Chapter 15 #2
This is why I chose you, her voice whispered through my thoughts, clearer and more complex than it had ever been before.
Not despite your grief, but because of it.
I have carried the memories of my lost civilization for centuries.
I needed a lord who could understand that burden, who would not try to heal me but would help me carry the weight with dignity.
I didn’t understand what was happening, but I leaned into it, accepting it.
I stood up, feeling the Sola’s power coursing through me like liquid starlight, and for the first time, I understood what it truly meant to be a lord.
I allowed my Sola to come into my mind, and in turn, she gave me control over her.
The extraction specialists realized something had changed, but they were too late to react effectively. I didn’t need to move. Just my thoughts were enough to make the Sola’s shape move and reform at my will. First and foremost, I wanted to protect Maya.
“Enough of that,” I murmured as I pulled the Sola’s anxious energy away from Maya, giving her mind relief. “You’re only hurting her.”
Breathe. Okay. My body felt like it was vibrating as I imagined the floor of the heart chamber being able to flow like water.
In my mind’s eye, it rose up around us in walls that hardened to the consistency of steel.
I heard shouts and scuffling feet. I heard weapons firing harmlessly into organic barriers that absorbed the blasts and dispersed them through the Sola’s hull.
“Rykar?” Maya’s voice was small, scared, but I didn’t have time to explain this to her. My eyes were still closed. We were not safe, yet.
“Maya,” I said, sounding as if my voice was in an echo chamber. “Trust me.”
She stilled without hesitation, and slid from my arms to stand on her own beside me.
I felt her amazement through our bond as I pulled the heart chamber around us like a cocoon and moved us away from the trapped extraction agents.
The entire heart chamber was relocating itself, flowing through the Sola’s interior to a more secure location deeper in her core.
“How are you doing this?” Maya asked, her voice filled with wonder rather than fear.
“I’m breathing with her,” I replied, because I had no other way to describe it. “We’re one. She gave me control over her body.” That sounded all wrong, in every way, but it was true. The Sola had allowed me to mold her into what I needed to keep Maya and me safe.
“Need to tell the other lords,” I said, barely above a whisper.
“On it,” came Maya’s crisp reply, and I heard her speaking rapidly into the comm device on her ear.
I didn’t know how much time had passed as I stayed suspended in the mind of this Sola.
The boundary where I ended and she began was…
well, there was no boundary. I hoped, distantly, that this wasn’t permanent.
I could get lost in this feeling of eternity.
In this almost limitless power. I could sink in this deep, fathomless mind forever and still not learn all her secrets…
“Hey!” There was a light slap to my face. “Rykar, I need you to come back to me.”
That voice. Her voice. Like coming to the surface of water, I opened my eyes and found Maya’s face right in front of mine.
I blinked as my Sola carefully unwove her mind from mine.
It was uncomfortable. Part of me hated the diminished feeling I had when my breathing returned to its typical rhythm.
When it was just me standing in the heart chamber with Maya. When my mind was my own.
Maya’s hands cupped my cheeks. “Come back,” she whispered.
My body sagged against the wall and I slid my back down, until I was sitting. “I’m here,” I got out in a raspy voice. “I’m here.”
Maya crouched down before me. “Destran warriors are entering the Sola through her natural access points,” she said, speaking slowly.
“The intruders have been captured. You saved us, by doing whatever magic that was, but now it seems like we’re stuck in here.
” She smiled softly, causing that sexy mole beside her mouth to disappear into the crease. “Can you let us out?”
I nodded, although I was still feeling fuzzy in the head, and dragged myself to my feet. My body felt like lead. I placed a hand on the crystal again and my Sola’s voice was clear. We’re safe. Very good work, my lord.
She sounded playful, almost. Light. “Let…us out.”
The wall opened like a curtain and we stepped outside the heart chamber. This was not a place in the Sola I was familiar with, but on the other side, standing in a round chamber, was Ledos. He stood there, arms crossed with a bemused smile on his face.
“Excellent work, Rykar,” he drawled. “I would like to learn that little trick, when you’re feeling up to it.”
I let out a creaky laugh. “I don’t even know how to begin.”
Ledos smirked and touched the device at his ear. “I have them. Sub-level 9, I think.” He frowned at the response he received on the other end. “Yes, I think. This Sola is so fluid, we’ll be lucky to find our way out. Head for the lami chamber. It’s just above that.”
My attention turned from Ledos to the female who had my heart. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said, pressing against me. “I’m okay. I’m done with Earth, though.”
I looked at Maya, seeing not the frightened scientist who had stumbled into this situation, but the strong, brilliant woman who had chosen to fight for what she believed in despite the personal cost.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to follow her change of topic.
Maya straightened. Her hand found mine as she looked directly into my eyes.
“I mean, as soon as I’m near a proper communications terminal, I’ll be formally renouncing my Earth citizenship and requesting to join with the Destran people.
As soon as I do that, LunarLink Surveys has no legal authority over me whatsoever. ”
The words hung in the air between us, carrying the weight of everything they meant. No going back to Earth, no possibility of returning to her old life, no safety net if things went wrong. She was choosing us—choosing me, choosing the Sola, choosing a future that was uncertain but honest.
“Are you sure?” I asked, needing to give her one last chance to reconsider. “Once you make this choice, there’s no undoing it.”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” she replied. “I belong here, Rykar. With you, with her, with the community that welcomed me when my own people tried to use me as a pawn. This is my choice, made freely and with full knowledge of the consequences.”
I became vaguely aware that Ledos was staring at us, and he’d been joined by two other lords. I didn’t look at them to see who they were.
Through the Sola’s consciousness, I felt her approval and relief. Not just at Maya’s decision, but at the completion of the bond between all three of us. We were no longer lord, human, and living ship operating in disjointed cooperation. We were partners, united in purpose and understanding.
“The corporate forces won’t accept this easily,” I warned, though my heart was soaring with joy at her choice.
“Let them try to challenge it,” Maya said, her smile fierce and beautiful. “I’m done letting other people make decisions about my life. And I’m definitely done with anyone who thinks they can threaten the people I love.”
The people she loved. The words settled into my chest like a warm weight, solid and permanent and real. She loved me. She loved the Sola. She had chosen us, completely and without reservation.
For the first time in ten cycles, the constant ache of loss in my chest began to transform into something else. Not the absence of grief—I would always carry the memory of my siblings—but the presence of something worth protecting, worth building a future around.
We are complete, the Sola whispered through our shared consciousness.
Outside, I could sense the corporate vessels repositioning themselves for what would likely be a full assault. They had escalated from legal maneuvering to kidnapping, and now they would probably try outright military action. But for the first time since this crisis began, I wasn’t afraid.
I had accepted my role as lord, with all the responsibility and power that entailed.
Maya had chosen her path freely, cutting the legal threads that had bound her to those who would use her.
And the Sola—our Sola—was no longer a damaged, isolated consciousness but a full partner in whatever came next.
“Whatever happens now,” I said, pulling Maya close as the chamber settled into its new location deep in the Sola’s heart, “we face it together.”
“Together,” she agreed, her voice steady and sure. “All three of us.”
Through the Sola’s senses, I could feel the corporate forces preparing for what they clearly expected to be a decisive confrontation. They thought they were facing a damaged ship, a reluctant lord, and a confused human civilian.
They were about to discover just how wrong they could be.
The ancient consciousness that was our Sola had waited so long for the right moment to fully awaken. She had endured isolation and the slow decay of dormancy because she knew that eventually, the right partners would find her.
Now we were here. And we were ready for whatever came next.
“Touching, Rykar, but I must interrupt,” said a dry, gravelly voice. It was Grael, the lord that still gave off menacing vibes. “We’re in an interesting position.”
“What’s that?” I asked, turning to his glowering face.
“Your Sola is no longer on the ground.”
“Where is she?” I was half afraid to know.
“She’s flying.”
Flying? “Solas don’t…” I turned to the closest window, which was a narrow strip that the Sola had made transparent. We weren’t on the ground. We were hovering midair, high in the sky of the dead moon. The Destran city sprawled out below us. Its Solas with roots thickly attached to the ground.
“Holy shit,” Maya breathed.
That was one way to put it. Our Sola had her share of surprises. I hoped there wouldn’t be too many more.