They'd finally done something she couldn't predict, at the cost of Caelus's dignity.
"You – eh? What? Like 'em older? Well, I'm flattered?" Kafka stammered about, averting eye contact for the first time. "Caelus, dear… W-hat – What brought that on?"
Kafka's expression turned stern. "D-did anyone take advantage of that trusting naivety of yours? Who? Are they here? It was that redhead, wasn't it? Ah, the nerve to toy with your heart so flippantly."
That's my line, Caelus thought.
"Nothing like that," he said. "Just… I wind up listening to them talk all night and they give me a lot of coffee."
"Oh, well, that seems quite pleasant at least." Kafka's face softened, though her smug aura of invincibility had run off on the wind.
"I don't remember anything about my past, except you." Caelus pointed at the captive. "Clearly, you're in my head somehow. You didn't put anything in there? False memories? Some subliminal to leave me thinking about you? More willing to do something if you command it? Or did we have a history?"
Were they friends? Something more?
"Ah, I didn't put anything in your head that you didn't need, dear Caelus." Kafka's warm, cocky smile returned – this time, it almost looked sincere. "Persuasiondoesn't work like that; it just skews thought processes, tweaks a premise here, motivation there. But I can't just say 'you are forever loyal to me' or 'you'll do everything I say without question.' Neither can I make people do things they wouldn't already want to do, in some capacity."
"So, you didn't implant anything that would make me keep thinking about you all the time?"
"Well, Caelus, that's quite the confession. Nothing like that. Whew~" Kafka's blush turned luminescent, her cheeks a warm pink. "By IX, when's that stupid tree going to start blooming!?"
"But you did plant something in there?" Caelus asked.
The tree at the center of the ship began to bloom, distracting everyone but the pair. Kafka took the opportunity to complete the hack on her hard-light cuffs.
"You certainly know how to make a woman feel ten years younger, dear." Kafka angled towards the platform's edge. "It's been fun, but here's my ride."
"Hey!"
Caelus rushed forward. He'd received some concrete answers for the first time since waking up. And he was so close to discovering what exactly this woman was supposed to mean to him! Caelus reached out to stop the huntress from escaping. He would've caught her, were it not for the timely arrival of Blade, a wild-eyed stellaron hunter who leapt onto the stage from above.
"C'mon, Bladie," Kafka said, then performed an acrobatic dive off the platform.
Blade was close behind. They'd jumped from an impossible height. Far too high to risk pursuit.
And all at once, the woman on Caelus's mind slipped through his fingers.
Another successful gig, another frenzied escape. Kafka and Blade ran through the bowels of the Luofu. No sign of any pursuit, but they rushed for their agreed-upon extraction point all the same.
"The vessel appears to have taken a liking to you," Blade said, gravel voiced.
"PerhapsI imprinted on him a little too much," Kafka said, then sighed. "That was… not in the script."
Kafka's cheeks were still rosy.Our naïve little mark's quite the flatterer.
It had been years since she'd been caught flat footed like that! Piercing questions out of left field, curve balls Elio couldn't even predict. The thrill of unknown unknowns – it was all so exhilarating! Problem with having a boss that could see the future: missions grew dull as dishwasher. But this... this wasn't in the script. And that sent Kafka's heart racing.
"What's happening? Should we go after her?"
In the distance, the dead tree at the city-ship's core continued its stellaron-enhanced bloom.
"If what she said is true, I don't think we have to."
"What?" March frowned. "Did she brainwash you or something?"
Does she even need to?
They'd have to help the Luofu with cleaning up the stellaron. And with Kafka and Blade technically not even responsible, chasing after them simply wasn't a priority, even for the head diviner.
"You did good," Welt told Caelus. "Got her off guard for sure."
"Did I?"
Again, Caelus's heart felt light in his chest. He sensed that Kafka didn't mean harm to him, but also knew at an intellectual level that he shouldn't drop his guard where the stellaron hunter was concerned. Their factions were devoted rivals at absolute best, after all.
Welt nodded. "We know more about her strange persuasion abilities now. We also know that her predictive powers are not all-seeing. She can be thrown off-guard. That alone is valuable information."
When you put it that way…Caelus exhaled, suddenly exhausted though they still had quite a bit of work to do before they could rest. Any little victory is forward progress.
Welt kept them focused on their true objective, which at least kept Caelus's mind from getting lost in thought, at least for now.
Ahead, a long-forgotten bulkhead opened. Their pint-sized hacker mascot, Silver Wolf, awaited with a visor on her head and bubblegum in her mouth.
They were a motley crew: a hackerwoman overdue for a growth spirt, a refined lady mastermind, and a blademaster edgier than his sharpest swords. But together, the trio formed the brunt of the Stellaron Hunters, wanted the galaxy over.
"Do you enjoy playing with your food?" Silver Wolf asked.
"What can I say? Our mark may be a mite bit smitten." Kafka scoffed as she boarded their escape vehicle.
"This is becoming a pattern," Silver Wolf said. "There was that one grad student three planets back."
"What? At the research university?" Kafka retrieved an identical replacement coat from their escape vehicle. "Hey, she was good fun. Wish we were still recruiting; could've made a great addition to the team."
"We stopped recruiting because we were out of spare rooms on the spaceship," Silver Wolf said.
Kafka winked. "Never said she'd have needed her own quarters."
"Just the kind of eyes-on-the-goal leadership we need. That's why Elio puts you in charge," Silver Wolf said, then returned to her monitors.
Blade chuckled. "If I recall, she kept calling you mommy, apologizing profusely each time, then doing it again."
"It's a simple supply and demand issue," Kafka took a seat at the captain's chair, then crossed her legs. "Rookie do-gooders have an insatiable demand for mysterious, mature women. And I most certainly have the supply."
The bulkhead door closed. The crew of the Astral Express should be able to handle the immediate threats. As for the Stellaron Hunters, they could go visit other planets and re-infiltrate the Luofu at any time. Or they could wait it out from their mobile safe room and sneak back into the ship when the script required.
"For what it's worth, the vessel does cut a nice figure in that jacket. Very spiffy." Kafka said with a sigh.
"You're, uh, actually thinkin' about humoring him?" Silver Wolf was playing a game, not terribly interested.
"What?" Kafka let out a nervous laugh. "It's all fun and games. No way I'm going to fall for the mark."
And at the time, Kafka meant it.