Page 39 of Souls of Steel
No, Selene was very stubborn and stood her ground, no matter what. In that respect, she and Stella were nothing alike. My sister had been delicate, like a fragile greenhouse flower. It had been so easy for The Grand Judiciary to extinguish her spark. Selene’s Terran background might give her a better chance. Or it might damn her. It was too soon to tell.
“Look, if push comes to shove and she loses, we’ll take her off Tartarus and hide her somewhere,” August continued. “The bet isn’t a legal contract. She’ll have to drop out of the school, yes, but we already knew that was the best course of action. She can return to Terra or if that doesn’t work, we’ll find her a different hiding spot.”
He had a point. Most of our families were rich. Knox’s parents didn’t like him much, but he never lacked money. They probably wouldn’t blink an eye if he used a large amount of credits to buy a miniature asteroid or something.
King Philip was a little more difficult to fool, but Brendan had always been resourceful. If it was necessary, he’d intervene. I’d prefer to not have to turn to my father, but I’d do it if I absolutely had to.
In any case, I couldn’t stay here and hide like a coward. I had to face reality. Seeking refuge with Scylla was all well and good, but I didn’t have time to fall apart, not now. “You’re right. Sorry. I panicked.”
“There’s no need to apologize. Now, we need a plan for the tournament. What do we do?”
It was a good question. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Selene wasn’t ready for a Grand Tartarus Tournament. Yes, she was powerful and she’d made good progress throughout the past couple of weeks. I’d believed that Professor Trevor would soon introduce Shuttle Piloting in her curriculum and a Tachyon Firearms class had been imminent. But those had all been plans for the future. Selene had power, but it was unpolished, like a rough diamond. As long as that was the case, she couldn’t participate in such an important competition.
But she’d already made her decision and had agreed to that stupid bet on top of that. There was only one conclusion we could draw.
“She needs our help. We have to at least get her through the qualifiers.”
August nodded. “It’ll be easier if we know what they want us to do. I wonder if we can find out in some way.”
Together, we left the Scylla and jumped outside, into the empty hangars. We headed back to the dorms, where we hoped we’d find some answers and guidance.
As it turned out, Brendan was already three steps ahead of us. When we got to our room, we found him and Knox already bent over the holographic reports of previous tournaments. “I’ve started looking into the nature of the qualifiers. Father knows, I’m sure of it, but he’d never tell me, and I’d never ask. But I have some eyes and ears at court and that’ll give me some idea of what we’ll be facing. In any case, we can already make some guesses based on what the qualifiers have been about in the past. I doubt they’d add variety just for Selene’s sake.”
“So automatic chimeras and drones?” I asked.
“Among other things, yes. Apsid simulators too.” He flipped through the data floating in front of him. “Five tournaments ago, there was a Terran simulator, but they’re not likely to use that with Selene around.”
“This is ridiculous,” Knox grumbled under his breath. “Honestly, Brendan, I know it’s unusual for her to be here, but to go so far? To schedule a tournament just for her? It’s insane.”
“So is breeding our women with apsids, and The Grand Judiciary has done that too,” I reminded him.
He froze and stared at me like I’d just sprouted a second head. I never spoke about what had happened to Stella and they did me the courtesy of never mentioning it either. I couldn’t help but say it now, because they had to acknowledge the severity of these events.
“That’s not going to happen again, Pollux,” August said fiercely. “We won’t let it.”
I wanted to believe him, but in our world, good intentions weren’t enough for a good outcome. Women were tools and not chimera tamers. Our families were murderers and we were just as guilty of their crimes.
One day, we’d undoubtedly have to pay the price for everything we’d done. But not yet. For now, I still had a goal and a dream. I still had a battle to fight, and I would die before I let Selene get caught in the crossfire.
The Tournament Begins
Selene
A week wasn’t a lot of time to prepare for the tournament, and it passed with striking speed. Despite their original reaction, my lovers proved to be supportive. Brendan had started looking into possible options for the first test. We practiced my tachyon manipulation together every day and continued my lessons on hand-to-hand combat training.
Brendan and the others were concerned about my lack of experience with firearms. They weren’t allowed to teach me anything new themselves and weaponry would undoubtedly be needed in the tournament. Although they were willing to break the rules for my sake, we ended up finding a better solution.
The first time I held a phaser pistol in my hand, it felt too heavy and alien. The tachyon manipulation technique required to use it was much too complex. I didn’t try to shoot it, fearing that I’d end up blowing up my own hand.
“Using a phaser for the tournament is out of the question,” August said when I explained my problem. “You need another weapon.”
“How about a sword?” I suggested. “Do you have that here?”
They did, although they didn’t use weapons like that often. Tungsten swords had fallen out of fashion a century or so ago, when the space force had begun relying far more on long distance firearms like phasers. Even so, the equipment had been preserved in the storage of the base and it was easy enough to procure one for me.
My lovers were naturally doubtful about my choice. “Do you know how to use one?” Knox asked as he handed the blade over. “This doesn’t seem like the best idea.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve had practice with swords when I was on Earth and I’ve learned enough tachyon manipulation to adjust.”
