8
Aiden
The trip to Atlantook three hours, as opposed to the six Aiden had to endure in order to get to the hideout the first time around. The Maine dropped them off at the decommissioned weather station, where the transit shuttle Bea had sourced was waiting. For the rest of the journey, he and Darren sat in the lounge area, him scanning through satellite images of the areas that had once constituted the Royal Palace and the Valrais Estates, and Darren staring at news on his tablet. When he wasn’t skimming through updates on the state of the world, he’d glance in Aiden’s direction and occasionally their gazes would clash and Aiden wouldn’t be able to look away until Darren himself broke eye contact.
That part of the journey, fortunately, didn’t last long, giving Aiden’s stomach a break from the fluttering butterflies that seemed to live there. Once Bea dropped them off and they entered Atlan Spaceport’s interior, the crowds of travelers immediately swallowed them. The thousands of people made it easy for them to blend in. And since they had three hours tokill and Aiden wasn’t up to the task of eating yet, they opted for pretend-shopping until their gate was called.
Thanks to Bea’s connections, their seats were first class, which meant more space and a glassed-off cubicle to give them some semblance of privacy, even if they could still overhear the rumble of conversations around them. Food was also included, though with his stomach still quirky, Aiden only braved the fruit since he probably needed something if he wanted to avoid feeling nauseated for the entirety of the fifteen-hour flight to Earth. Apples, bananas and melon seemed to agree with him best.
“Here.” Darren nudged his fruit bowl Aiden’s way, not having touched it.
Aiden scowled at it and pushed it back to Darren’s side of the pull-down table. He was still a bit hungry, but it wasn’t Darren’s problem that his stomach couldn’t handle much right now.
Darren threw him a quizzical look. “Just take the fruit, Kesley. You’ve barely eaten since yesterday.”
Aiden opened his mouth to argue, then shut it, embarrassed that Darren had noticed something like that. “I’m not hungry,” he mumbled and averted his gaze, not able to handle this kind of concern coming from Darren right now.
Darren sighed and grabbed his bowl. Just as Aiden was sure he’d drop the issue, he dumped the contents into Aiden’s bowl, leaned back into his chair, and started watching something on his tablet. Aiden felt like a petulant child that had just been scolded, but making a bigger issue of this than he had already was just silly. Plus, he was sure Darren wouldn’t take no for an answer, so stifling the annoyance down, he ate the fruit. Somewhat sated, he relaxed in his own seat and watched the blackness outside his window.
When a stewardess woke Aiden up upon docking at the spaceport in Chicago, his head was on Darren’s shoulder and Darren’s head was resting on top of his because, evidently, at some point, both of them had drifted off.
The sleepy and slightly awkward smile that slid on Darren’s face when he pulled away to stretch and collect his belongings made Aiden’s heart beat a little faster. He didn’t know what to do about it, or how to stop it, or if he could even if he turned to that hate he carried for Darren, so he focused all his attention on gathering his own bag and thus avoided thinking about the reasons behind his reaction. Or how it went beyond the civil tolerance he’d settled for so they could cohabit together while trying to take Marcus down.
Thinking of Claudia’s father had Aiden remembering her too, her smiles and her laughter and the secret she’d kept from him. Would Marcus know why? And even if he did, would he tell Aiden if he had the chance to ask? Given his last encounter with the man, Aiden didn’t think a conversation was likely if they ran into each other, and in fact, he hoped they wouldn’t, at least until Darren was ready.
Aiden followed Darren out of the space shuttle and then through ID control. Just like the one in Atlan, the spaceport in Chicago was massive and teeming with people despite the early morning. Colorful shop fronts and food outlets dominated the seven levels, with relaxation zones and entertainment areas popping up here and there to reestablish the gray and silver of the sleek décor. Angular shapes and minimalistic arrangements gave the spaceport a modern, fluid feel, while exposed metal struts and beams added character. The structure was a marvel of architecture and, once upon a time, Aiden had been dreaming of working on a project of this scale, perhaps even designing his own space station that people could visit one day.
But that was behind him now, had been even before his life had turned upside down for the second time.
When they made it out of Chicago Spaceport, the sun had just breached the horizon, painting the sky and the water of Lake Michigan a burning orange. A chilly breeze rippled the otherwise glass-like surface, bringing with it streaks of purple and deep blue and breaking the illusion of a mirrored world. It had been more than two years since the last time Aiden had witnessed a sunrise like this in person, and judging by Darren’s awed expression, the same was true for him as well.
Aiden peered at the sky again, wondering when Darren had last been on Earth.
“A little over twenty years ago.”
Darren’s answer startled Aiden. He snapped his gaze to the other man, realizing he’d asked his question out loud without meaning to as he found those intense eyes watching him closely. In the light of Earth, they leaned more toward violet, the hue as rich as it was in Sara’s VR. The sadness in them for the things Darren had lost here and the future Marcus had stolen from him was also more prominent, but there was a flicker of something else alongside it, a hint of longing and hope that seemed directed at Aiden. Meant for him, though Aiden didn’t know in what capacity.
“I left the day after the assassination,” Darren continued, his voice detached. “With Liu’s help. And… I haven’t been back to Earth since.”
“Liu Zhihao. Your benefactor,” Aiden prompted, hoping Darren would elaborate. That he would tell Aiden more, so he wouldn’t wonder about it when he was lying in his bunk, unable to fall asleep.
“Yes. He was a close friend to my parents and shared their vision. He’s the one that got me out and looked after me until I was old enough to be on my own.”
“So he helped you and then supported you. That’s why Marcus killed him,” Aiden stated the obvious conclusion, pushing his thick-framed glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Liu didn’t just support me. He wanted me reinstated and Marcus taken down.” Darren stepped in closer and looked like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself as a shuttle parked behind them. A small smile creeped onto his face as he nodded at the vehicle. “C’mon, Kesley. Time to figure out what the doctor discovered,” he said and gave Aiden’s shoulder a light squeeze.
Aiden struggled to suppress a shiver and was glad that Darren let go almost immediately in order to scan the shuttle’s authentication key. Once he took the driver’s seat and got busy adding the coordinates of the Royal Palace to the shuttle’s nav, Aiden settled into the passenger’s seat and dumped their bags in the space behind them.
They spent most of the ride in silence, Aiden looking out the window at the green scenery and the occasional town they passed over, while Darren stayed focused on driving. It didn’t take them long to reach the collapsed stone walls that surrounded the palace’s perimeter, which, according to the GPS data, occupied ten square miles. At first, the ground below them was clear, just grass and flowers and bush with a grove of trees here and there, but the closer they got to the center of the area, the more the scenery changed. Overgrown gardens came first, then rubble and haphazard remains of buildings. Eventually, all Aiden could see were ruins—disfigured and charred arrangements of broken walls, exposed metal and crumbling concrete, and chipped marble glimmering under the sunlight. It was all that was left of the once sprawling complex, because it too had been erased from humankind’s history, just like the Valrais.
“800 feet to the right,” Aiden instructed as they passed a grove of oaks and a small pond that looked like it had oncebeen a fountain. Now all that remained of it was white rubble overgrown with lotus flowers.
Tearing his eyes away from it, Aiden looked at the palace’s layout superimposed onto the map he’d loaded on his tablet and led Darren to the northern wing of the castle, where the labs were. As they approached, nature gave way to charred ground and more ruins, retreating to the nooks of scattered walls and collapsed floors where it had sneaked through the gaps and flourished despite the destruction.
“I don’t see a suitable landing spot,” Darren said after circling the area twice. “Or somewhere to hide the shuttle… I’ll backtrack to the training grounds, and we’ll go on foot from there.”
“By the oak woods?”
