In the gathering dark, his gaze narrowed as he took in all of the people present. There were a dozen soldiers, all of them watching the ship leave. General Intoshkin and Captain Parker were speaking together in low tones. Thammah was somewhat in their circle. She cast a meaningful look at him and tilted her head slightly to Captain Parker and the general. Whatever the two were discussing, he was likely not to enjoy it. Where had Jace gone?
His gaze was back upon Colonel Parker. “It was the best. What needed to be done… needed to be done with alacrity. If Jace stopped to speak with you and answer all of your questions–”
“I know,” her voice was hoarse. She rubbed her face with both hands as if to clean away the emotion. “But now he’s gone!”
Khoth checked his suit’s system. No sign of Jace or Gehenna. Their signatures were being hidden from the system. That meant that Jace had done this intentionally. There was no one and nothing on Earth that could have harmed Jace or taken him away now that the Khul ships were gone. The Osiris wouldn’t have allowed that in any case. It was still unclear if the Osiris had been behind the Khul ship ascending to the Hive, but what was certain was that the ship now had no intention of Jace being harmed.
“He is not in danger, Colonel–”
“Diane,” she corrected him. Her gaze became serious as she focused on him. “I can tell that Jace has taken to you. That he’s influenced by you. So if you’re going to be that close to my family, you can call me by my first name.”
Khoth inclined his head after a moment. He felt that by using her first name she was making their connection stronger. It would be harder for him to betray her. And she was right. Calling her “Diane” and then taking her son away… well, it would be hard. But he had done many hard things in his time.
“Perhaps he has gone back to the Osiris,” Khoth suggested, even as he knew that was not where Jace had gone.
It was actually the last place Jace would go if he read the young man right at all. Jace was still half convinced the Osiris had sandbagged them. Not telling Jace what it was planning showed it didn’t care about Jace’s agency in all of this as the Pilot. By staying away, Jace was punishing the ship in the only way he knew how. Besides, after all that had happened, the upheaval to Jace’s Xi and Xa that day, Jace needed something familiar and trustworthy. Someplace safe. The Osiris wasn’t that in Jace’s eyes right now.
But still, he lied, “That is one place where it would be difficult to track him. He wanted to have a word with the Osiris after all.”
She nodded and bit her lower lip. “Yes, I’ll try there. If General Intoskin realizes that Jace is missing… he wants to debrief him. We need to find Jace.”
Khoth nodded, but she was already turning and striding off. His gaze slid to Thammah. The Flight Commander was making frantic movements with her hands towards the general and Jace’s father now. He realized that they were about to do something very foolish, likely towards him. Khoth would not be there for them to do it.
He brought the helmet of his suit up and turned on the suit’s camouflage option. He did not exactly become invisible, but it was close. People would see a blur if he moved, but if he remained still he would become one with the landscape. But he was moving and it was dark so he was a dark blur that zipped off into the night that no one noticed. He requested the address and directions to where he thought Jace had gone.
Where are you going? Thammah’s text came up on his HUD.
Going after Jace. Keep them looking for us around the Osiris, he informed her.
Where’s Jace? Jace is missing?!!!! Thammah’s use of the human exclamation point was similar to Gehenna’s.
He is not missing. He has merely gone home, Khoth told her. Keep the others away from there.
Huh. From what people are saying here, I don’t think they’ve even considered he’d go back to his house, Thammah admitted. Amazing that you–who has only just met him–knows him so well already.
Was there some kind of teasing in this statement? There seemed to be. Khoth cocked an eyebrow up at it even as he moved as swiftly as the wind down Sunrise’s darkened streets. There were no lights on in the houses. No children played in the yards. No adults congregated at the outside tables and spoke in low tones. Every single person in Sunrise had been taken into Area 67 for “debriefing” and containment. There was a three-day infection window when it would become clear whether someone had been infested with larvae or not.
Khoth wondered if there weren’t infected people in the population. The Khul had been known to infect individuals and set them loose to infect others rather than taking them directly to their ships. Part of him considered advising General Intoshkin that the best course might be to euthanize all of the people who could have come in contact with the Khul, civilian or military. He had not had the heart to tell Jace this option for he feared the young man would break earlier.
He could still remember how Jace had stood in the last vessel and closed his eyes. Tears had squeezed out of them as the young man had whispered, “Let there be no death. Let there be eternal life.”
I will see to Jace’s needs before the Ashaton arrives, Khoth told Thammah. You must keep the others occupied until then.
There was “silence” over the HUD. There was only a blinking cursor and he could practically feel Thammah debating with herself over whether to tell him what she really felt or simply defy him.
Flight Commander Pyrrhus, he began then stopped as he thought of Colonel Parker making him use her first name. Thammah, I am doing what is best, not only for the majority, but for Jace. Do you think that his mental health is best served being made to relive what happened to those people in the Hive? Telling it again and again and again?
How bad was it? She asked.
Bad is a term that has no meaning, he reminded her.
This was a human word that was so amorphous as to be useless, and yet, despite what he had just said to her, he understood why it was used then. It had been quite “bad” in the Hive.
Jace found aliens exist, he fought them, he became the Pilot, and then he went and destroyed a Hive with you in one day, Thammah listed out the bare minimum of what Jace had been through that day. You’re right. He needs a break. I’ll do what I have to in order to give you time to make him as right as you can. But, Khoth…
Here she was using his first name and the pause held a peculiar effect. He almost felt her hand on the front of his suit, gripping it and him, bringing his face even with hers. Eye to eye. It was a mental impression only, but it felt real.
Don’t let the Rule of Duuskukeh get in the way of doing what’s right, she ended the connection.
