Page 66 of Tears of Tungsten
Now
My sister was alive. My sister was alive and she was a captive of the apsids. No… She was an apsid. How could this be? Another experiment of The Grand Judiciary? It was the only explanation, but still, it didn’t make any sense.
“Stella?” I asked numbly. “Stella, is that you?”
“Yes,” she replied, and her voice held the same thick regret she’d displayed when I’d abandoned her in that strange surreal space where we’d met before. “Or at least, that was who I was.”
“And who are you now?” August asked. “Is this some kind of game or a joke? Because I warn you, we’re not joking.”
“No matter who you are, we will go through you to get to Selene,” Knox growled.
I believed him, and as much as it pained me, I didn’t disagree with him. The mere idea of having to harm my sister threatened to send me into a panic attack, but I forced myself to shut down any emotions that would represent an obstacle for me. “Don’t try to stop us, Stella. I will fight you if I have to.”
Stella didn’t answer, but the male pilot of her crystallized unit did. “That won’t be necessary. The Great Mother has given you permission to enter Eos, as long as you’re peaceful and you cooperate.”
It was a little too good to be true, but it was a better option than trying to engage the army of apsids in combat and attacking my sister on top of that. As such, I wasn’t surprised when Brendan agreed. “Very well. We’ll go. But be advised that should you try to deceive us, we will take the appropriate steps.”
Once we reached a truce, the other crystallized units fell easily in line with Stella’s. The male pilot seemed to have some degree of authority over the others, because nobody questioned him. They weren’t mad at us for the damage we’d already done to their fellows. Since the others had accepted this strange turn of events, I decided to go along with it too.
If nothing else, I doubted Stella would lead me to my doom. I hadn’t truly seen her in years, but when we’d spoken, she’d shown me the same affection she’d always displayed toward me before. I had to trust her a little too, even if I didn’t trust anyone else here.
“It’s going to be fine, Pollux,”Scylla said.“Let’s face it. Chances are that, if they’d wanted to kill you, the apsids would have sent far more units after us. Charybdis might have thrown them off balance, but her skill wouldn’t have been enough to really get us through.”
“Yes, I know. It was a fool’s hope from the beginning, I suppose. But we just have to keep hoping and trying.”
Flanked by the crystallized units, we headed deeper into the black hole, heading toward the singularity. A small part of me felt excited at the prospect of finally visiting the apsid world, because on some level, I’d always been curious about their planet. Now that we knew August had an apsid ancestry, it seemed even more important.
I had no idea what I expected to find, but it certainly wasn’t something that looked very much like a city. It just popped up in front of us when we emerged from the currents of energy around the event horizon, taking us completely by surprise. The Scylla’s sensors went crazy, to the point where I wondered if the settlement had even been there before.
“I think we have bigger problems,” Scylla said. “I suddenly don’t feel that optimistic about this anymore.”
It wasn’t difficult to tell what was making her anxious. She was fine with the floating buildings, the strange vehicles, the glowing plants, and cut off walkways. But the spire we could see in the distance screamed power on a level neither of us could deny.
“I have a feeling that’s where we’re supposed to go,” Brendan said through the coms, “and whatever is waiting for us, it’s bad news.”
“That might be true, but I think that’s also where Selene is,” Knox pointed out, “and in the end, that’s what matters.”
It really was as easy as that. Just like we’d launched ourselves into the quasar without questioning it, we continued our flight toward the spire.
The crystallized units finally landed in front of the structure. As soon as their ‘feet’ made contact with the ground—or whatever passed for ground here—they dissipated, and their pilots emerged from inside. Naturally, the first person I zeroed in on was Stella, but her companions were pretty shocking too. Leaving aside the inhuman ones, which didn’t surprise me that much after the descriptions I’d received from the others, one particular pilot stood out. “Is that who I think it is?” I asked through the coms.
“Yeah, it’s him,” August said. “I almost thought I was seeing things earlier when I realized it, but it seems like the apsids have a lot of surprises to throw at us.”
Knox cursed viciously. “Suddenly, things make far more sense than before. That fucker took her for himself.”
Jared Glass. He was the key to all this. Even leaving aside that damn bet, he’d always seemed much too interested in Selene. Selene had been very troubled by his death and by their conversation in the labyrinth.
Just how much time had Jared had at his disposal to force Selene to see things his way? It could have been years. And considering how betrayed she’d felt when we’d been separated, anything could have happened.
“It’s all right,” Brendan said. “Don’t panic. Even if he is trying to steal her from us, we’ll just have to find a way to convince her to take us back.”
It was easier said than done, but at this point, freaking out wouldn’t help us. Besides, the important thing was that we were here. We’d gotten through the defenses of the apsids. All signs pointed to the fact that Selene was alive. My sister seemed fine too, and the apsids seemed inclined to at least hear us out.
Maybe this wasn’t so hopeless.
With that in mind, I opened the cockpit of the Scylla and jumped out. My fellow Chimera Warriors were doing the same thing and together, we made our way to the group of apsids. None of us addressed the most glaring issue—the fact that both my sister and Jared were alive. It was better to prioritize and see to Selene’s well-being first.
“The Great Mother will see you now,” Stella said. “Be careful. Don’t say or do anything stupid. You aren’t on Tartarus anymore.”
