybus decided to show up unannounced. A guy's got have a little privacy, you know?” Maxwell paced back down the cabin, passing Gold, still with his hands in his pocket. “I don't know what's going on around here, but honestly I don't really, you know, like it. That why I thought, seeing as we're sort of on friendly terms right now, you might agree to a little favor.”

“Huh.” Gold grunted. “Should've figured there'd be a catch sooner or later, with you. What do you want?”

“I'm clearing out of this place. The Nadirites get pretty boring after a while and with that whole Valencia-kidnapping-thing falling through, there's nothing left for me to do here. And this whole system is beginning to give me the creeps. That's why I thought I might head out to Draxmoor and start some new business out there. So I'd kinda like it if you would, you know, promise that you wouldn't come after me for a couple weeks--give me time to get things set up and together. And maybe promise to give me a good word to the Prefect if you ever do happen to capture me.”

Gold's face remained stolid. “Any word I could give for you wouldn't be very good.”

“Maybe it's a lot to ask, I guess. But I thought since I did sort of, you know, help you out back there--”

Maxwell trailed off and there was a long pause. For about five minutes, neither spoke and there was silence in the ship. Once or twice, Maxwell glanced over at Gold as if to make sure that he hadn't vanished.

And then Gold smiled, just slightly. “'A man with two souls staggers wherever he goes,'” he commented, as if to himself. And then he turned to look at Maxwell. “Look, I am bound in honor to give you some consideration since you did save my life. I don't like the idea of making deals with a criminal, but under the circumstances, I might do it. But that's a whole different thing than making deals with a traitor. Which is what you are.”

“I think that's a little, you know--”

Gold didn't let him finish. “However, there might be something we could do. But I need something more from you.” He spoke quickly.

Maxwell nodded. “I guess we could, you know, do that. It's not exactly my idea of a good time, but what else are friends for? Or, you know, enemies in our case.”

“So you'll do it?”

“Sure. Why not? As long as you promise that you'll let me get away afterward and give me a couple weeks head start.” He adjusted his hoodie. “And, by the way--about you and White--I'm cool with that. If you can make her happy, I'll give you my, you know, blessing.”

“Maxwell...”

“Yeah?”

“Don't push your luck.”

To be continued...