Chapter 7
At the edge of the solar plane, two ships will part. The Persephone turns for home, carrying those who have discharged their duty; brave Demeter continues forward. The Plan for Courage? was built on scientific excellence. It is the moment we become what we were meant to be: a people of the stars.
Demeter’s chimes stunned Marcus out of an anxious dream.
This is yellow emergency. Report to the system control station.
Yellow? No one is hurt?” Leo was already up, stamping into his boots and zipping his coverall. Marcus did the same, still favoring his torn hands.
Everyone is fine. This is an administrative matter.
Basim met them off the train, Bellacia a glowing shape behind.
Leo patted Marcus’s shoulder, urging him ahead. The falls room was crowded with sleepy team leaders, officers passing along small cups of coffee hand to hand. Marcus settled with the others, waiting for the administrators.
“At ease!” Captain Barabas called and the room fell quiet as Leonus entered.
Marcus smiled to himself. Leo commanded the room, even now, even in a t-shirt and work pants. All those shoulders and square jaw…
“To make it short: we have a stowaway,” Leo said.
Marcus stopped breathing. Leo’s gaze pinned him to the wall, grave as his portrait. His heartbeat clearly audible to his ears, Marcs fought back panic. I can’t let them get word home. I have to stop them somehow. They will arrest Cassius.
“Cassius,” Leo said, stepping forward.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Leonus please forgive me.
“I need you to lead a search team. In the mountain zone—”
Everything went gray and blurry for several minutes.
“Demeter is running identification,” Leo said. There was a low murmur in the room. “He likely boarded in the chaos around launch. Marcus shuddered, sweat rolling a long cold finger down his spine. I did, I snuck aboard when everyone was distracted, even the AI.
“Will he be allowed to stay?” someone asked.
“No,” Leo said, his face perfectly impassive. Marcus sagged against the wall, his ears ringing and mouth flooding with saliva. No part of him would turn in another stowaway, but Leo’s reaction was more absolute than he thought.
Demeter spoke to the whole room:
I have completed the relay for data refresh and determined the identity of the stowaway.
He is a deserter.
Leonus surged to his feet, his face twisted in rage. Even Marcus stepped back.
“What fleet?”
Mars.
Standing to his full height Leonus addressed Barabas and the Marines.
“I want him found! Found and caught by any means—I authorize non-lethal distance tactics.”
Leonus this isn’t wise.
“Demeter, out!”
Her chimes were short, loud, the equivalent of a slammed door.
“Leo,” Marcus said. When Leo didn't reply, Marcus grabbed his arm at the elbow. “Don’t do this!”
“How dare you?” Leo whirled on him. “I would remind you, Captain Sutherland, the uniform code—“
“No one’s in uniform here, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! He deserted his ship! Abandoned his shipmates!”
“What if he had a reason—“
“There is no possible reason!” Leonus bellowed, his voice cracking. “I want this traitor found, thrown into a cell and dragged back to Mars in chains!”
Marcus couldn’t breathe. His heart rattled in his chest like a broken shutter in the wind. What have we done?
“What happened, fido?”
“Phobos, our transport ship—she mutinied, left us. That’s why we overloaded the last transport, had to leave people behind… And…” Marcus, heart tearing, kissed Leo’s cheek, savoring the warm skin under his lips.
“Say no more.” So I must lie. To protect Cassius I can only tell him when we are past recall.
Please let me have enough courage. As soon as we’re safe, I’ll tell him, and take what comes.
The slippery serpent of old Marcus whispered wouldn’t it be kinder to keep the secret?
Become Cassius? No one gets hurt, that way.
No. Whatever comes, I found a new side of myself. Reminded me I didn’t need to be that way. I could be better, more like Cass, or… like me.
Leonus sent most of the teams away. He could barely stand still, his heart a caldera.
Cassius wouldn’t look at him, head in his hands.
Leonus wanted to talk to him, but cordite and ash clogged his mouth.
They didn’t have to wait long. Within an hour, Leo’s wrist chimed, breaking the heavy silence between them.
“Sir, we have him.”
“Where?”
“We’re at the falls park. He has nowhere to go, right up against the hangar wall-”
“I’ll be right there!”
The scene at the park was surprisingly calm. Persephone’s marines were unarmed, and had placed themselves in a loose semi-circle around their quarry.
Gaius met Leonus at the back of the group.
“Demeter summoned my team specifically,” he said, gesturing at the Marines. “What the hell is all this about sir?”
Leonus shrugged. He hoped it was good news. The old boot looked so damn unhappy.
Leonus, Rufus, may I say something?
“Yes Demeter?”
Rufus, I have a match for you, if you choose. A good one in fact, if a little unconventional.
“See?” Leo said. “Now let’s get this business with the stowaway done and find you some quarters that beat the old spacers’ home.”
Gai didn’t respond, followed at Leo’s back, his face closed in thought. Striding through the parting explorers and marines, Leo felt better already. Apollo’s tits, what if all this happened after separation?
A miserable shape huddled at the center of a semi-circle of Marines, in a blue and green robe that had seen better days. Mist swirled around them, but Leo knew what he was seeing.
“He’s Venusin,” Leo said. “Demeter, you said this was a deserter from the Fleet.”
Luvio Teneci is a conscripted spacer, halfway through his six year service.
“Impossible, the only Venusins in Fleet are-”
“From the POW camps,” Gaius said, shoving Leo aside. He stumbled forward into the perimeter of Marines. The stowaway unfolded and drew back, staring at Gaius with wide, fearful eyes. No. Not fearful. He knows him.
“You!” The Venusin charged, throwing himself into Gaius’s arms. Gai caught Teneci around the waist, whatever he was saying lost to everyone as Demeter’s voice rose over them. Leonus spun in confusion, caught Barabas’s eye.
“What is happening?” he asked. Music rose through the speakers, the same theme from the Match. People crowded in, eager to see.
Rufus Gaius, would you try a Match with Luvio Teneci?
Gaius’s face was buried in the man’s midsection, shoulders heaving while Luvio curled protectively around his shorn head. Answer enough.
Luvio Teneci, will you join our ship and try a Match with Rufus Gaius?
“Will I be allowed?” Teneci said, his voice raspy from disuse. Everyone there turned to Leonus.
Son of a Bitch.
The AI had set him up, trapped him as neatly as a fucking rat. Leonus stared around him, dismayed at how well he was pinned. Even Cassius, knowing what he knew, even Cassius was pleading Leonus with his eyes. The Marines, the search teams, all waiting for him to do the right thing. Unbelievable.
It is a coincidence, Leonus. Demeter’s voice was soft in his ear, conciliatory. As soon as I determined the identity of the stowaway, I also determined his match. That they already knew each other was a coincidence.
“Unconventional, you said,” Leonus said, not bothering to lower his voice. “You maneuvered me, Demeter. Well, I don’t appreciate being maneuvered.”
Cassius’s face fell, he even took a step in Leonus’s direction.
“Gaius, take your match aboard the Persephone. What happens after system break is up to you and your captain. But I won’t have a deserter aboard Demeter.”
He stormed out, not wanting to see a single expression.
Humiliation seared him. How could the AI do this to him?
Think I’ll be steered like a ship. Whether I like it or not, for my own good no doubt.
They all saw it, and the word will spread.
Admiral Ares is still the same son of a bitch, no matter his coat.