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Celestial Souls: Book I: Christine
Chapter Sixteen: The Majestic

Whoever said space was cold was dead wrong. It was actually a little too hot for my comfort.

The shuttle was still rather nauseating. Things were strapped down, some of it bolted down, but still small things drifted about our heads. I closed my eyes and tried not to have my lunch come up on me. It only helped a little bit; my stomach still felt like there were a million butterflies in it, threatening to do something awful at any given moment.

Thanatos was still there. He had been decent enough to not even attempt conversation once we’d left gravity behind us, and yet even with my eyes still closed I couldn’t forget he was there. There was just some presence – some sort of natural attraction, or whatever you wanted to call it, that made him the focus of attention whether he wanted it or not. Of course it didn’t help he was currently talking on his cell phone – or what I took to be a cell phone, anyway. He obviously intended it to be private, but considering I was literally right next to him, I couldn’t help but hear what he had to say.

I was getting used to the translators now, and it helped even more that I couldn’t see his lips forming the different syllables.

“If Seski-nan still recognises your sovereignty, then she will be all too willing to do something at your request...what? No. You know I cannot do that. Seski-nan does not understand the nature of the Erebians and I. You must do it – ask the palace guards to keep an eye on Eric.”

(Instinctively I tried to pay attention).

“I am calling him that because that is his name,” he said; there was a brief pause. “The forces behind my request really have nothing to do with you. It is merely something I wish to keep an eye on...I am aware of my own abilities, my dear. Certainly I could keep track myself. But it would startle my guest far too much.”

That was the problem of hearing only one side of a conversation; it was really rather skewed. I had only a faint clue of what they were talking about. Not that it mattered much anyway; my stomach lurched violently and I bit down hard on my lip, feeling the pain of my teeth digging into the skin.

“Yes, a guest. Christine is no longer in Selenian custody. She is being transferred to the Majestic, I believe, and from there to Erebe—”

It had to have been Ruth, for the shriek that followed was far too high-pitched to be that of a man’s. Beside me I thought I felt Thanatos jerk, but I didn’t dare open my eyes. I already felt nauseous and weightless; anything too sudden would probably have bad consequences.

“Calm yourself, dear Ruth. It was Evania’s will, and there are certain things I dare not go against...oh, Ruth. You should know it is not fear that motivates me! What an absurd thought. No, my actions are wholly political in nature...”

It was only until we were close to docking did he finally hang up, claiming he was losing the connection. It was just as well; after that the ship rumbled and rattled, and within a moment pressure was building, pressing against my chest and crushing me; I bit down even harder as it grew and grew and then—

It stopped. It took me a moment to exhale slowly. My legs wobbled when I stood; I felt them gave way until warmth seeped through my body. It was Thanatos, naturally, gripping my arm in a steadying way.

The procedures were the exact same as on the Heliodora – right down to being sprayed with searing hot water and soap while I slipped and stumbled through a dim room. I winced as the water scalded my skin, all but sliding out of the room when the time was up. Clothing was again provided; like with the other ship, it was a nondescript jumpsuit – just enough to say I was clothed, and I hoped they didn’t take forever to disinfect my clothing like the last time.

Thanatos was nowhere to be found at that point, and within moments I was escorted away by a uniformed guard, this one wearing a greyish jumpsuit – Ruth had been wearing one like it, though hers looked much fancier than this man’s. Striding through the corridors, struggling to keep up, we wove through the bowels of the ship, and I tried to observe all I could during the walk.

The utility areas, like the cargo bay and such, bore a similar nuts-and-bolts look of the Heliodora, but that was the only place that did. Once we stepped into another section of the ship, the door shutting behind us – by itself; this ship apparently did have doors that opened on their own – there was a stark difference. This was no research vessel; the sleek look of the design and the computerization of seemingly everything suggested perhaps this was a military ship. Or perhaps I’d been spoiled by television, but it was pretty damn high-tech.

I was taken to a room in what seemed to be the centre of the ship, or close to it, and was promptly...left there. What was the point of that? It was obviously a small bedroom, nothing like the barracks I’d expected, but whose was it, and why was I placed there? Walking towards the door, expecting it to open, I winced as I ran face-first into it, feeling my nose press up against the cold door. I swore.

It felt like forever until Thanatos showed up again, wearing the exact same thing he’d been wearing before, and holding my clothes, neatly folded, in his hands.

“Hello, Christine,” he said. “How are you faring?”

“I’m...er...faring well. Where am I?”

“On the H.M.S. Majestic. It is the Emperor’s personal vessel. You are here at my request; these are normally my quarters, but as I have no intention to use them...”

He took a step into the room further, not moving very much.

“That’s nice,” I said, not knowing what else I could say, “Thank you.”

“You are quite welcome,” he said. “I have been talking with the doctors and they wish to have you...quarantined for a brief period. It is not a long time, just enough to see if you are susceptible to any of our diseases or if we are susceptible to any of yours.”

“But I’m not sick.”

He smiled a little bit, that ‘oh you poor dear, you don’t really know much of anything, do you’ type of smile. “The wonderfully awful thing about disease is that you do not have to be ill. And as this is the Emperor’s ship, the staff wishes to be quite cautious. Now, I am afraid I have things to do, but I will be back around supper, if you like.”

Thanatos didn’t stay long after that, leaving me alone in the room. I sighed, flopping onto the bed. Of course I’d be locked away for some stupid reason or another. It was too dangerous to let me roam, after all; a society that had enough technological advancement for feasible space travel had to be concerned about the common cold. And it wasn’t like I’d already been given plenty of inoculations, oh no. I was stuck here, just like I was stuck in that tiny little room in Nisekem.

But he was true to his word; he was the one who brought dinner.

“How come you can come and go as you please?” I said. “I thought the point of quarantine was that no one could get in or out.”

He smiled again, knowingly; this appeared to be some sort of private joke. “There are some things that have no effect on me. Disease is one of them.”

“But not everyone else?”

“No,” he said, and didn’t explain further. “I spoke with the doctors. They have decided that a week should be sufficient for immunization and observation.”

“I already was immunized. By the Helians.”

He wagged a finger. “That was the bare minimum. The Erebians and Hadeans have some more stringent rules. Yes, you were immunized for that disease, but there are new strains cropping up for which immunization has not yet been made mandatory. Do not worry. If you have had no reaction so far, I cannot see why you would have a reaction now.”

Of course. More needles.

To put it lightly, the doctors came and went, all of them attired in what looked to be a full-body Hazmat suit. Like I was crawling with disease! If all the dust in the air of Nisekem hadn’t made me sick, why would a meticulously clean ship?

“It’s for the protection of both sides,” one of them explained just before he jabbed the needle into my arm. I could feel the needle sliding in, and then a slight burning sensation as the medicine went in. Damn, that had hurt.

Waiting around wasn’t much fun, but eventually they decided I was fine. I could have told them that; I felt fine. A little hungry still, but fine. That left me alone in the elegantly bare room, swinging my feet off the side of the bed as I wondered what, exactly, I should be doing. I glanced down at my watch; the face read it was slightly past ten at night, but I couldn’t be sure if that reflected their time or not. It probably didn’t, but my internal clock was agreeing with my watch...either that or perhaps it was sheer boredom...or the lingering heat...

The last thing I knew, I had flopped onto my back and drifted off to sleep.

Strange dreams visited me that evening. Nothing like they usually were, either; these were more coherent, more...lucid. I could see Nisekem, the ground bright with sunlight while the sky was ink black, I could see the dusty beige streets, the old and crumbling buildings, the people going about their usual routine, dressed in their odd clothing.

In the largest, widest road there was an event going on. People lined the edges of the road, staring as several cars passed by, kicking up clouds of dust. They were waving and cheering. And in one of those cars was Seski-nan. I never saw her face, only that she was dressed like Jacqueline Kennedy – a pink suit and pillbox hat, waving from the car. It passed by slightly slower from the rest of them.

The crowd was jostling each other to get a look at this woman, her gloved hand raised high, but there was one that was shoving even harder than any of the others, and then–

Bang! One gunshot rang out. Seski-nan didn’t notice.

Bang! A second gunshot; people heard and began to scream.

The third gunshot, with a loud bang, struck Seski-nan squarely in the chest, and she toppled from the car into the dust below.

Shit. Was it morning already?

Apparently, for the door slid open with a slight whoosh and Thanatos stepped in. The smell of food roused me into waking; it was something rather sweet smelling, and warm, and that was enough to get me out of bed. Likely on some sort of cue I wasn’t aware of, my stomach rumbled.

“Hello, Christine. Dear me. You look awful.”

“I feel awful,” I grumbled, sitting up slowly. The room spun ever-so-slightly as I did so before straightening itself. There was an odd gurgle from my stomach again. My hair was all messed up; my clothing wrinkled – I looked like shit, probably. “Bad dreams.”

“About what, if I may ask?” he said, setting the tray down beside me. I was far too eager for it, fumbling with the lid before answering. The metal was hot, and I hissed, pulling my hand away.

“About Seski-what’s-her-name being shot to pieces,” I said. “Don’t ask me why.”

It wasn’t what I would consider breakfast fare – some crusty bread and honey, hard-boiled eggs, a bowl of some thick substance I didn’t quite recognize, and some milk – but it was food, and I tore off a chunk of bread and dunked it into the bowl.

“Ah,” he said. “It might have something to do with the fact that a certain...Dessler is still in Nisekemi custody.”

“Just him?”

“Yes. His wife and grandson have been transferred to the imperial complex.”

“Good for them,” I said. What else was there to say?

“Your mother is doing fine,” he added. How had he known that?

“That’s...er...good. She’s being treated okay?”

“Her treatment has been the most respectful.”

“Oh. Good.” Now if they could have treated me with a little more respect that would have been nice. Not that it mattered right now; I wasn’t there anymore. I popped the bread into my mouth; the mystery bowl appeared to be some kind of thick stew. Definitely not breakfast-y, but it was enough to tide me over.

“I have been in contact with Theophanes,” he continued, his voice growing a little warier, “We are still within...reasonable radio contact with the Heliodora, and he wishes to speak with you. I told him you were quarantined, but he insisted upon it.”

“I’m being taken out of here?”

The idea was a very nice one; I wanted to see more of the ship, not be stuck here in a room. However nice it was, it was still a rather bare room; there was nothing to do.

A hint of a smile was on his lips now. “No. Quarantine is quarantine, and I cannot remove you from that situation. I shall bring in a radio for you. I should warn you that Theophanes is a little...eager about you being here. Were I you, I would be inclined to think about what he asks of you before doing it.”

It took a while until a radio was brought in – even something as basic as a radio seemed unnecessarily complex, but Thanatos pressed the receiver into my hand and instructed me to speak clearly and slowly, as the signal could get “unpleasantly distorted”.

“What, no video-phone?” I said.

“Not portable ones, at least,” was the reply.

Static crackled through the radio, and I winced, jerking the receiver father away. Thanatos fiddled with some buttons and knobs, his whitish hair in his eyes, before taking the receiver away from me and speaking something into it. It was obviously some kind of code I didn’t recognise, and I was pretty good with call signs. It didn’t help that the translator earbuds weren’t translating that. They seemed to be quite useless for anything besides basic sing-song tongue.

I heard a voice on the other end, somewhat distorted through the static. After a brief moment, the receiver was passed to me, and I held it close.

“Hello?”

After an awfully long pause: “Christine?” Theophanes said through the crackle of static. “Is that you?”

“Yes!”

(“Say either ‘affirmative’ or ‘negative’,” Thanatos pointed out, “With the static, all shorter syllables tend to be distorted to a kind of grunt.”)

I tried not to roll my eyes; it would have seemed very...disrespectful somehow. “Affirmative!”

There was another absurdly long pause. Sure enough, whatever Theophanes said next came out like ‘uh’. “Excellent! Do you know where you are?”

“Ye–affirmative. Some weird ship.”

I winced as the static swelled and buzzed; it had to be him laughing. “‘Some weird ship’! You’re on the Majestic! My brother’s ship, my dear!”

“Was – is it...yours?”

There was more crackling laughter; I winced. “Negative. When you have the status that we did, you can afford to have your own ship. Mine’s been decommissioned; that’s beside the point. You’re on the Emperor’s ship!”

“Affirmative, so what’s your point?”

“The Emperor’s there,” he said, as if this knowledge should have been obvious.

“I guessed as much,” I said. “What does it matter?”

“It matters quite a bit! Do you have any idea what favourable position you’re in? I am...how would you say...verboten there, but you’re a welcome guest—”

“Theophanes!” Thanatos hissed.

“What are you saying?”

There was a hint of disappointment to his voice. “I’m saying you’re in a situation I would give my right hand for. I – excuse me.”

I winced as the crackling of the static assaulted my ears; instincts made me pull the receiver away just to get away from it. I couldn’t tell what was being said, but it was, if I had to guess, being said to Ruth. The earbuds were only translating snatches of conversation; what could be heard clearly over the static. It was nothing substantial, just a random word here or there.

“I apologise,” he crackled, after another disturbingly long pause, “That was just Ruth. Anyway, you have no idea of the situation you’re in—”

“I’m stuck in this room for a week.”

“I never said you had to take advantage of it right away,” he pointed out, “It’ll take around a week to get there anyway, if these co-ordinates are correct. But just think...”

“These are the people that kicked you out,” I said. “I don’t think I’ll be very welcome. I’m only here because Evania insisted on it.”

“They’re not that discriminating,” Theophanes said, “If they’re intelligent enough they’ll even try and use you as an asset.”

I frowned. Was he trying to push as many buttons as he could? I didn’t like the idea of being used for anything. I was already being used for information on the Desslers, as a witness, and now that they were done with me, someone else I didn’t know was also going to be using me for something else. I seemed to wait a moment before responding, glancing over at Thanatos hovering close to the door. He glanced right back, raising his eyebrows. I glanced away. No, there wasn’t any reason to get too upset right now. I was stuck in here for a week anyway, that was plenty of time to figure something out.

“I don’t want to be used for anything,” I said. “I’m sick of that!”

The next voice that spoke was Ruth’s: “You think we don’t know that, hon? Trust me, if there were any other way...”

“I could lie.”

“You could,” she agreed. “What they don’t know won’t hurt ‘em – Theo, be quiet for a minute!”

“They can’t know that much,” I said.

“Affirmative,” Theophanes cut in, “We’ve shaken them off our trail quite successfully.”

“What are you asking me to do here?”

“Lying would be nice,” Ruth admitted. “I don’t fancy having to chase off the Majestic. She’s a damn good ship.”

“Er – okay,” I said. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t lie. I didn’t know these people; their opinion meant nothing to me, and I was already marked for suspicion anyway. I didn’t try and think too hard on the subject; Ruth and Theophanes had lied to me as well, but considering the odds, they were looking to be the lesser of two evils. If I had been really clever, I thought as we concluded our conversation, I would have found a way to screw them all over – Ruth and Theophanes for lying to me; the Emperor’s crew for dragging me here, even Evania for shoving me here to begin with. But I wasn’t quite so clever as that.

Thanatos took the receiver from me, fiddling with the radio again to close the connection. “Lying,” he said.

“Hey,” I said, “What do I care about these people?”

“Absolutely nothing,” he said. “I am more saddened that it has had to come to this.”

I shrugged. “What’s the worst they can ask me? Where they live? Doesn’t matter. They’re long gone anyway.”

“Precisely,” he said, his voice taking on a sharper tone. “The terms of Theophanes’ exile were primarily that he would be free from attack or assassination as long as he remained on Earth. The Heliodora is fair game to these people, and the Helians would take it as an act of aggression against them. Do you...”

He shook his head, jabbing the buttons a little too fiercely. “The Helians and the Erebian-Hadeans are the most technologically advanced societies in this solar system. Could you imagine what war between them would be like?”

I shuffled my feet a little bit against the carpeted floor. “Well, no. Probably brutal.”

“Very brutal,” he added, with a sigh.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Whatever Theophanes wishes, I just would like you to be aware that you are in a very precarious situation right now. I wished he would not have spoken to you; that way I could have claimed you had no contact with him after leaving the Heliodora, but now...”

I frowned, sitting back on the bed. “I blame Evania.”

Thanatos chuckled a little bit. “She has no idea. She pays no attention to international disputes. I blame Theophanes. He was always embittered by exile, and all he sees is a chance at returning to his homeland.”

“Can you blame him?”

Thanatos paused to think. “No. I cannot. That does not change the situation.”

The days passed by slowly, punctuated by Thanatos bringing meals like clockwork. He would stay and talk, sometimes longer than others, but in the end he would be forced to leave again, and I would sleep to pass the time. It wasn’t a good idea; it threw my internal clock all off-balance, but what else was there to do? There was a bookshelf there, all filled with books I couldn’t read, and not much else. Falling back onto the bed, stretching out against the luxurious fabric, I nodded off again.

The dreams were still quite strange.

I was awoken by the door opening with a whoosh, and Thanatos stepped in with lunch. It seemed to be lunch anyway, if my watch hadn’t failed me. He set the tray delicately on the night table beside the bed. I sat up slowly, pulling my hair out of my face. Thanatos looked unusually grim, his mouth pressed into a line.

“They wish to talk to you,” he said. “They will be wearing suits to prevent cross-contamination, and they have asked me to...translate.”

“Does it look good?”

He seemed to briefly shake his head before leaving the room. Shit, that wasn’t a good sign. I began to pick at lunch, knowing full well I probably looked even worse off than when I’d arrived–

Whoosh. The door opened. Thanatos was back, flanked by two men who seemed to be considerably shorter than him, covered head-to-toe in a Hazmat suit and a facial mask. All I saw was their eyes, and a bit of their eyebrows – one had a deep brown eyes hidden behind rimless glasses, with a hint of thick reddish eyebrows; the other’s were gray with pale, sparse eyebrows.

“This is Korios,” Thanatos said, gesturing to the gray-eyed man, “and his master, Athanasios. He is the Emperor’s right-hand man, so to speak. They wish to speak with you.”

“About what?”

“What do you think?” Thanatos said quietly. The men stepped inside, awkwardly, and Thanatos introduced me to them (“This is Christine Schumacher, the girl Evania transferred to our custody. I will not have any of your usual disrespect to commoners.”) while they awkwardly seated themselves on whatever was available. I was still eating.

“Parlez-vous français?” Athanasios said, his voice muffled from his mask.

“Um,” I said, struggling to remember all of my disastrous French classes. “Non. Je ne pas parlez...crap, I forget how to make a negative. Parlez-vous anglaise?” I said, dimly remembering Mrs. Dessler asking something similar.

He shook his head. “Non.”

“For your information, Christine, it is ‘je ne parle pas’,” Thanatos said, the tiniest hint of a smile appearing on his otherwise grim face.

“Hey, I haven’t taken French in years,” I said. “How does he speak it?”

“He learned it. For some inexplicable reason several high-ranking members have found it prudent to learn a Romantic language rather than English. I told them you did not speak fluently, but they wished to try. But that is not the point.”

Athanasios said something or other, and it took a moment for the earbuds to work: “We are here, Miss Schumacher, to ask you about a certain couple you may have met.”

I played stupid. “Who?” Thanatos translated.

“They go by the names Ruth and Theophanes Kendrick,” he said. “Have you heard of them?”

“Yes. A little bit.”

After a long pause: “Where did you meet?”

“In my city,” I said. “They run a little shop near my school.”

“So...on Earth?”

“Yes.”

Meanwhile, Korios continued to scribble down everything that was said, as awkward as it was; Thanatos was apparently skilled enough with both languages that he could translate while I was speaking, and hearing several people talking all at once was disorienting, especially since the earbuds were also translating what he was saying, so I was essentially hearing everything in stereo.

“The ship’s captain informs me you have spoken with Theophanes today,” Athanasios said. “Where is he?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

Athanasios’s eyes narrowed a little bit behind his glasses, as if in thought. “Could you guess where they were?”

I could have guessed all right, and guessed that they were probably on the bridge of the Heliodora, or possibly in the privacy of a room somewhere. But I didn’t say that. “I don’t know. There was a long gap between words, so probably far away from us.”

“How long a gap?”

I wasn’t quite expecting that. “I dunno. Half a minute, a minute?”

Korios scribbled it down, and they conversed. Apparently knowing the length of the delay allowed one to calculate the distance, but I was terrible at math, so I had no idea. Shit. Had I given them away?

“They say a Ladowaci was with them,” Athanasios continued. “Did you see him?”

“Um...Ladowaci’s the one with purplish skin, right?”

“Yes,” Thanatos said.

“Yeah, I’ve seen her,” I said. “Why?”

“We wish to return her to her homeland,” he said. “We merely want to know where she might be.”

I had no idea what they were planning now. What did Konstancja have to do with anything? “Probably on Nisekem, still.”

Athanasios and Korios discussed it over, speaking so quietly and rpaidly that the earbuds couldn’t pick it up. Thanatos intervened, speaking so sharply with them that they jumped, looking abashed. Finally, after a few more questions, they left, looking glad to be out of there. Thanatos remained behind, looking more wearied than I’d ever seen him, his face looking less radiant than usual, more...lined than seemed possible.

“What did they say?”

“They want to return Konstancja to her homeland as a sort of publicity stunt. I think even you could predict how well that would go.”

Yeah, I could picture it pretty well. Theophanes and Ruth treated her quite nicely, all things considered, and she still seemed to have disdain for them. Were someone like these two to bring her here it would probably turn very violent, very quickly. I winced at the thought.

“What about Ruth?”

“What about her? They seem to think they are still on Earth somewhere,” he said. “The calculations they are making are only rough estimates. They are...relatively safe for the time being. No, my concern now is Konstancja.”

“Maybe I could be there,” I said. “It might calm her down.”

“Perhaps. I did not suggest such because I did not want to imply that you were close with any of them. But it might make things go...somewhat smoother.”

I winced. “I hope so. She can be...pretty fierce.”

“Indeed. And you have not met her husband!”

“She said her husband was on her planet.”

“He was. But then he left to find her. I cannot say for sure when they will meet, but it will certainly be before the Majestic docks at Nisekem. Yes, you are going back, if for only a short time. I will talk with them; perhaps they can be persuaded yet.”

I didn’t know exactly how persuasive he was, but I was left alone for several more days, and I was beginning to think we weren’t heading for Erebe after all, but back to Nisekem. Still, the days were boring, and with only my thoughts for company, it was very, very dull. Heaviness settled over me by the next day – a panic I couldn’t quite explain. A realisation I was digging myself into something very troubling.

The first, and largest, thing on my mind was Ruth and Theophanes. What the hell had they gotten themselves into, and what the hell was I getting myself into? I had to be very careful with my words, but I didn’t know what they expected. They could have expected something much different from what I was saying. But I couldn’t read minds. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do anymore, except sleep and eat and answer whatever was asked of me. Was that all I was good for to these people? Information?

The next was Eric. Now that I was away from the situation it seemed less urgent, but still...how was he doing? Even if we’d fought just before leaving, that still didn’t change the situation. If anything, it seemed to make it worse; there was no easy way of knowing what was going on. And really, I thought, his situation was worse than mine, all things considered. he stood to have his grandfather -killed- as a result of all this; all I stood was...well, I didn’t know. Maybe I would be killed too. Or jailed. But the threat was less immediate.

Finally, in the middle of breakfast one day, the ship seemed to rumble. It wasn’t very large – not even enough to make a noticeable difference in the milk I was drinking – but the tremor was enough to be felt, ever-so-slightly, underneath my feet. Huh.

“We are docking at Nisekem,” Thanatos informed me, looking up from his book. “The captain has agreed that you may come along.”

“Just me?”

“Athanasios insists on sending Korios with you, and I shall accompany you, but that is it. I wish to keep the party small. It will frighten him less.”

I all but demolished breakfast, wolfing down the eggs, the stew, the bread and cheeses, and standing up. Good. I was getting out of here! Back to the dust, of course, but at least it was something I could claim some kind of familiarity with. Out of the room, out of the ship – I might even see Mama again.

“We are docking at the poles,” Thanatos said. “There will be plenty of time for you to clean yourself up.”

Sure enough, I dimly recognised the place we were at. It wasn’t quite as dark as the last time we’d docked, or at least it didn’t strike me that way, but I still washed up quickly. The shower felt very good after what felt like ages of not having a proper one. My clothes...were still too hot for the place, even with the sleeves rolled up, but we were only going to be there for a little while.

While Korios took his sweet time getting ready, I was all but pacing around like a caged animal waiting for him. Finally he stepped out – without the suit and mask he looked to be a thin wisp of a man, with long ashen blonde hair styled in curls that were rapidly going flat in the heat. His costume was odd; it looked to be like several long robes worn on top of each other – tighter-fitting ones below, looser ones on top, all in pale colours. For his sake I hoped they were made out of an easily washable fabric because I could just tell they were going to get filthy once we reached the capital.

The ride seemed to take no time at all, and before I knew it, I had stepped out into the sunlight, squinting a little bit as the light bounced off the dust and into my eyes, but I knew the place. This was where we’d stepped off the first time. And now, like before, we were ushered into a strange-looking car and whisked off, dust being kicked up around us as we made our way to the brick-and-stone monolith that was the imperial complex.

The place was busy as always; the guards milled about in their uniforms, other people walked about in their one-shouldered gowns, or sometimes less than that; clay jars and animals and food were being brought to places. With everyone talking, animals making their own noises, and sounds of construction, it was loud. Beside me, Korios said something, but I couldn’t even catch what it was over top all the noises. I almost liked the noise; it was almost soothing with its’ vague familiarity.

Korios seemed to know where he was going, so I followed him, passing by the area where I had been placed in to enter a part of the complex itself. It was cooler in the building, although the area seemed to have the same sort of shabbiness as the outside. We started walking again, the hem of his robes trailing on the stone floor.

“We require Seski-nan’s permission before we may extradite her,” Thanatos explained, quietly, as we walked through the cool halls. “Due to the...unusual circumstances, not even Evania has that power.”

“But she has the power to kick me out,” I said sourly.

“Mm,” he said, in thought. “Yes. It is complicated to explain, but let me just say that Konstancja has more...protections placed upon her than someone of Earth.”

It must have been complicated, all right.

There was a subtle change as we wove through the maze of hallways – they were quickly getting to be much nicer looking, less shabby. The brick of the – as Thanatos informed me – storehouses and servant’s quarters – was quickly giving way to brick overlaid with some kind of stucco. And on top of the stucco was paintings – lots of them, in all sorts of different colours, ranging from what were supposed to be scenes of nature, to what looked to be mythological figures, to people engaged in varying tasks: picking fruit, fishing, extracting oils, dancing. It was brilliant to look at; all of the pictures had a vague stylistic similarity to the ones in the book, but I didn’t think too hard upon that. It was enough just to look at them.

There was another subtle shift as we approached another portion of the complex, after what felt to be an eternity walking – two armed guards were there, wearing a beige uniform and holding large phasers, the kind that required two hands to hold properly.

“Stop!” one of them said. “What is your name and business?”

“I am Korios of Erebe, servant to Athanasios the Lawmaker. I request an audience with her holiness Seski-nan.”

The female guard eyed me over with suspicion, her grip tightening on the barrel of her gun. “And who are the others?”

“I am Thanatos,” Thanatos said, “You would know me better as ‘He who has come from the dust’. I am accompanying Christine and Korios for their safety.”

Then it was my turn: “I’m Christine Schumacher. I’m...coming along with them.”

I must speak with her holiness,” she said, summoning another guard to take her place as she ducked into the chamber.

“Where are we?” I muttered to Thanatos.

“In one of the oldest parts of the building,” he said. “We are close to her throne room, and require her permission to enter.”

I glanced around. It certainly looked different than any of the other parts; the walls had taken on another, grander style of art; relief were etched into the walls, rows upon rows of stiffly saluting people, sometimes painted. It didn’t have the spontaneity of some of the other portions of the place. I waited there; feeling awkward as the two guards eyes us down, suspicion apparent within their eyes. I shifted my weight from foot to foot. Finally, the stone door slid open and the female guard re-emerged.

“She has granted you permission,” she said, “but only for a brief moment. Follow me.”

Korios went first; Thanatos was behind me, and it was just as well, for when I entered the room I stopped and gaped. It was easily the most lavish part of the place; a large mosaic covered the floor in a rich, colourful pattern. Frescoes were on the wall alongside rows of etched reliefs, each one of them staring down at me with dark stony eyes. What had to have been a throne was there, raised above the rest of the court by a series of steps. But there were curtains there, and combined with the unusual source of light (a hole in the ceiling), I didn’t get a good look at her. Damn.

“Do you mind, Christine?” Thanatos said mildly. “It is not good to linger.”

I shuffled forward, trying to fill the gap between Korios and I, and finally he stopped about twenty feet from the foot of the stairs and bowed respectfully. Feeling a pressure between my shoulder blades, Thanatos pushed me down slightly into a bow. He didn’t bow himself, staring up at the curtains with a look I couldn’t place.

“Why do you request a meeting?” a raspy voice said from behind the curtain. I was surprised. It had been in perfect, if not accented, English. Korios looked nervous suddenly, his gray eyes glancing to me for translation.

“Seski-nan,” Thanatos said in sing-song, “I would switch to divine-tongue if I were you. Korios does not speak English.”

“She does,” Seski-nan said. “I read her testimony at the trial.”

“And she has the necessary implants to understand divine-tongue,” Thanatos said. “Korios?”

He seemed to have his confidence bolstered: “Emperor Theophilos requests you transfer custody of the Ladowaci Constance—”

“Konstancja,” I said quietly to him.

“—to Erebe. We wish to return her to her homeland.”

There was a hoarse, raspy laugh from behind the curtain. “You mean you want her back in her homeland. I don’t even know who she is.”

“She was brought on the Heliodora from Earth,” Thanatos said lazily. “If my knowledge is correct, a Ladowaci man claiming to be her husband is currently imprisoned. I request you release him as well.”

“Hmph. I should have been born Erebian. You seem to have knowledge of everything. Very well. What does the girl want?”

“Nothing,” Korios said before I could even say anything myself; I felt a spasm of annoyance. “She is merely accompanying me to soothe the Ladowaci.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” he said.

There was a long pause. “Very well. Give me a moment to sign the papers.”

“The Emperor thanks you for your graciousness,” Korios said, bowing low.

“Of course he does,” she said drily. After a moment, the female guard was summoned and then dispatched again, holding a small sheet of paper. We were then whisked out, back through the colourful hallways to the courtyard, the woman leading us over to a certain room. She knocked hard; the door rattled in its’ frame.

It opened, and I found myself facing an irked Konstancja, her braid falling over her back, Albasthó in her arms. He was currently sleeping, his pudgy little hands held near his face.

She said something that translated to, apparently, “what the hell do you want?”

“We have orders to transfer you to Erebian custody,” Korios snapped.

Konstancja laughed outright at this. “Go on. Try and drag me there. I dare you.”

Korios shot an irritated glare at me, the kind that says ‘well, go on and do whatever it is to calm her down’, before stepping aside. Konstancja still looked amused, arching an eyebrow at me.

“You going to drag me there?” she said in her usual clipped English.

“No,” I said truthfully. “I’m not that stupid.”

She smirked. “Good one of you have sense. What does robed demon want?”

I dropped my voice. “Listen, I’ve heard more than one person say that...well...your husband’s being kept in custody here. If you come along maybe you can–”

An instant change came over her demeanour; half excitement, and half anger that I’d never seen. “When do this happen?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “They want to take you back to Ladowac—”

“What they want is person to make them look good,” Konstancja snapped, adjusting her grip on her son. “That is what they do – manipulate. Manipulate me with talk of husband, manipulate you with something I not know...”

She paused to think about it for a moment, her pale eyes gazing somewhere far off; when she spoke again, it was in sing-song: “You will take me to the place where this man is being kept. If he turned out to be my husband then I shall come and co-operate with you. If not I will return to where I am, and if anyone tries to raise a hand against me I will show you how we people-of-the-blue-cloth treat aggressors.”

It wasn’t a suggestion. It was an order.

“You’d better do what she says,” I said. “I don’t wanna see her angry.”

Korios sighed.

The prison was cool, like the inside of the palace, and underground. Dim yellowy lights lit the path and gave enough light to see, but it was still extremely dim compared to the outside, ad it took a long moment for my eyes to adjust to the sudden shift. Konstancja seemed to be torn between trailing behind Korios and leading the way; eventually she opted for walking beside me, which was incredibly difficult considering the narrowness of the hallway.

There was a curious pattern to the cells set into the rock – it seemed like the less violent or dangerous ones were kept closer to the outside, to sunlight and relatively fresh air, while the more dangerous ones were kept deeper in, into the heart of the place. I tried not to shudder, although that could have been merely Thanatos’ presence. More than likely it was the fact that prisoners surrounded us. I kept my gaze steadily on Korios’ back. It was a rule not to make eye contact with anyone there.

We didn’t seem to be too deep into the place, as I saw signs with arrows going further still into the pit. A guard was summoned, and the bars of the cell were tapped loudly; the clanging noise it made was enough to draw everyone’s attention, let alone the man in the cell. After a long pause the man stood, stepping forward a little bit with a sneer on his face, dust covering his dark and worn clothing.

Compared to Thanatos, or even Korios, he wasn’t that tall, but he was taller than me (which, in itself, was nothing to really boast about; I’d met twelve-year olds who were taller than me) and decidedly Ladowaci. I couldn’t quite tell what colour his skin was tinged – either a cool grey or a pale blue – but it certainly wasn’t the peachy tones we had. He was even more tattooed than Konstancja, geometric patterns going across his face and eyes like a mask; more were inked on his fingers, which were playing with the fringe on a long, embroidered sash he wore around his waist.

“What do you bastards want?” he rasped at Korios. We were still behind him, and I supposed with the rather poor lighting and the sheer girth of Korios’ robe, he was having trouble seeing us.

Korios sneered right back. “We found that broad of yours,” he said. “We’ll bring her to you if you submit quietly to Erebian custody.”

Beside me, Konstancja’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t immediately move, her eyes scrutinizing the man through the darkness.

The man laughed, a barking laugh that echoed off the small walls. “Yeah, I’ve heard that one plenty before. Prove it.”

“You don’t want to see your child?” Korios said. “She had a baby while she was gone.”

The man’s smile faded; he looked angrier. “Prove. It.”

Konstancja leaned close to me: “You comfortable with babies?”

“Um, I guess so,” I whispered.

“Then here,” she said, thrusting her son into my arms. Feeling awkward, I struggled to support him properly. He fidgeted a little in his sleep, but didn’t wake. Finally getting a grip on the small bundle, I saw Konstancja reach down to her leg, pulling out a small dagger that I hadn’t known she’d owned, the blade glinting in the light. Uh-oh. I remembered the idea of the confrontation turning real violent, real fast, and I hoped this wasn’t going to end badly—

“Ah, there’s the catch, isn’t it?” Korios preened. “The girl – for she is a girl, isn’t she – is firmly within Erebian custody and I can’t go and get her. You will have to come with me if you want proof – shi—”

Konstancja had seized Korios by the curls, tugging on them hard enough to make his head snap back with a sickening crick noise; he let out a high-pitched shriek while she reached up, effortlessly and without hesitation, to press the blade against his throat, a vein throbbing just under the skin. I had a baby in my hands, and I couldn’t do anything, but Thanatos didn’t look too inclined to step in.

“Here is your damned proof, you lying bastard,” she growled at him, pressing the blade further still; the skin wasn’t broken, but the vein throbbed even more noticeably and he stiffened up, failing to move, speak, and even his breathing had become shallow.

This was all the proof the man needed: “Konstancja?”

She didn’t release her grip on her hostage, instead turning to the man in the cell and squinting through the darkness. “Silaboru?”

It was an odd scene – the expression on her face changed from outright anger to sheer ecstasy in less than five seconds, but she was still pressing the blade to Korios’ throat. Silaboru (what a strange name) reached through the bars to clasp her wrists in his large, stained hands.

“You heard the bitch,” Korios said, trying to summon up courage. “There’s your proof. Let me go or else I’ll throw the both of you in prison!”

“You idiot,” Konstancja said. “I would welcome prison if I was with him.”

There was a very long pause. Then finally, the pressure lightened and Konstancja slowly released him, giving him a look of utter contempt; he was worth less than a bug squished under her shoe. Her and her husband stood there, only the bars of the prison between them, looking utterly thrilled – thrilled beyond words that they’d found each other. I was still reeling from the fact that he had seen his wife press a knife to a guy’s throat and wasn’t creeped out. If anything he had seemed to enjoy it. I didn’t think I would ever understand her or him.

“You let him out,” she commanded to Korios. “You have your damn orders, make use of them.”

Silaboru was released with much wariness on the part of all involved – the guard who was shown the orders looked outright shocked, and Korios made perfectly sure that there was someone between him and them as we headed back up the tunnel into sunlight. All the while they were talking in low tones between them in a language the translator didn’t translate; the shock of it seemed to finally hit her, and I swore I saw tears glistening on her face as we reached sunlight.

Finally, once we were out on the street again, she turned to me and thanked me before reclaiming Albasthó. Yes, those were definitely tears on her face, as much as she was ignoring them. She then turned back to face her brown-haired husband, clutching the baby close to her. I felt a hand touch my elbow; the shudder alone let me know whom it was.

“We should let them be,” he said. “They need time to...re-connect.”

Even as we walked off into another area, I saw Konstancja showing him his son, and saw a momentary look of shock cross his lined face before my attention was distracted. We were walking briskly throughout the square, where vendors hawked wares – they seemed to be leftover from the palace; I recognised the design on some of the pots. Oils, bolts of cloth, grain – it seemed to be anything and everything. Not a lot of people seemed to be buying. We perched ourselves on the remains of an old wall not far off; Korios looked relieved at the distance.

“Crazy bastards,” he said. “I don’t even know why they’re protected. They’re utter savages.”

“Are you hungry?” Thanatos said. “I think there is a food vendor amongst the stalls.”

“At the beggar’s market?” Korios sniffed. “I would rather go hungry.”

“I was speaking to Christine,” he said pointedly. “Some people have less discriminating palates.”

“I’m not that bad,” I said, even as my stomach rumbled. It seemed the mere mention of food was enough to allow me to remember I was hungry, even though I hadn’t been before.

Leaving Korios by the wall, who was taking a long swig from a canister he had, Thanatos led me through the few people that were there; up close, they looked to be on the poorer side: they weren’t wearing any Earth clothing, and what they were wearing had a very worn, patched look to it. Combined with the lined, thin faces, I had an idea of why this was called the beggar’s market.

Sure enough, there was a food stall there, selling what looked to be bread and soup. This had to have been the Nisekem’s answer to a soup kitchen; people were lined up and got a bowl of soup and a hunk of break for something I couldn’t quite see. A token of some sort, or perhaps some very low-value coin. When it was our – my – turn, Thanatos reached into a pocket I hadn’t realised was there and tossed a few silvery coins on the counter. He and the man talked – man, these earbuds were only really good for sing-song. It must have been the English of these societies, or something like that – and after a moment I was given soup and bread as well, along with a glass of a pale-coloured drink. When we headed back to the wall, I trying to keep a hold of my food, I took a sip. Some kind of juice.

“It’s a fruit juice of some sort,” Thanatos said when I’d asked. “Apple, I believe. It helps ward off scurvy.”

“How do people still get scurvy?”

“This land is not designed for human life,” he said. “There have been outbreaks of scurvy, in the past, due to lack of available sources of Vitamin C.”

“Oh,” I said. This didn’t seem like a great place to live. I all but wolfed down the food, Korios looking mildly disgusted at my lack of table manners, but there wasn’t really a table at which to have manners so who cared? I didn’t. The food was nourishing, and that was all that I cared about.

“Are they done yet?” Korios said. “I want to be getting back to the Majestic soon. Athanasios doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“All the more incentive to stay,” Thanatos said. “Athanasios could stand to learn a little patience.”

After a long while, Konstancja sought us out again, looking more sombre than before, her jaw set into a line and her eyes cold. Silaboru was at her side, clutching the baby close to him, while she fondled something in her hands. It was a sash, much like the one her husband wore, but much smaller. He didn’t seem to be too unhappy with her or the baby, rocking him back and forth and alternating between looking at him and looking at her.

“I suppose you want us to go now,” she said, her voice bland.

Korios looked relieved, running a hand through his hair, which had now become completely flat and uncurled. “Yes. Don’t make a fuss, now – remember what I said about prison.”

“What did I say about patience?” Thanatos said lightly. “Have you ever seen Anu-mulki in such detail?”

“No,” was the response; there was an odd mixture of nervousness and annoyance in his features. “I don’t care to, either.”

“I suggest we stay just for a little while longer,” Thanatos said, his face looking a little more radiant in the light. “It will kill neither Theophilos nor Athanasios to wait.”

Konstancja flinched.

There was something suspicious about the way the whole thing had been set up. I was encouraged to walk around, to see the sights and smells of the place, of vendors screeching and spices perfuming the air. But why? I had seen it once, that was enough to give me an idea of the place, and...

Off in the distance, two men wearing pure black wheeled something along the road, kicking up a cloud of dust that stained their billowy robes. Feeling curious, I felt myself walk towards it – just to see what they were carrying, after all, and then I could go back and meet up with the group again...

The wheels of the cart groaned as they moved, and it became immediately apparent, once I was only a short distance closer, that it was a body bag, and they two men were undoubtedly coroners. Oh. I felt a little bit of nausea overcome me, and I turned away, not wishing to look too hard at the sight. It seemed distasteful. Voyeuristic.

Just beyond the market was more ruins – bits of walls that had crumbled away, mostly; some smaller buildings were about the area, but they didn’t seem to be very important, just lying there in a state of semi-decay. But near one of the walls, sitting squarely on the sticky dust that permeated everything, was a figure with reddish hair. I squinted. Was that...?

Eric sat near another section of crumbled away wall, his back to me, a finger automatically and mindlessly twirling the chain around and around. Dust covered his clothes, and when I quietly approached, farther away from the noise and bustle of the market, I saw he was staring at something. My eyes followed his gaze, but it appeared to be focused on nothing in particular. He was staring at the black sky, or at a building, or at nothing at all; either way, he was staring into space, and the effect was quite...disturbing.

My feet made soft shuffling noises against the sand, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if he couldn’t hear me. He was in his own little world there, and there didn’t seem to be anything that was going to bring him out of it. Even though no words had been exchanged, I felt a horrible twisting sensation in my gut. No. No, it couldn’t have been. It had only been what, a week? That wasn’t enough time to do a damn DNA test like they’d promised.

“Eric?” I said softly. He jerked violently, seeming to snap out of his daze for only a brief moment; his head whipped around impossibly fast and he glared at me, his dark eyes hateful – until he seemed to recognise me, and only then did his face soften into a defeated weariness. I tried not to shudder; that other look on his face had been...terrifying in a way I couldn’t quite describe.

“Hey Christine,” he said, his voice dull.

“Jesus,” I said. “You look awful.”

“I feel awful,” he said shortly, turning back to me. Then, after a long pause, “I heard you were taken to Erebian custody.”

“Yeah,” I said. “They brought me back to deal with Konstancja for them.”

He made a noise that was supposed to be a laugh, but sounded more like a cough. My insides continued to twist themselves painfully as I kneeled down carefully, trying to avoid getting dust even more on my clothing.

He looked even worse close-up; rings under his eyes said he hadn’t been sleeping, and his gaze seemed as unfocused as ever. I wondered vaguely if he was drunk. His words weren’t slurred. But still, there was something disturbing about his condition, and it was enough to make me forget about anything we’d fought about – the whole argument we’d had was stupid anyway, and a moot point now. So there was nothing I could be angry with him about now; just scared and worried.

There was another long pause between us. “What happened?” I said, my voice barely audible over the bustle of the market behind us.

He turned to look at me again, his eyes seeming to focus, for once, though they were sad and very tired. If it were even possible, my innards had seemed to reach a peak; I felt a stab of nervous pain in my gut and tried not to be nauseous. Even though I was denying it up and down – no, no, it couldn’t happen that quickly; something was fudged along the line – I thought the words before he even spoke them, though he was blunter than I was.

“Pop. He’s dead.”