Page 44 of Fractured Souls

“The new sims are brutal,” Ioki grumbled. “Tharos is even worse than Earth when it comes to solar radiation. Their sun’s bigger, closer. It’s all fucking red sand and rocks and hot water, with a few humid jungle-traps thrown in.”

“Has all this time on Earth made you soft, Ioki?” he taunted. “Armor up, sweetheart. It’s just a mission, not a war. Don’t worry, you’ll probably be back and lounging by the pool on the Fleet Station in no time.”

Ioki’s eyes narrowed. Sanen chuckled. “Nah, we’re being deployed back to Earth after this. Bodyguard duty, apparently.”

“To humans?” Nythian raised an eyebrow as he tried to imagine the two vicious Northerners guarding some naive soft-skinned human.

“They’ve got the credits. They can pay,” Ioki shrugged. “Turns out our skills are becoming a valued commodity in that part of the Universe. It should be… interesting.”

“Goddess knows some of them need protection,” Nythian agreed. He switched to Kordolian. “Nothing to complain about. Protection’s better than killing, isn’t it?”

“Sometimes,” Ioki said darkly, and Sanen smiled. In temperament, these two were like ice and fire.

Nythian gave a wry nod. “Well, a little sunlight ain’t always a bad thing.” He started to walk, and Alexis followed. The warriors gave him a half-salute as they parted ways. “Reminds you that there are still things out there that can kill you.”

“You need the light more than us, then,” Sanen called over his shoulder as they disappeared into the shadows. “Sometimes I wonder if you people even remember what it’s like to feel mortal.”

“All the fucking time,” Nythian said under his breath. “More than you realize, brother.” The gift could be a curse, too. How would Alexis react when she understood that he was a highly bio-engineered monster, full of semi-sentient nanites?

Because she would find out, sooner or later. He didn’t know what they would encounter once they hit the surface of the Ghost Planet, but she had to be protected at all costs, and if that meant he had to show her his true terrible face, then so be it.

“I get it now,” she said softly as they reached the entrance of the training chamber. “You’re part of some sort of elite division, aren’t you?”

“Elite?” Nythian scoffed, but he was quietly impressed that she’d deduced all that from a conversation. “I’m pretty good at what I do, but I’m not going to lord it over others. Only fools act like that.” His eyes narrowed. “What makes you think that, anyway? You been talking to Abbey?”

“No, not at all. Those two warriors we just met?”

“Sanen and Ioki?” His voice was a little too sharp. He didn’t like this. Why was she so interested in them all of a sudden? “What about them?”

“I was observing your interaction.”

“Oh yeah?” His anger dissipated as he realized she wasn’t interested in them for those kinds of reasons. His jealousy was irrational, but he didn’t care. Anyone so much as looked at her wrong, they would be having words with him.

“They respect you, but they’re also a little apprehensive when you’re around. I can tell. All the Kordolians I’ve encountered here get like that around you, except for Tarak and Enki. You three are different from the others.”

He shrugged. He couldn’t deny it. The First Division had a reputation that preceded them. Most of it was true, but every now and then he’d come across something ridiculous.

If the rumors were to be believed, they had made a deal with Kaiin himself, the God of Death. Sold their souls in exchange for near-immortality, apparently.

Or something like that.

He snorted. What nonsense. But Alexis’s observations were dead accurate. It was uncanny. “When did you get so clever, woman?” he growled.

“It’s—well, it was—my job to be observant. I was a detective.”

“Detective?”

“I used to solve crimes for a living. A lot of people on Earth get abducted. It was my job to help track them down and bring them back. You see the other side of human nature in that role. After a while, one gets a feel for these sorts of things.”

“But we are not human,” Nythian murmured, fascinated by this small revelation.

“No, but we seem to have a few things in common.” She was still smiling, her sadness buried deep behind that wily, all-knowing expression.

It drove him a little bit nuts, in a good way. As they reached the entrance to the training chambers, he stopped and leaned in.

She didn’t flinch or move away. She just looked straight back at him, studying his face with intense curiosity. It was as if they’d both just truly seen each other for the first time.

“You can run to your heart’s content in here,” he murmured, and was rewarded when her eyes lit up in anticipation. “Do what you need to do… but I can’t leave you on your own, so just ignore the fact that I’m here.” His strategy was twofold. In addition to allowing her to burn off some tension, he was introducing her to the training chamber, an all-purpose facility where the floors shifted and the holograms could hyper-realistically simulate thousands of different environments.

---