The Constant Star (66)

THE STORY SO FAR

Siff has now lost control to her rage: all the abuse and betrayal and rejection pours out of her as she rains down blows on her opponent. The rebels around them drag her off, but she manages to kick Addy in the face one last time, “Fuck you! What did I ever do to you? Why do you hate me? I’ll kill you, bitch!”

Addy gets up and wipes the blood from her eye with her wrist, “Why do I hate you? Why do I hate you?! You fucking left us! You left all of us!” Now being held, Siff cannot defend against the blows, “We needed you! I thought you might be different! We believed in you. I believed in you! But you left us! And now they’re dead! They’re all dead! Because of you, bitch! Because of you. They’re all dead because of you.”

Siff can barely speak between the beating, “Who—ungh!—who’s—ungh—dead?”

“All of them. The people you claimed to care about. Our troop. Our crew. My friends.”

“What? No…”

“Yes. Bitch.” Addy grabs her by the face, “You left when we needed you. You ran away and we were overrun. And now all my friends are dead. And I…am…going…to…kill…you!” Each word is accentuated with a blow. Siff can’t hold herself up any longer. Even if she could she would collapse in grief and guilt. They’re all dead. Dead because of me. Because I left them. All of this is my fault. Oh god. All of this—

The last blow knocks her out.

52

Laying on his cell bunk, Jupiter hears the soft thud of a body being put on the ground. He opens his eyes and smiles. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed he sees Bear approach the bars, “Hello Sir. You’ll never believe who gave me the access keys.”

“I sent her. She’s decided to join us.”

Bear inserts a digital key into the lock, “Why would she do that? I thought she wanted things to stay the same.”

The bars slide into the ceiling and Baldr steps out of his cage, “Because if things keep going the same, we’ll never make it even close to Vesta.”

“What’s the mission, Sir?”

They begin to move out of the prison-block. Baldr is impressed with Bellerophon’s work: several guards lay unconscious and not a single alarm was raised. He’s getting very good at this, “Mars is going to detonate Janus. I’m going to see how many termination portals he’s activated and stop him.”

“I’m with you, Sir.”

“No. Your mission is to find Siff and get her to safety. Then continue with your destruction of Diana’s hack-points.”

“Wait…Siff’s alive? She’s alive?” His excitement and disbelief put his tongue on repeat, “She’s alive? Alive? She’s alive?”

“Yes, Bear. We found her and I brought her back.”

“She’s alive…holy kakkao, thank all the gods…is she in holding as well?”

“No, I made sure she escaped. That’s why I need you to find her. Oh, and she might have Lucas with her.”

“Lucas?”

“We picked him up in the Tube.”

“The Tube? The Lucas from the Tube? You brought a Chosen One outside of the Tube? That Lucas?”

“Yes, Agent. It is time for a new way of living aboard Janus. But we need to stop Mars and Diana for that to happen. Then the Council will reconvene and a lot of changes are going to be made.”

“So…Siff was right?”

“In a lot of ways, yes. Stifling our humanity out of fear has led us to be inhuman. We need to stop that.”

Bear leads them through several passages and doors until they drop outside the prison, “Pegasus is around that corner. Can I drop you off somewhere, Sir?”

“No, I have some intel to gather. You go find Siff. I’ll be in touch.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Baldr watches Bear disappear and smiles to himself, “That kid is going to be alright.” He turns and heads toward a wall panel. Opening it he disappears into the ship.

53

Lucas watches Siff run out of the building; he is too dazed to be able to follow. He hears the shouts as several troops chase after her and fade into the distance. Rolling out of cover he manages to stand and lean against a wall. He holds his head for a few more seconds, waiting for the dizziness to pass enough for him to take in his surroundings.

Siff has pulled the attention away from him, but he is sure this place will not be safe for long. He has to find her and see if she is okay, then get them somewhere safe. Siff said a different level might be safe. He takes off his pack and checks the contents: some food, some clothes, not much to help him in this context, but fresh clothes and food will definitely come in handy later. He throws the pack on his back, wincing at the pain of his not-quite-healed wounds, then takes a look outside to gather his bearings. He sees the street she must have run down, now empty and dark. He breaks cover and begins his pursuit.

Now tracking, Lucas’ energy is focused on Siff’s movements. He passes through shattered streets and broken buildings until he comes across a patch of blood on the floor. A lot of footprints converge here. A trail of someone being dragged away. Lucas hears troops closing in on his location, he doesn’t have long. Racing after the tracks he comes to a panel in the floor, he searches for a way to open it but has no idea how to do so, or even what tools might be needed. She is gone, for now. His only option it seems, is to do as she said: find somewhere to hide until the violence is over.

He spies movement of people coming closer. Quickly scanning for cover he sees a small child hiding in the rubble. The young boy must be

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