He cut off his boss. “What do you mean gone? Gone where?”
Aries glanced at the screen, where the commercials had ended and the news once more featured Alien Jesus. “To meet with it.”
“No.” Aquarius shook his head. “Tell me you’re lying. You said we weren’t handing the kyawthuite stone over to that fucker.”
“I had no intention of doing so until Ishtar came to me with a plan.”
“What plan?” Aquarius asked through numb lips. Blame the ice creeping through his veins.
“She thinks she can rid Earth of the Kukakk.”
“How?” Everything he’d studied thus far about it indicated only a strong enough blast would shred its energy signature apart. However, the fallout would destroy Earth, plus, “We don’t have a bomb capable of exploding it.”
“Mars does.” Aries dropped his head.
“I don’t understand.” Not entirely true. Aquarius began to catch a glimmer of Ishtar’s plan—and didn’t like it one bit. Especially the part where she kept it secret from him.
“Given the Kukakk’s greed, Ishtar is going to try and convince it to head to Mars where there’s plenty of those gemstones. Once it arrives, she is going to detonate the remaining bomb because, as she noted, Mars is already ruined, so what would one more explosion do?”
A good idea but for one thing. Make that two. One, she’d not breathed one word to him, likely knowing he would have done anything to prevent her going, and two, “How is she getting the Kukakk there? And don’t tell me the plan is to bring that alien fucker inside Tower to use the portal to Mars.”
“I would have never agreed to that,” Aries huffed. “She’s going to transport it on her ship.”
“Alone? Are you fucking insane? That thing kills people for fun.”
“She might not have to go with it. She said the ship has an autopilot that wouldn’t require her being on board at all.”
Which made the situation only slightly better.
“According to Ishtar, the trip to Mars will take at least three days,” Aries continued. “Giving us time to retrieve Ishtar, return to Tower?—”
“Pop through the portal and get the bomb ready for its arrival.”
A decent plan actually, so why hadn’t she mentioned it to Aquarius? Probably because he would have insisted on going with her. But of course, her damned independent ass thought it better she do it alone. Fuck’s sake.
“I think that’s her arriving.” Aries turned to face the screen, and Aquarius couldn’t help but step closer, tight with tension as he noted the spacecraft hovering over the field before descending, its propulsion incredible in that it didn’t even ruffle the blades of grass. It landed, and a ramp extended. Down came Ishtar, wearing a gown that reminded him of what she wore in her memories of Mars.
She’d done her hair in an intricate style that piled it atop her head and left some coils of it loose and curling. She held her head high as she strode toward the Kukakk.
“That must be the fake queen,” exclaimed the reporter on the scene as she tried to get close enough to relay the meeting. However, the Kukakk’s minions blocked the way.
The camera footage flipped to a drone overhead, which dipped down within listening distance just as Ishtar got within a few paces of the fucker.
Alien Jesus smiled smugly. “If it isn’t the queen of nowhere. I didn’t expect you to cave so quickly. Then again, fleshly beings are weak and emotional.”
“Caring about others isn’t a weakness. You knew I couldn’t stand by while you killed innocents.”
“I have shed no blood.”
“Semantics. Your hands might not have struck the deadly blows, but your followers are acting on your command,” Ishtar spat.
“They are quite eager to please, aren’t they? And it worked. Here you are.” Alien Jesus smirked.
“You left me no choice. Now that I’ve brought what you want, tell them to stop the killing.”
“Why would I do that? They’re having so much fun and doing this planet a favor. So many people sucking at the teat, depleting the resources. A culling is long overdue.”
“That wasn’t the deal.”
