"'Bye!" Jupiter called, and stepped outside hastily, pulling the door shut before anyone could come up with another chore or errand or delay. I swear it's like they try to keep me home.
She stepped out into the cold; January made it dark, but it really wasn't that late, and she had at least a couple of hours before someone would be calling her to come home, we have to work tomorrow, you have no sense girl. It was enough time to go visit Caine, at least; if he could meet her halfway they could spend some time in a nice warm coffee shop and maybe make out a little. Jupiter smiled at the thought.
She was pretty sure no one in her family had clued in that she had a boyfriend - besides Vladie, that was, and she knew he'd slip up and blurt it out at some point, and then there would have to be introductions and it would be so awkward - but Aleksa probably suspected. It was funny; Jupiter had sometimes hesitated to introduce her boyfriends before, mostly because they were the kind that nobody approved of, but this time it wasn't her family she was protecting.
We're kind of overwhelming. I don't want to scare him off…
"Jupiter." Caine stepped out of the shadow of a parked truck to meet her, and Jupiter grinned up at him, reaching out to take his hands.
"Were you waiting out here?" she asked. "Caine, it's freezing and I didn't even text you yet!"
He shrugged, the corners of his mouth curling up. "I've been colder."
His hands were warm, the control gloves a slightly cooler patch against her fingers. Jupiter leaned up to kiss him, knowing he would bend to meet her, and savored the press of his soft mouth, always so gentle. She always had to initiate with him, but she kind of liked it, the feeling of being in control instead of maneuvering around a guy's libido - and ego.
But just as she was edging closer, Caine jerked away, head snapping up as he pulled in a breath. Jupiter flinched, but before she could ask Caine yanked her against him with one arm, the other hand suddenly holding one of his weird space-guns. "What - " Jupiter began.
"Someone's here," he said in a low voice. "I think - hunters."
"Hunters?" Jupiter echoed, confused, though she hooked a finger through his belt just to be safe. "I don't think you mean people going after deer, do you?"
Caine was scanning their surroundings, weapon ready, and she could see the sharpness of his teeth through his snarl. "I told you I escaped," he said lowly. "I don't know how they found me this fast - "
Panic swelled in Jupiter's chest. "Wait, people from space are after you?"
His expression settled into a cold calm, though his eyes were moving. "When I tell you, run," he said quietly, in a voice she'd never heard from him before. "Fast as you can and don't look back."
"Wait," Jupiter protested. "Caine, no, I can't just - "
"Run."
And she was standing alone - Caine was abruptly ten yards away and accelerating, the light building on the soles of his boots. Jupiter hesitated. I can't just leave him!
But somehow an anguished "Please - " reached her ears, and she obeyed, bolting for the dubious shelter of the nearest parked car.
The hesitation saved her. When the car exploded, she was still far enough away that all it did was throw her off her feet.
Jupiter hit the street hard enough to knock the air from her lungs. For a few seconds the world spun around her, noise and terror clogging her senses; she couldn't see properly, she couldn't breathe, and even when the whirling stopped she couldn't think. She scrambled for coherence, struggling to pull in oxygen, and managed to roll over to all fours. Caine!
The car was a bellowing fire; above that Jupiter heard strange noises she couldn't identify, sharp blasts of sound, but she also heard a roar of anger that she knew had to be Caine. She pushed up to her knees and blinked furiously; the night was full of fast-moving shapes and bolts of light, and she couldn't see him.
Out of the corner of her eye Jupiter saw something bright hit the street near her, throwing off sparks and smelling vaguely electrical. It took her a moment to realize it was energy of some kind. What is that, a laser? No, can't be -
Another hit closer to her, and then closer still, and her stunned brain finally realized - Somebody's shooting at me!
Jupiter shoved to her feet and lurched into a run, searching frantically for cover of some sort. Somewhere behind her Caine roared again, and someone else screamed, and the back of Jupiter's brain wondered absurdly how long it would take before the police showed up. What are they going to do against aliens?
Light stitched past her to spatter on the street, and Jupiter dodged away from it, nearly losing her footing again. Crap, crap, where can I go, what about Caine?!
She bolted for the far side of the street, and nearly bounced off the man who suddenly appeared in her path. He was tall and stocky and wore something over one eye; that was all she could take in before he raised what looked like a small jet engine and aimed it at her.
A shadow dropped out of the sky and slammed into him, knocking him several yards away. Jupiter yelped as a hard arm came around her and yanked her up and off her feet.
"Jupiter," Caine said in her ear, and she gasped and clutched at his forearm as the world dropped away beneath them. "Are you all right?"
She could only squeak. The noise behind them died away as Caine skated up above the roofs and into open air, and Jupiter managed to keep from looking down.
"Jupiter," he said again, sounding worried, and she jerked her head in a nod.
"'M okay," she managed, hanging onto his arm with both hands. "I think…"
He was wonderfully solid behind her even if her feet were dangling over an increasingly large gap between them and the ground. Caine muttered something she couldn't quite make out and veered off to the left, still climbing. His motion was more like skating than anything else, Jupiter thought dazedly; her ribs ached from the pressure of his arm, but it wasn't much compared to the bruises and scrapes of her tumble. "What the fuck was all that?"
Caine literally growled, a low rumble that she could feel vibrating through him. "I was wrong," he said, sounding downright angry. "We need to go to ground."
"Sure," Jupiter said faintly, and gulped. It was too dark to make out many details, but she felt queasy nonetheless, though from the height or the adrenaline she wasn't sure.
"Here," he said more gently, and reached around her with his other arm, turning her so that she could wrap herself around him. Jupiter clung without shame, arms and legs both, and squeezed her eyes shut; she felt his warm breath ghost past her cheek, as if he'd bent his head over hers for a second, and then he veered again and started moving faster.
She checked out for a little while, concentrating only on the firm heat of his chest beneath her cheek, the material of his jacket rough against her skin. But the parts of her that weren't pressed against him were getting pretty cold, and eventually Jupiter pried her eyes open and forced herself to look around.
They were somewhere downtown, cruising past office buildings gemmed with lights; the faint sound of traffic drifted up to her ears, but the icy breeze was louder. Lights poured past on the ground, streaks of color from the cars, and a small bright moon lit the sky.
It was unexpectedly beautiful, and Jupiter found herself smiling at her city, laid out in shadow and gold beneath them. I didn't know it could look like this.
They were approaching one of the taller buildings; most of its windows were unlit, and Caine was aiming for one of the darkest spots. He came to a hover in front of a window twice his height, and pocketed the gun he was still holding.
"This should work," he said, and Jupiter watched curiously as his free hand pressed something against the glass. It stayed when he drew back, and she realized it was one of his steampunky devices just as it began to whirl and hum.
"Is that some kind of glass cutter?" she asked, or started to; the widening hole in the window took the words away as she gaped at it.
It wasn't quite a space, more like the rippling surface of a pond, but as soon as it was big enough Caine swung them both through it without hesitation. Jupiter flinched, pinching her eyes shut as they passed inside, but she couldn't even feel the - whatever it was.
Then Caine was setting her gently on her feet, and turning to reverse the device and close the gap. Jupiter wobbled - her knees were very shaky - but after a moment she was stable enough to look around.
It was somebody's executive office; what she could see of it in the near-darkness looked expensive, and as the hole in the window disappeared, so did the sounds of traffic drifting up from the street.
"We need to get under cover," Caine said in a low voice, and took her arm. He seemed to be able to see much better than she could, so Jupiter let him guide her further into the room. A door clicked open, and they passed into complete darkness.
"I'm starting to see how you got into the Whitney place," Jupiter remarked dryly, and heard Caine snort as the door shut behind them. A breath later, light sprang into being in the palm of his hand, and he tossed it gently upward to hover over their heads, a tiny globe that didn't seem to notice gravity.
It was another office, larger and holding several desks. Jupiter sat down hard in the nearest chair, clasping her hands together when they threatened to shake as well. "Okay...so what just happened?"
Caine grimaced, and she saw that his gun was back in his hand. "I made a mistake," he said heavily. "I assumed the hunters were after me."
It took her a moment to parse that. "Wait, you mean…" Jupiter squinted up at him. "That - me? Why would they be after me?"
"I don't know." His voice was so low she almost couldn't hear him, and he seemed to be staring at the carpet. "But they were shooting at you, not me. At first."
It didn't make sense. Out of all the weird things that had happened since Caine had come into her life, this was the weirdest, and it wasn't helped by the way he was refusing to meet her eyes. Jupiter almost thought he was lying to her, except his shoulders were drawn up tight, like he was expecting to be hit or something.
As if he were guilty.
And she couldn't deal with that. Jupiter stood up again, took three steps forward, and put her arms back around Caine, this time in a hug.
"You saved me," she said, tilting her head back to see his astonished face. "Thank you."
She felt a tremor run through him, as if he were about to bolt. "I was wrong," he said, sounding desperate. "If I'd guessed right, I could have gotten you away right off - you're hurt because of me - "
Jupiter frowned, and squeezed him more tightly. "Bullshit. If you hadn't been there, I'd be dead." That much was pretty clear.
His hands lifted to hover over her shoulders, not quite touching, until Jupiter pressed her face to his chest again. Then they settled, light at first, slowly closing tighter until they almost hurt.
She didn't care.
Caine was shaking, she realized; a fine trembling deep in his muscles that made a hollow space open up in her chest. "It's okay," she mumbled into his jacket. "I'm fine."
His only response was a slow exhalation against the side of her head. They stood there for a long time, until Jupiter noticed her legs aching and reluctantly pulled away.
It was then that she noticed the wet stain on her coat sleeve. "Holy crap, Caine, you're bleeding!"
He glanced down. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."
The hole torn - or scorched - through his jacket showed a raw, bleeding wound longer than Jupiter's hand. She gave him an incredulous look. "We need to bandage that. Maybe there's a first-aid kit somewhere around here." Can't take him to an emergency room - bet Mom could do something for him, but right now - "Crap," she said again. "Caine, you said they were shooting at me. Will they go after my family?"
Caine shook his head. "I doubt it. They would have just taken the house and all of you at once, instead of waiting for you to come out."
Jupiter blew out a relieved breath. "Okay then." She looked around the space and started trying drawers at random, looking for something to stop Caine's bleeding. Most were locked, but a few gave in to her pull.
"So," she said, rummaging through what looked like someone's stash of insanely healthy "snack" foods that were mostly chia and kale, "you said you thought they were after you at first. How come?" Because she was out of her depth, she knew it, and the only way to understand what was going on was to ask questions. And she knew this was one Caine didn't want to answer, but for all they both knew that might be next on the "terrible things happen to us tonight" list.
When she looked up, a roll of tartan-striped packing tape in one hand, Caine was staring at the far wall, jaw locked. "I...escaped," he said after a moment, the words barely audible. "From prison."
"You were in prison for...killing?" Jupiter didn't quite want to say it because she knew it would make him cringe. One of Caine's shoulders went up in a stiff shrug.
"There was a ship. It wasn't supposed to be there, but the Aegis missed it...and if I didn't take it, I knew I would die there. So I did."
"Good," Jupiter said firmly. Part of her wondered dimly if she should be upset about running around with an escaped murderer, but she dismissed it. She knew Caine, on a level that had nothing to do with facts about his past, and she trusted him. "See above statement about how I'd be dead without you."
He flinched, and then gave a tight nod, and Jupiter rolled her eyes and tossed the tape on the nearest desk. "That was a joke," she said, and went back over to put a hand on his chest and press a kiss to his lips. "I'm glad you're here, Caine, however you got here, and still being alive is a bonus."
It took him a second or two to unbend enough to respond when she kissed him again, but eventually she felt him relax a little and return her kiss. "Still need to treat you," she muttered after a while. The whole post-stress-adrenaline thing seemed to be an actual thing, and it was distracting.
Caine shook his head, lips grazing her cheekbone. "It's fine," he said. "I've had worse."
Jupiter pulled away and looked at it, turning him so that the little globe's light fell directly on the wound. "It's still bleeding," she pointed out. "Hold on."
In the end she cannibalized some sanitary napkins, using the packing tape to hold them in place over Caine's objections. It would hurt when removed, she knew, but surely that was better than bleeding out. She also found some ibuprofen, but Caine refused to take any. With only a small twinge of conscience, Jupiter swallowed two herself. If my head isn't aching now, it will be later. To say nothing of her bruises…
"So they're after me, but why?" Jupiter said, putting the tape away and wondering idly whether anyone would notice they'd been there in the morning. "Is this a normal thing, dropping down onto a planet and trying to kill the inhabitants?"
Caine got a peculiar look on his face, but shook his head. "Not like this, no."
Jupiter opened her mouth, then closed it with an effort. Not gonna ask. Not right now, anyway. "Okay," she said instead. "So we've got a bunch of, hunters you said, trying to kill me and you too if you get in the way again."
"One hunter," Caine said, expression shifting towards hard satisfaction. "At least for now."
Jupiter raised her brows. "Nice." The twinge of queasiness got pushed away. They were trying to kill us. "But no ideas why?"
Caine pursed his lips. "If I could find that one, we might get some answers. Eventually. But I don't want to leave you alone."
Her bright vision of safety popped like a bubble, and a coldness crept up Jupiter's spine. "I...can't go home, can I?"
Caine shook his head. A void seemed to open under Jupiter's feet, and she felt herself teetering on its edge. Trapped she might be by circumstance, but her family had always been there, solid and dependable, even at their most annoying. To be cut off from them -
She sat down on one of the desks to hide the way her knees were shaking again. "So what do we do then?"
"We need more information." Caine reached into another one of his nonexistent pockets and came out with something that he unfolded again and again, until it was the size of his palm. It looked like a tangle of wire and glass. "This planet's monitored, which means either those hunters are here illegally, or they have permission. Either way, there should be chatter on the Keeper channels. I should be able to pick some of that up."
On the who what? But Caine was frowning down at the device in his hands, and Jupiter decided not to disturb him while he was trying to read, or whatever. It looked like whatever, since he was twiddling his fingers over the top of it and holograms were appearing. Jupiter made a mental note to get a better look later, when things had calmed down, because it looked really kind of cool.
But in the meantime, she was thirsty. Apparently getting attacked out of nowhere dehydrates you. And if she was, Caine must be more so.
So she slid off the desk and started looking for a fridge, or at least someone's stash of bottled water. And maybe some snacks. Though I'd have to be a lot more desperate to eat kale crackers…
KEEPER: NATIVE OF DIORITE SYSTEM GENETICALLY ALTERED FOR USEFULNESS. GENERALLY USED AS GUARDIANS, CONSTRUCTION WORK, AND MENIAL LABOR; COMMON IN FACTORIES. VEILING AND DEFENSIVE CAPABILITIES ALSO SUIT THEM FOR WORK ON FARMWORLDS. ONE OF ONLY TWELVE INTELLIGENT SPECIES TO BE REPURPOSED BY HUMANITY RATHER THAN ERADICATED.
It didn't take long for Caine to break into the Keepers' frequency; they weren't trying to hide it. No native of Earth could understand their language even if someone did stumble across it, nor would be believed if they did.
It did take him a little while to find enough transmissions to work out what was going on, and he had to adjust his translation implant at least once; it had never worked well with Diorite languages. As he worked at it, Jupiter brought him a bottle of lukewarm water and two packets of the highly processed sugar cakes that were popular in the city, apologizing with a grimace for not finding more, but Caine didn't care; calories were calories, and he swallowed them quickly once he'd seen that she had some of her own.
He was reassured, at first, to find out that whatever else was going on, his own presence wasn't part of it. The Keepers were referring to him as a transient rather than a fugitive, which meant either they didn't know where he'd come from or they didn't care - they were very narrowly focused, and tended to ignore extraneous elements.
But as he put the pieces together, Caine felt a chill gathering in his gut. The hunters were after Jupiter on the orders of Lord Balem Abrasax, who owned the planet. And since the Keepers had found her for him, they knew why.
A Recurrence. She's the Recurrence of Seraphi Abrasax.
If Jupiter's acceptance had been a knife in his ribs, this was looking down to see a hole burned through his abdomen. It meant that not only would the hunters keep coming, and in greater numbers, but that the Keepers would be watching. And there was no place on a tercie world to hide from them.
They probably know exactly where we are right now, and they're just going to let the tracking teams handle us. Keepers could defend themselves but they weren't bred for combat, at least not the kind they would face from Caine. The amount of time Caine and Jupiter had to stay in hiding would be very limited.
And beneath all that was the small bitter knowledge that no matter what happened, his dream of a life with Jupiter was ash.
Not just a pure human, but a Recurrence, an Abrasax Recurrence. As far above a Splice as a galaxy is a star, let alone an escaped murderer. He wasn't fit to meet her eyes or even speak to her.
You should have known, you stupid misbred. You should have known that you couldn't have it. Nothing good ever lasts.
Caine glanced over at Jupiter, who had curled up in a chair and begun drowsing at least an hour ago, her phone idle in her lap. That was good; it gave him a little time to think before he had to try to explain.
What are you thinking? How can you possibly explain this? That she's the reincarnation of one of the universe's most powerful queens, and that because of it her own gene-son is trying to assassinate her? That even if she somehow survives, she's going to be swallowed up into an endless life of wealth and influence and politics that will make her own world look like squabbling infants?
If she survives. And if you don't think of something soon, you straight-gene, she won't. Caine knew he would die to protect her, that was not in question, but without someone else by her side, someone with authority, she would follow him into death very shortly.
As an owned farmworld, Earth had to have an Aegis marshal assigned to it, but Caine had no idea where he, she, or it might be, and no way to contact them without revealing where he and Jupiter were hiding. The Keepers might be ignoring me for now, but they work for Lord Balem. If I start making a fuss, they'll be down on us in a wingbeat. And there was another consideration…
Jupiter's phone chimed softly. She stirred and murmured something, but didn't wake, and Caine was grateful. He leaned over to mute the little device before someone in her family could try to contact her through it. As long as we stay away from them they should be fine - no hunter is going to have authorization to use them as leverage.
He paced for a little while, trying to think, but in the end there was really only one option.
It's not that I grudge it; what better use of my life?
It was what she would think of him afterwards, when it was all explained to her - when she found out just what he'd done, what he was. It's fitting, he told himself. This was a dream, nothing else, and a hopeless one at that. If you can save her, you should be grateful. It's what you're for.
"Mmmmgh. Crap, did I fall asleep?"
Caine turned to see Jupiter stretching in the chair. Her hair was coming out of its tail, falling into her eyes; she had dirt smudging one cheek and a bruise showing on her wrist, and he wanted so very much to pick her up and hold her so close that no harm could ever come to her again.
No.
"You needed the rest," he told her gently.
"Yeah, like you don't?" She gave him a pointed look and sat up, setting her feet on the floor and stretching again. "So did you find out what's going on?"
Between Jupiter's questions and her incredulity, it took Caine almost another hour to explain, and he wasn't sure she truly believed him when he was done.
"All right, let me see if I have this straight. I'm the exact genetic copy of a dead space queen, and that stupid DNA test Katharine gave me somehow tipped off the queen's kid, who wants to kill me so I can't take over." At Caine's nod, she threw up her hands.
"Can't I just tell this Balem I don't want the position, thanks all the same, and have him fuck off and leave me alone?" Jupiter folded her arms and glared at Caine as if he were personally responsible for the whole thing. He bowed his head.
"It won't work. Lord Balem has a reputation for persistence...and anyway, Entitled trust no one." Your Majesty. Now that he knew what she was, it was an effort to keep those words off his tongue, but the one time he'd let them out she'd flinched. Please don't call me that, she'd said, and how could he disobey?
"This is so effed up," Jupiter muttered. "So I'm some kind of royalty - still not sure I believe that part - and the hunters are after me. Okay, but what do we do about it?"
"I make a call." In the end, it was simple. This was what he had to do, so he would do it. "If the Aegis knows what's happening, they'll send a ship to protect you. All we have to do is stay alive until they get here."
"Yeah, but - " Her phone buzzed, and Jupiter frowned and reached for it. "Hold that thought. Yes, Mom, hello - "
It was the perfect opportunity. Caine sent the message while she argued with her mother, and it was done, just that easily. She saved me. It's only right that I do the same.
He was done before Jupiter had finished lying to her mother. The ensuing argument had begun in one language and ended in another - Jupiter was a terrible liar and her mother clearly knew that - but eventually Jupiter cut the connection, shoving her phone in her pocket with a pained huff. "Well, that went well."
Caine refrained from pointing out that it didn't really matter. When the Aegis arrived, Jupiter was going to be swept up to the stars she'd always looked towards, and while she might eventually get back to her family, it wouldn't be soon. Instead he ran an assessment on their situation. "If it pleases you, we should look for a more defensible location," he said carefully.
Jupiter gave him an incredulous look, then slipped out of the chair. Her hand on his chest felt like the weight of worlds. "Caine, what is going on? Why are you acting so weird? Does this space-queen stuff really make that much of a difference?"
He couldn't help the laugh that slipped out, just a short sharp sound. "You...you have no idea. Jupiter." Caine had to force the name in place of her title.
Her glare would serve her well, he thought distantly, when she came to rule. "Then explain it to me."
He didn't know how to articulate all that she'd become to him, the way she'd been a dream he'd actually believed in. "You are royalty now. I'm a Splice. You don't know what that means yet, but...out there, I'm a tool. Splices aren't human, aren't people. Royalty doesn't associate with them. Not like this."
The color sank away from Jupiter's face like a retreating tide, and the sharp smell of fury filled the air. "That is bullshit," she snapped. "Complete bullshit, do you really think I'd - "
The crash of glass in the outer office cut her off. Reflex took over, and Caine snatched her up, bolting through the inner door and waking his boots even as he dove left down the dark corridor. His eyes only took a second or so to adjust, and Jupiter was learning fast - she clung hard to him and didn't even protest.
Caine didn't fool himself into thinking that whoever had just broken in wouldn't track them; all he wanted was a more defensible space, somewhere protected he could put Jupiter while he dealt with their pursuers. And while Earth might be a tercie world, bureaucracy was bureaucracy the galaxies across, and office buildings tended to run along the same pattern.
"What are you looking for?" Jupiter said, voice squeaking a little.
"Someplace small with a back exit." Caine whipped around a corner just as he heard someone come through the door they'd left by.
"Electrical closet," Jupiter said immediately. "But I can't see - "
And he couldn't read the signs, but the ozone stink of electrical power was easy to find. Caine broke open the door with one kick - stealth was useless just now - and swung Jupiter down to her feet as light flooded the corridor. Someone had brought a beamer, a bigger one than his.
"Here." Caine handed Jupiter his smaller gun, wishing his best gun was someplace other than under his mattress. "Safety here, and the trigger's dual-mode; hold it down to string the bolt."
Jupiter nodded, face white again in the odd shadows, and Caine glanced around quickly. The narrow space was about three times his length and festooned with raw wooden boards and swags of wiring, though only the one at the back of the closet smelled sharp enough to be dangerous. There was no obvious other exit, but neither was there a ceiling, and Caine flashed Jupiter a grin for her quick thinking, even as he heard boots in the corridor. "Here they come," he said and boosted her up one-handed into the grid overhead.
She yelped, but scrambled up onto the crossbar, and he had no more time to watch her as the first target came into view.
This was what he was made for. With a roar, Caine went to work.
RECURRENCE: REENFLESHMENT. A GENETIC PATTERN REOCCURRING IN AN EXACT COPY WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL ASSISTANCE. EXTREMELY RARE, AND CONSIDERED A HAPPY AND/OR LUCKY EVENT BY MOST CULTURES. PREEMINENCE OF ENTITLED AND WEALTHY RECURRENCES IS MOST LIKELY DUE TO THEIR ABILITY TO AFFORD MONITORING FOR PARTICULAR GENEPRINTS, RATHER THAN ANY SKEWING OF NATURAL RANDOM FACTORS.