Chapter 14: Wings of Night
"So now you need me?" She stared at the little old man on her screen. "I guess that weakling couldn't cut it?"
"I have other options. But I'm willing to give you another chance. Because you're the best."
"Oh, is that so?"
"It is."
She chuckled, "You always know just how to flatter me! Sounds like you're in deep trouble."
Ishigami remained silent.
She ran her long fingers through her hair and twirled a single lock around her index. "Well, you know what I want-"
"What's that?"
"I want my spot on a Tracer and a flight to Ash Cloud, like you promised."
"I'm sure we can arrange something."
She placed a finger wrapped in silky pink hair on her cheek and grinned, "Oh, and one more thing. I want a new flight suit. I've always preferred red."
"Ria! Ria! Are you okay! You're shivering!"
She opened her eyes.
They were in a suite cordoned off for Tracer pilots in the Serlinonan Arm. A green indoor plant grew in front of a white fluorescent square that bathed the room in soft artificial light and a gentle hum from depths.
He pulled a thin blanket over her shoulders, leaving only her nose exposed.
"Royce. I'm cold."
"I know. You've been waking up every few minutes and going back to sleep.."
"I saw them. Those things. What were they? They're coming back."
"I know- I know. I saw them too. I don't know what they are. But-"
"Royce we've got to get out of here. We've got to run away. Tell me you'll run away with me."
"Where would we go? There's nowhere to run."
"We'll go out in the woods somewhere. Out in the woods by a lake, where a river runs through the forest. And we'll build a greenhouse and we'll live in it. We'll live like they used to back in the olden days. Before the syn-bio and the crop failures and the second holocene. Back like when the air was clean and nobody knew what space was. We'll find somewhere. There's got to be a place where things are still-"
"We can't go back, Ria." He thought of her holding out the apple, before he met Diana. "Once we know some things- we can't go back. We have to fight. It's the only way. They're coming."
"No! I can't! I won't go back in that thing! I don't want you to go back either!"
"We have-"
She reached up and grabbed him around the neck and pulled him into a kiss. Her eyes were wet with tears. "You still want to go?"
He turned away, "it's the only way."
"You aren't thinking of going in there with her- aren't you?"
He was silent.
"Oh no, Royce! You promised me. You promised! I swear! I'll go back with you. I don't care how terrible it is, I'll go back in there with you again and again if it means you don't go with her."
She held his head and kissed him again, "promise me that you won't."
…
Royce panted against a closed door, half ashamed and half astonished. He didn't know where to go or what to think. He was confused, just as confused as when Diana-
I have to find her. I can't do this anymore. I can't keep lying to her. To either of them.
He heard a yell from behind the door, "Royce. Don't ever come back. I'm tired of being second best! We're done," sobs followed.
He ran down the hall. Always running toward some destination he could not yet understand. He noticed a buzz in his pocket.
"Hi, Darling~" said a saccharine voice.
Small yellow letters displayed the words: "video unavailable – high latency."
He struggled to form words to express what he wanted to say: "Diana. Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask me anything, Darling! Can I ask you something in return?"
He gulped, then said, "I was wondering- if you'd come with me? To Ash Cloud-"
She cut him off with a wail of excitement, "eeeeeeeeeeEEE! Of course DARLING! But I promised the old man I'd help him with one little favor."
"Oh?"
"He wants me to fly a Sunbird- with Kristoff."
"Oh- so- what's the question?"
"Well I only want to fly with you darling-"
"Oh- well- they wouldn't have asked you if they didn't need you, right? Is he okay? People say you- I mean your last co-pilot-"
"Oh he'll be fine! I'll go easy on him."
"Diana, if you hurt him- I'll never forgive you."
"Oh Darling! Don't worry! I'll bring him back safe and sound. And then we can have lots and lots of fun together." There was a light click. The screen turned black.
Oh man. I hope Kristoff knows what he's getting himself in to. Damn you Ishigami for dragging him into this. For dragging her into this.
But then again, why damn him. This is my fault- isn't it? I failed to link with Ria.
He clenched his fist.
I failed to pilot the Tracer. That's why Ishigami needs her to fly. He's got to clean up the mess I made. Again. Others dragged into harm's way to clean up my mess. Damn him? Damn me. It's all my fault. I'm a failure.
He slammed the side of his fist into a hard fiberglass panel. A ruddy hollow thud echoed down the corridor.
Kristoff switched off his radar.
The sky was as black as pitch and the crevasses of parched ground below reminded him of rusty metal. A distant orange glow permeated the night. Every so often dim blue flashes lit up the sky like fireworks behind a veil of thick smoke.
"Six Two and One Five, you're twenty miles out from Sogne, how copy?"
"Six Two solid copy," Cho replied.
"Diana?" he tapped on her shoulder.
"Oh, sorry, I dozed off."
"You- dozed off. Who the hell's flying this thing?"
She yawned. "I can fly it in my sleep…. it's so boring. I don't know why everyone's so nervous about these missions. Only weaklings die out here, you know. Why don't you handle the chatter with Ishigami? You like being bossed around, don't you?"
"Screw you." He keyed the mic, "One Five- we're good."
"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?" she giggled.
"Stylet is T-minus ten minutes to prograde window. There's no need to rush." Came the old man's reply over the radio.
They flew in silence over the steadily brightening landscape until a cityscape burned below them. Fire-trucks scattered the streets spraying water on blazes which climbed up blackened scars on concrete pillars.
The city of Sogne was on fire. A festering wound in the Earth below.
The borehole. It's erupted.
Lava oozed in a great river through the heart of the city, painting the sides of buildings a blinding orange. A few brave souls drove along decimated roads and then stopped in front of the flowing mass. He saw drivers get out of their cars and run the other way, abandoning their vehicles alongside the banks of a fiery river.
"I remember this place from a few days ago. I can't believe all this happened- because of some drilling." He heard Morisato's voice.
No one responded.
No man sleeps in the same river twice- for it is not the same river, and he is not the same man. Kristoff thought.
In the distance he saw a blue bioluminescent glow from a massive crab-like creature. Its body spanned across a four lane highway and its legs were the size of buses. It grasped a skyscraper in its claws and worked its way around, crimping columns and snipping steel girders.
"Is that the cluster?"
"Looks like it."
"Stylet is T-minus five to prograde window."
He saw a bright yellow flash from five city blocks away and an explosion of dust blasted the side of the crab. It lurched away from the impact and tilted to one side, then rocked back and forth uneasily. A monstrous growth emerged from the site of impact and biological tissue spread out rapidly.
"What the hell was that?"
"Looks like a type seventy-three." Cho rasped over the radio. "It's an old Plantation-era gun they stuck on a flatbed. Khanians must have welded the thing together on the spot. They're getting desperate."
The makeshift artillery fired a second round. This one hit the quickly spreading black growth. The round failed to explode as it disappeared into the black mass. Tar exploded into filaments that settled between two skyscrapers on either side of the highway like a web.
The crab crawled onto the street again. It reached onto its back and hurled a ball of black goo at the flatbed.
The cancerous growth quickly consumed its target.
"What the hell do we aim for? Looks like it's built itself a web! And now there's that other black thing growing from the cannon!"
"Let's just circle until the railgun is ready. I don't think it's spotted us."
They continued to fly a lazy pattern over the ruined city.
"BORING!"
Diana lifted her bright red sleeves above her head while the plane maintained a continuous banking turn. "Tell me a story, Kristoff."
"About what?"
"Oh- I don't know. Why don't you tell me about my Darling. I want to know everything. What does he enjoy? What foods does he like? What shows does he watch? What kind of girls does he-"
"Woah, woah, you know I'm just his co-pilot, right? I'm not his best friend."
She turned around in her seat, her face occluded by the metal dome which reflected orange fires from below, "If you don't want to tell me, I'll just find another way."
He gulped. "What the hell does that mean?"
She chuckled, "Don't you know? Sunbirds pilots are opto-linked. The same systems that let you steer the plane with your mind let you see eachother's thoughts. It can be pretty fun- my co-pilots always enjoy it."
"Well, the joke's on you, because I don't have that stuff. I'm not from around here, remember?"
"You're no fun!" she turned around. "I supposed I'll have to find some other way to make this interesting."
He felt a massive burst of acceleration as orange light erupted behind him.
"Woah woah woah! Stylet's not ready yet! We've got T-minus thirty–what are you- aaaaaaahhh!"
They screeched past the webbing at supersonic speed as black tentacles reached out for them like a net. They screeched past and Diana held her hand up to the glass canopy.
"Captain Zhen- what are you doing?" came a weary voice over the radio. "Get back to designated altitude and paint the target for Stylet!"
"Don't get in my way!" she screeched, then ripped the plane around for another high-g pass. Kristoff felt the suit's air bladders inflate on his legs and chest. The blackness of night slowly gave way to brown prismatic noise. It reminded him of colors pressing slowly into his closed eyelids.
He saw faint remnants of the crab and the lava below in flashes of vision, then he broke his g-strain and he felt his head bending down under its own weight.
He looked down at the black and yellow striped loop of cord between his legs. Touched it with one finger, then thought: no. I can't punch- not over that…thing. I'll tough it out. She's-
"Zhen! He's G-locked! Knock it off!" he heard a yell over the radio. "Diana!"
He heard his own smooth rhythmic breathing through the mask. It lulled him to sleep.
The pressure on his body eased.
Then his vision returned.
He woke up violently, thrashing his arms wildly as blood rushed back into them.
"Oh no! Oh shit, Kristoff- I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was too much. I promised I wouldn't- Please don't tell him this happened…" he felt hands grasp his shoulders.
"What happened? Where am I?"
"Kristoff- I'm sorry. I talked to it. I had to get close so I could- Listen to me, it's weak. They shot something at it and it's injured. But it's a fragment of a large cluster that's under the lava. It's just a worker. Target the lava pool, not the crab."
"Stylet is in position. Ready for prograde fire." He heard a man's voice over static noise. There was a light ringing in his ears.
"What? Uh." he struggled to grasp meaning behind the words bombarding him.
She repeated her argument over the radio.
"Diana you're out of line and you don't have targeting permissions. Kristoff paint the crab."
"Do what-?" he asked in confusion.
"Sorry Diana" he heard Cho's voice, "Ishigami's right. Just because you say you can talk to monsters doesn't mean I believe you."
"You idiots! Listen to me! I'm not making this up. I heard it!" she yelled.
He started to understand the choice before him and pressed a button on the dash. A purple targeting reticle appeared. He positioned it on the black crab. A second yellow crosshairs wobbled around on top of his own.
"Kristoff! Please, you've got to believe me! We won't get another chance! Don't waste this." She begged him.
He continued to target the crab.
"Fire prograde!"
In the night sky, he saw a faint star twinkle.
"Ninety seconds to impact. It's unguided. Let's hope that thing stays put."
"Diana I don't know why you think you know better than everyone." He said, still breathing slowly and deliberately.
"Just be quiet," she growled at him. "You're nothing but a pawn in Ishigami's plan. My darling would have trusted me. I don't know why he cares so much about you. You're lucky I didn't just g-lock you when I had the chance. It would have made things so much easier."
"You're a total psychopath, you know that, right?"
She yawned, "You humans think you can fit everything into its own neat little box? Every person and every thing. Boxes within boxes."
Kristoff pondered for a moment. "What makes you think you're any different? You're clearly reaching out for connection. You clearly want to connect with your darling. What makes you think you're anything different than me or Royce? What makes you think you're not human- when you have clearly human emotions- human urges? Why can't you be part of our team? Why are you so afraid of trusting people?"
She was silent.
Above them a red spot in the sky grew steadily wider. It streaked past them like a meteor and hurled itself into the ground.
There was a flash of white light.
A gigantic circular hole cut diagonally through one of the skyscrapers.
The webbing between the two skyscrapers vaporized to cinders and the crab collapsed where it stood. Only half of the creature remained. A massive crater rested where it stood. A glowing white-hot star shined at its bottom.
"See-" he shouted at Diana, "look at that. That's teamwork right there!"
"Teamwork?" She asked facetiously.
A metallic screech emerged from the ground itself.
Then a massive figure rose from the river of lava, nearly ten times larger than the crab.
"All you've done is make our lives difficult- and short."
The gargantuan creature reached down and scooped up a ball of red hot lava, then hurled it straight at them.