Wings of Retribution (75 page)

“It’s a deep rift under the ocean.”

“Oh.”  Athenais stayed in her seat.  She felt her hands start to shake.

“Shall you come freely or by force?”  The Warrior gave her no pity, no emotion.  Just a flat, inhuman stare that reminded her of his mistress.  A well-trained little puppy, that one.

Sighing, Athenais got to her feet, fisting her hands to keep Juno’s hounds from seeing them tremble.  Two Warriors smoothly stepped up to her and each took an arm, and it was all she could do to keep from trying to tug her arms free.  Juno was going to do it.  The psychotic termagant was
actually going to do it
.  It was everything Athenais could do to control herself at the thought of being under that much water, eternally.  They both knew the Potion wouldn’t create her gills.  It would simply keep her alive.  Alive, and alive, and alive…

But she refused to let Juno see her fear.  The damaged whore was probably watching the entire thing on camera, masturbating.  Juno loved terror like a kid loved ice-cream. 

Trying to hold up an air of jaunty camaraderie, knowing that the only way out of this situation was to convince Juno the idea of eternally choking on seawater didn’t scare her, Athenais grinned as the men led her out of the room.  “I can barely remember the last time I had such a flashy escort,” she said, eying their golden armor as they turned right and led her deeper into the palace.  “Must’ve been when I assassinated the governor of Fjord.  They had laser rifles and stun batons, though.”  She frowned, remembering.  “And they were a little too liberal with the batons.”

The Warriors ignored her, staring straight ahead as they led her down the hall.

“You twelve must be pretty good, to serve Juno herself.  What, did you go through a special academy or something?”

They said nothing.

“She isn’t really planning on dropping me in the ocean, is she?”

No response.

They marched her down to the lower level and out onto a large concrete dock that had been partially annihilated by the storm despite being in a protected cove.  Even then, a work party of Strangers was ferrying gravel and rebar back and forth, reshaping the damaged areas.

At the end of the dock, Juno waited with dozens more red-and-gold-garbed minions, their colorful robes billowing in the breeze.  Behind her was a ship.

She’s just trying to scare me. 
Athenais lifted her head and walked down the pier.  “Don’t you have better things to do with your time, June-bug?  Or are you really that bored?”

Juno’s face darkened at her old moniker.  “Nice morning to go for a swim, wouldn’t you say?”

“Shut up.”  Athenais was so sick of this damned woman.  As soon as she got back on
Beetle
, she was going to come back here and spend a week or two blowing things up.  She tried not to think about how long that might take.

Juno’s face twisted into a contemptuous smile.  She pursed her lips in mock commiseration.  “Oh, Attie.  Don’t be angry with me.  Be angry with those two aliens you thought were your friends.”

“They are my friends, but they’re not stupid.”

“That’s why I’m giving them one last chance.  We’ll stand out here for one hour.  If they don’t appear before then, you’re going for a boat ride.”

“Juno, please.”  Athenais hated the way her words came out like begging, but the lap of the waves against the dock was beginning to unnerve her.

Smiling at her, Juno put the handheld to her face and depressed the receiver.  Across the entire island, her voice boomed, “
You hear that, my friends?  Athenais and I are standing on Dock 27.  The ship to take her to the bottom of the ocean is waiting behind her.  We’ll be here for one hour.  If you do not show yourselves before then, we’ll be leaving and you won’t see her again.

Juno lowered the handheld and grinned.  “Now we wait.”

A lump of dread formed in Athenais’s gut as she stared out at the endless blue expanse beyond the ship.  She was going to the bottom today.  She could feel it.

Pressure

Dallas woke with a groan.  Before she even opened her eyes, she began vomiting.  The hoses attached to her face pumped it away, though the smell remained.  Moaning, Dallas sat up and pulled off the breathing gear.

“Tommy?” she managed, around a parched throat.  “Where are you?”

A white-cloaked technician hurried to the edge of the tank.  “Try to stay calm, miss.  You were infected with a cerebral parasite.  We had to replace some damaged brain matter and seal the hole.”

Dallas sat up immediately.  “You
sealed the hole?!
  You bastards!”  She started wading out of the regen pool, ripping off the monitoring apparatus. 

“She’s delusional,” the woman called over her shoulder.  “Someone get the guards.”

“I’m not delusional.  Where’s Stuart? 
Tommy!”
Dallas shouted, shoving away the hands that tried to restrain her.

“Miss, Colonel Howlen has returned to his duties,” the cocoa-skinned woman who seemed to be in charge said.  “Who’s Stuart?”

Dallas squinted at the head technician.  “You don’t
look
Utopi.  Where are your uniforms?”

The technician gave her fellows a confused look.  “What is a Utopi?”

Dallas backed away, making the regen liquid swish around her.  “Wait a minute.”  Horror was beginning to trace little curdles through her stomach as she saw that the room around her was made of stone, not metal and polymers.  “
Where
am I?”

“This is the most specialized medical facility on Xenith,” the woman said, her brown eyes flickering over Dallas with obvious concern.  “You’re lucky, young lady.  You had very serious injuries.  It is a great honor that it was the Emperor’s Will to restore you.”

Oh that stupid bastard.  He brought me back… 
Dallas looked the woman up and down.  “So I’m a prisoner, then?”

“Our Guiding Light is threatening to drown you, so that would be my guess.”

Dallas gulped.  “Drown me?”

“Yes.  She’s taking the divine Athenais to her eternal grave as we speak.  The ones she seeks did not come to save her.” 

“Divine.”  Dallas snorted.  “Riiiiiight.  And my ass is made of solid gold.”

The woman blushed suddenly and looked away.  “I’m sorry.  I’m not supposed to speak with my patients.  You’re just so…innocent looking.  I…”  The woman cleared her throat and straightened.  “If you are feeling well enough to leave the tank, I’m afraid I must have those two men escort you to a cell.”  She hesitated only a moment, her eyes softening briefly before she added, “Of course, if you are still ill, we can always give you more sleeping medication and let you return to regen.”

Dallas glanced at the rough-looking Warriors standing by the door, then back at the regen pool.  “Uh.  I’m still dizzy.  And my head hurts.”  She wiggled her fingers.  “And I have achy joints.  And my stomach is gurgling.  And my—”

Looking relieved, the woman interrupted, “Definitely not healed yet.  Let me get you some more floater wash.  You seem to have taken well to it.”

 “Floater…wash?”

The technician ignored her, rooting through the cabinet behind her to remove a blue vial of liquid.  She poured a glass of water and added a single drop from the vial, then mixed it together and handed Dallas the ceramic cup.

“What’s this?” Dallas asked, wrinkling her nose at the glass.

“Something to help you sleep.”

“Smells like fish.”

“You’ll like it.  Trust me.”  The woman smiled at Dallas, then winked.

Dallas took a deep breath, pinched her nose, and downed the concoction.

Almost immediately, she began to feel more relaxed.  Grinning, Dallas sank back against the edge of the tank and allowed the technician to reapply the stinky breathing equipment.

She was still spread out like this, half in and half out of the water, when someone came and whispered in her ear, “Tonight.  Black boots.”

By the time Dallas crawled far enough out of her dreaminess to look, the speaker was gone.

Athenais stood on the deck of the ship, staring straight ahead.  The sun was setting low on the horizon, a thin band of red and orange.  It was beautiful, one of the few aspects of surface life that she liked, and even that was linked to the stars.  Athenais ached to be back on her ship, as it had been before setting out on this fool’s quest.  She missed Squirrel and Dune and Goat and reminded herself that she still had to repay Governor Black for killing them.

She refused to think of the millions of gallons of water under her feet.

“Nine and a quarter miles,” Juno said, reading her handy little pocket-gauge.  She lowered it, looking up.  “I think this will do, don’t you, Athenais?”  She gave Athenais a slow, malicious smile, her eyes glittering like black jewels.  “Or would you rather go for the full ten miles?”

“Just get it over with.  Stop being petty.”

“Petty?  I’m being considerate.  If you prefer deeper, we can keep going.”

“Don’t you have something better to do?” Athenais snapped.  “Like, I dunno, a
planet
to run?”

“My planet is a well-oiled machine,” Juno said, her smooth features filled with conceit.  “It runs itself.”

Athenais continued to stare out over the horizon.

“Then let’s get this over with,” Juno said.  “You’re boring me.” 

Like a toy that just lost its appeal,
Athenais thought.

Juno motioned at the gold-armored Warriors, who moved in on Athenais like twelve gleaming statues, herding her toward the six hundred pound anchor sitting in the middle of the deck.  Above it, a crane waited to lift it up and over the edge.