Page 68 of Aria's Ascension

Aria frowned in disapproval. “There’s no catch. We’d love your help, but we’ll do what we can to help you even if you don’t want to fight with us.”

He searched her face warily. When he apparently decided she was serious, he swallowed hard. His gaze went distant, like he was listening to something. After a couple seconds, he focused back on her, his jaw set and determination shining in his eyes.

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re in. We’ll join your army.”

“Good,” she hummed, smiling widely. “So, what did you do back on Earth, Braxton? And how long ago do you think you were taken?”

“I was a soldier. Was about to be deployed to Kuwait.”

“Kuwait?” she echoed, confused.

“Yeah. The Gulf War. I was taking my nephews to a big cat refuge before I left.” A little smile curled his lips. “They’d been beggin’ to go for months. Anyway, we stayed in one of the little cabins there. All I remember is hearing the cats yowling and a bright ass light—”

“That’s impossible,” she interrupted.

His gaze sharpened and a frown creased the skin between his brows. “Why is that impossible?”

“Because that was like thirty years ago… when I was taken. And I was taken at least ten years ago, judging from how my original body has aged. You look, what, thirty? Maybe thirty-two at most?”

“Twenty-nine,” he corrected absently.

Aria frowned, thinking. “Okay, maybe… maybe when we die in the arena and Zhrovni grows us a new clone, it comes out at the age we were when he got us. I won’t pretend to understand the science but, practically speaking, it makes sense. He obviously wouldn’t want a bunch of geriatrics fighting in his tournaments.” Scoffing, she shook her head. “Jesus, talk about the fountain of youth.”

A prickle of uneasiness from Kix had her darting a look up at him. The expression on his face immediately had worry spiraling through her.

“What? What is it?”

He glanced down at her, but didn’t respond right away. He’d thought of something, something he was reluctant to share.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

He grimaced but sighed. “What happens when our native bodies die? We speculated as to why Zhrovni kept them. Perhaps, it is for more than just a place to store our consciousness between tournaments. What if they are needed as a data bank of sorts?”

Her stomach sank as she followed his line of thinking and added, “They’re updated with new information—new memories—at the end of each battle. If we die in these bodies, growing another clone is only worthwhile if there is a mind with which to fill it. If the original body is dead, there’s no back-up.”

“Just so.”

“Fuck me.”

Meeting Braxton’s gaze, she clenched her jaw. If he’d been here, or at least away from Earth, for as long as she suspected, his original body was somewhere around seventy.

Absently rubbing the hilt of her knife, she thought out loud. “Okay, what if… what if we replace the original with a clone? Upload everything to it, put it in one of the tubes, and useitas the back-up? I don’t know that I necessarily want to live forever, but we’re planning on doing some dangerous shit. I’d like to know we’re going to live through this so we can have the chance to grow old together.”

“We do not know how long the clones are designed to live,aessa. They are, essentially, made to be disposable,” he murmured softly.

Anger had her gritting her teeth, but she forced herself to let out a slow, deep breath.

“That’s something to figure out later. They’ve got to have some kind of cryogenic tech here, right? We’ll ask the ants. And if they don’t know, I’ll find someone on this fucking planet who does.”

Just like that, freeing the slaves became her second priority. Making sure her men didn’t die in the process was now her first. And she didn’t give a single fuck how selfish that was.

Losing her men was not an option.

They said their goodbyes to Braxton after that, telling him to be ready to escape at a moment’s notice, and returned to their cave, but Aria was quiet as they ate, bathed, and lay down to sleep. Her mind was spinning, trying to come up with a plan, thinking through possibilities.

Sleep was a long time in coming, and when it did, she dreamt about her men, standing over their withered, emaciated bodies, watching them slowly die.

Chapter 37

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