Chapter 51
GAEL AT LAST, EVE
Every spare minute I have, I send encrypted messages to Terra Ka of manifests, security rotations, and pet schedules.
I know the Starlight Array, on the Sovereigns’ authority, is switching them around, thinking they are outsmarting Terra Ka, but I switch them most of them back again, to keep the balance between Terra Ka and the Sovereigns, without anyone being the wiser.
I tell myself that every detail I pass along might save a life.
Every schedule I share might reunite a family.
There are rumors that Gael is being held in the Spire’s dungeon. Not as Jin Kol said with the IGC. Yes, it’s actually called that in the translation, a fucking dungeon, but it really just looks like a white holding cell without any windows.
But nothing on my end has stopped, so if that is Gael, Terra Ka is going to let him die before they give up their mission here. Which makes me think he’s both an admirable leader and that these people will do anything to accomplish their goals, which makes me nervous.
I don’t want to be the human who was sleeping with the Sovereigns and to find myself on the wrong side of such die-hard people.
For me, life is not that black and white.
No living being is completely innocent or completely guilty of anything.
But if Terra Ka can’t see their own faults, what Rafe showed me of escaped humans who ended up in worse situations, then they are more flawed than the Sovereigns.
At least, Rafe and Lorian have never pretended to be humanity’s saviors.
Of course, I don’t think humans should be kept as pets. I want to stop that entirely. But are all Imperial or Reima Two people evil? I don’t think so.
I don’t think any of us is inherently evil.
We are all doing the best we can. I can say for myself, I’m doing the best I can in the situation I’m in, and the Devil on my shoulder agrees.
And if some orgasms come with it, I shouldn’t deny them.
Sister Agnes would say I’ve become a whore to not one, but to two demons.
Maybe I have. But as terrible as it is, it also feels so right, despite me deceiving everyone—Terra Ka and the Sovereigns.
For the last five days, I’ve spent every night with the Sovereigns and every morning I expect them to say, “Eve, we’ve found out what you’re doing, and now you’re going to die.”
But that hasn’t happened, not yet. But that doesn’t mean that every minute, that I’m not lost in the ecstasy of their touch, that I forget what kind of men they are—the weapons they so casually carry, and the power they have.
My lovers could kill me, and no one would, as far as I can tell, would call it murder.
I would just be another human who disappeared. Erased.
And they say they love me now, when I’m doing their bidding, but how will they react when they find out I’ve betrayed them?
It still nags at me that no one knows, or will tell me, exactly how Denise ended up with Kamos.
And I’m not entirely confident that they didn’t sell her to him for doing the same thing I am doing now.
My thoughts are interrupted by a message on my IC.
It’s another request from Huck to meet him in the maintenance area.
I excuse myself from the trainer’s display.
Lorian probably assumes I need a break, which wouldn’t be wrong.
So, I figure I have at least twenty minutes.
I make my way to the staff elevator, and instead of getting off on my floor, I go all the way down into the bowels of the Spire.
I see him in the same dark corner as before, but as I get closer, I realize it’s not Huck. I pause, wondering if this is a trap. This man is grey-skinned, but taller and better looking.
“Come closer, I won’t bite,” he says in fluent English.
I step closer, and he activates a small device that makes the air shimmer around us. "It’s an audio dampener. We have perhaps fifteen minutes to talk. I’m—“
"Gael,” I say, recognizing him through my research. “I thought they’d caught you."
"They caught a decoy. Huck, he’s wearing a sophisticated biological holo to look like me.”
“What will happen to him?” I ask. Huck has been the face of Terra Ka for me and it unsettles me that he’s been so casually thrown to the enemy.
Gael’s jaw tightens, and he deflects. “Huck has bought us time. The Sovereigns think they’ve caught their man. And Huck won’t break under their interrogation.”
For a moment, Gael’s composure slips. Not grief exactly—something worse, like he’s already moved Huck into a category labeled ‘died for the cause’ and sealed it shut in his mind.
“People like Huck know what they’re risking and are willing to die for the cause.”
He leaves off saying, ‘Die for me.’ As if he doesn’t want to admit that without him Terra Ka may not be as powerful.
“You don’t sound convinced in Huck’s sacrifice,” I say, boldly.
“Conviction is a luxury we don’t have, Eve.
If Terra Ka wanted martyrs, we’d be a thriving religion, but what we want, and need, are results.
Humans freed at any cost, but even better if we can free them from the most high-profile, high-security events, like the Grand Championships.
Huck understands that. He just needs to hold on in that cell long enough for Terra Ka to complete its goal. ”
The way he says hold—like it’s a skill, not a virtue—settles unpleasantly in my gut.
“And you're the woman who's been feeding us invaluable intelligence while sharing the Sovereigns' bed. Quite a complicated situation.”
Heat floods my cheeks, but I don't deny it. I know the sex part has even made the news on Reima Two, and not in a good way.
“Before we talk about anything else, I need to know about your wife, Lara," I say. "Rafe showed me footage of her being sold at a slave auction. He said you let it happen."
Pain flicks across his face for an instant.
"He showed you truth wrapped in lies. Lara was taken from Earth as a child and raised in captivity. When I found her at the Goddess of Fertility Temple, I had a proposition for her to go undercover and retrieve something of great value for Terra Ka, and she accepted. She didn’t want to return to Gala Station to be sold, but she did it for me and the greater good. "
"So she agreed to that?”
"Yes, she agreed. She did it to maintain her cover while she stole something we needed. A teleportation device that helped us move a hundred humans to safety and will help us on the last day of the Championships now. But I suppose Rafe didn't mention that part although it’s common knowledge.”
"So she chose to—"
"She chose to risk everything for strangers. Yes, just like you're doing now. Though I suspect your motivations are more complex."
"What do you mean? The Sovereigns aren’t going to sell me at a slave market,” I say, but even I can hear the doubt in my voice.
"No one can predict what the Sovereigns will do, but I was referring to your feelings, actually.
That despite everything, despite what they represent, you still really love them.
" He holds up his hand for me to be silent. “Everyone across the galaxy can see it between the three of you. There’s no reason to deny it or try to explain it. Love is a madness. No one can help who they fall in love with, even if it is the enemy.”
Denying it seems pointless. "Yes."
"Good."
I stare at him. "Good?"
"Love makes us human, even inappropriate love." He pulls out a small device, checking readings. Then, he exhales slowly, like someone deciding whether to hand me a weapon or a confession. "My mother was a human pet, and my father is Kamos; not many people know that, but it’s not a secret either. I exist because a human woman found something worth caring about in a monster. The galaxy isn't clean, Eve. It’s so messy, with pain and blood, and nothing about intelligent life is really intelligent or simple at all. But, on the other side of all that terribleness, there’s also a pure and loving side, which is, I guess, what we’re all chasing, hoping we will experience, even briefly to break the cycles of pain. ”
I close my eyes. What he’s said has struck a chord, but I must stay focused. “I was told Denise was sold to Kamos.”
"You're worried about her fate. Wondering if that's your future too?"
"It’s more than that. I knew Denise on Earth. She trained me at a hotel owned by the Sovereigns.”
"You don’t need to worry; she's happy." He says simply, "Kamos adores her. She has luxury, protection, and purpose. When we offered her extraction last year, she adamantly refused."
"She chose to stay?"
"She chose her life. Just as you're choosing yours." He sets down a device. "Which brings me to why I'm here. We're extracting twelve humans during the Bond Breaker. The chaos of competition provides cover. But, Eve, there's going to be retaliation."
"What kind of retaliation?"
"The trainers who lose valuable pets don't just accept it.
They will want blood from the staff who are found guilty of aiding Terra Ka.
Last year, three staff members were executed for suspected collaboration.
" He meets my eyes steadily. "You could come with us and be free.
All “you need to do is excuse yourself during the Bond Breaker and—”
“I don’t want to be rescued.” I say while I think about his offer, like a life preserver being thrown out to me, but I’m naive enough to think the water looks calm enough to swim.
Gael doesn't seem surprised by my answer. “Remember, once the extractions happen, suspicion will fall on you as the only human working in the Spire. The Sovereigns will only be able to protect you so much if the trainers and the IGC both decide you're involved."
I think about Jin Kol. I have him eating out of my hand right now. And as long as the Sovereigns never find out that I’ve betrayed them, they can shield me from the trainers.
"I don’t want to go," I say with certainty. "I can do more good here. Long term."