The Icarus operative - 16. Sixteen

Ebentown in Eden, one of the two inhabited moons

of Planet Halan II in the Rivulak System

Covenant Year 329

TWENTY TWO DAYS BEFORE THE ARREST

He was not gonna fool anyone, ever since Espinosa had kissed him in the forehead, Semyon had been avoiding him at all costs. So, as soon as he’d finished his chores, he ran through the corridors of The Persephone, and went inside his quarters. He pulled the lever and locked himself inside, still feeling how his heart threatened to burst his chest open.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he could picture Espinosa’s torso with water droplets running down, he could feel Espinosa’s lips on his forehead, he could feel the man’s smell of sweat and perfume impregnating his nose. And he breathed deeply.

He felt afraid, he felt so afraid at was he was feeling. It was not physical, he was sure of that, it was something beyond his understanding. What? He didn’t really want to know.

He was still trying to remember when had been the last time he’d felt something like that, but he couldn’t really recall it. One thing was sure: he had never felt that tingling inside himself with Rharthza Melaree. Truth was he had really enjoyed the doctor in bed, for he was a great lover. But now, as he found himself thinking of Espinosa, he realized that what he was feeling had nothing to do with sexual attraction, it was something much deeper that transcended the physical.

As he dropped on the bed, he also realized he was breathing heavily, as if he was physically exert, which he wasn’t. He couldn’t think at all. For just a brief moment he wished he was back at Nabï Yünus so he could talk to Ira, his best friend since basic school.

Ira had been Semyon’s best friend and confident since they’d started basic school, upon their seventh nameday. It had been Ira, with his lovely bright smile and his freckled face, who had been Semyon’s accomplice when he’d first started exploring his own sexuality, and though they’d never been lovers, they had shared so many things, that Semyon thought their bond was unbreakable.

‘Ira,’ he thought as he lay in bed with eyes closed, ‘how I wish you were here right now, so I could tell you how I’m feeling.’

Suddenly, he realized, he was missing his life back in Nabï Yünus, when everything was so much simpler. When he could come and go into the pubs with his illegal ID and get laid without concerning himself with falling in love. That had been exactly how he’d met Rharthza in the first place. Back then having sex was just a matter of fun.

Then, Ira and himself would sit down in either of their houses and tell each other about their beddings and laugh at this or that regarding each other’s lovers and one-night stands. Everything was indeed much simpler.

He was still thinking about his past life, which seemed so distant even when he’d been on board the Persephone for only days, when there was a knocking on his door. His heart raced, hoping like hell it wouldn’t be Espinosa, for he wouldn’t really know what to say.

“Yes?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as steady as he could.

“Semyon?” the voice on the other side said, “It’s me, Espinosa. Can I please see you for a moment? Please?”

When he did not answer, Espinosa asked again, “Please?”

His heart racing inside his chest, Semyon Zalicker stood from the bed and tried to compose himself as much as possible. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, exhaled, and walked all the way to the door. He took another deep breath and opened, trying to appear as cool as possible.

“Heh,” he said, “come in, please.”

Espinosa walked inside Semyon’s quarters and smiled a half smile.

“Mind if I seat?” he asked and Semyon agreed with a nod of his head, but he chose to remain standing, leaning over the small desk on the left wall of his quarters.

“Look,” Espinosa said, “I just wanted to apologize if I made you uncomfortable back there ….”

“Espinosa ….”

“Wait,” the man said, “Let me finish.”

“Okay.”

“I was saying, I’m really, really sorry if I made you uncomfortable. It's none of my business whether you’re homsey or not. And I think I made you even more uncomfortable by kissing you on the forehead. I didn’t really mean to embarrass you or anything, I just ….”

“T’s okay,” Semyon said, now feeling absolutely ridiculous at having left Espinosa’s quarters the way he had, “I just … I don’t know what I was thinking or why I reacted the way I did. I’ve never been confronted in such a way, y’know? I just … I just didn’t know what to say or do.”

“I can imagine so. You know what’s funny?”

“What?”

“I know I have no memory whatsoever, prior to my finding myself running from the Covenant Police forces in Launchhole U IV, prior to meeting you. However, I do feel this thing when you’re around … I honestly don’t know whether I was homsey too before somebody wiped my mind clean, but I guess I was. Otherwise, I wouldn’t really have felt what I felt when I kissed your forehead.”

“Espinosa, wait,” Semyon said as he looked at the troubled man sitting on his own bed, “I think things are just movin’ way too fast for any of us to think smoothly. I do not want you to try and please me just because I helped you escape and brought you here.”

“Semyon ...”

“No, wait. Now you let me finish,” Semyon said, “What I did was out of the goodness inside me, I guess. And it would be seriously wrong for me to try and get some kind of retribution because of that. That’s not what I want from you.”

Espinosa stood up from the bed and walked all the way to the desk where Semyon was leaning against, and he stood next to him.

“It’s not like that, Semyon,” he whispered, “Do you remember that night on the brig when you brought me dinner?”

“I do.”

“I then hugged you so intensely I found myself trying to wonder why I had done so. And I very clearly remember smiling as I replayed the moment once and again and again in my mind, especially because I remembered your reaction, and the obvious reaction of your body.”

“Espinosa ….”

“I really want to hug you now, too,” he said, passing his arm around Semyon’s shoulders, “and I’d really love it if you’d let me.”

Semyon Zalicker shifted his position so that he could be face to face with Espinosa. He looked at the man in the eye, his torso only covered by a half wet cotton undershirt, his wavy black hair still falling partially wet over his forehead and cheeks.

Espinosa looked at Semyon, still surprised at what he was feeling inside his chest, for he was not even sure why he was feeling that way. The only thing he knew, right there, was that he felt it again; that incredible urge to hold Semyon next to his body, to look him in the eye and kiss him.

“I think this is a really big mistake,” Semyon said as Espinosa got closer, pulling the lad’s body against his own, “and I wouldn’t want us to regret having made such a ….”

But he could not finish the phrase, for Espinosa had already caught his lips with his own. All of a sudden, Semyon found himself feeling the intoxicating scent of Espinosa’s breath within himself, the proximity of the man against his body awakening the most amazing of sensations.

He knew it was definitely not only sexual, but something else, something that crept inside his body, through his mouth, and found its way all through his stomach to land placidly and tenderly over his manhood.

“Espinosa ….” he murmured.

“Shhh ….” the man responded, and enveloped his mouth once again with his passionate kiss.

He thought he might come to regret it, but as Espinosa continued to kiss him, Semyon also realized he didn’t care at all. If they were to screw up, so be it. At least this time they both knew what they were doing.

And Espinosa did not strike him as a man of Melaree’s type.

***************

Swift was back in his quarters half an hour before dinner was served. He was glad, for he had been trying to find the time to communicate with his family back on The Crone. He was really looking forward to talking with his mother, with Chatduk and with his younger half brother, Rayall, and catch up on what had happened with each of them on the past month or so.

He opened the terminal on his desk and tapped the icon for Subcom, their communication purveyor. An artificial digital intelligence spoke.

“Welcome to Subcom. Please select stationary or mobile communication.”

Swift selected mobile and then a small window opened for him to type the destination. He typed The Crone’s Subcom code and waited.

“Your communication code is valid. Please, slide your plastic credit. We remind you that only Covenant Currency is allowed.”

Swift placed his plastic in an opening and waited.

“Communication is ready. Enjoy your call. Thanks for choosing Subcom.”

The first image to appear before his eyes was that of his mother sitting in the loft of The Chrone, Rayall sitting on her lap.

“Hey!” he shouted.

“Hey, Swifty!” Rayall shouted on the other end of the call.

“Hey, buddy! Mom! How are you guys doing?”

“Fine, Swift!” his mother replied, “we weren’t expecting to hear from you so soon!”

“I know!” he said, “but The Persephone had a problem with a plasma injector and we had to stop our trip to get a new one. So you see, I was free to call before scheduled.”

“And we’re glad you did.”

“Captain Bristow was planning on us leaving immediately, but we’ve been detained, because we haven’t been able to get a hand on that injector.”

“But is everything alright?” his mother asked with an expression of worry all over her face.

“It is, mom. The place is a bit unstable, but we’re fine too. Chadtuk?”

“He was detained at the engine room, but nothing major.”

“I was hoping I could talk to him tonight, you know, taking advantage of the call.”

“I’ll tell him you send your love darling. How about you? How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, mom. Getting busy with the books and stuff, and really enjoying the comes and goes.”

“And your heart, darling?” his mother asked.

“I’m fine, mom.”

“Swift.”

“I swear I’m fine, mom, really!”

“I was talking to Chadtuk about that surgery, you know? We agreed that cutting a bit here and there ….”

“Mom, no.” Swift said, “Don’t misunderstand me, but I don’t want you to be depriving yourselves of things on my behalf. My saving are coming along and ….”

“Swift, darling,” his mother said in her most motherly tone, “please, tell me at least you’ll consider it. Chadtuk and I ….”

“I’ll think about it mom … thanks anyway.”

“Hey, Swifty!” his brother interrupted the moment, “when are you coming home on vacation?”

“Soon, champ!” Swift said feeling thankful for the respite, “I’m planning thanksgiving maybe.”

“Good!” Rayall said, “I really miss u around here.”

“I miss you too, little devil. Mom, I gotta go for now.”

“I know. Please take care of yourself. And keep in touch.”

“Yes, mom,” he said, “love you all.”

He tapped the screen and the subcom computer talked again.

‘Thank you for using subcom.’

He moved away from his seat and tried and relax. He hated discussing his heart condition with his family and he hated the fact that his mother worried about it since he could remember. His conditioned had only grown worse since he’d left The Chrone, but he was saving and he was sure he would very soon had completed the fee for the heart transplant he had to undergo.

Truth was he had been delaying the inevitable, but artificial hearts were pretty easy to come by if you had the right kind of credits, and most of his savings were getting close to the sum he needed to pay for the surgery and be done with it once and for all. It was not yet a matter of life and death, but he would have to do it sooner or later.

He was thinking of taking a nap, but as soon as he was standing from the chair, the terminal came back to life.

“Thank you for using subcom,” a new different digital intelligence said, “You have an incoming paid call from Launchhole U IV.”

“Connect,” Swift said.

A second later, the image of Barry, the red haired Megobari appeared on the screen.

“Hey, gorgeous!” Barry said.

“Barry!” Swift said with a bit too much enthusiasm, “I wasn't expecting you to call.”

“Am I being untimely?” the red haired asked and showed his gentle smile.

“Not at all!” Swift replied, “I mean, it's so nice of you to call and all.”

Barry smiled as he leaned back against the armchair in which he was resting. He had a vaporous red gown on completely opened, and Swift could see his white soft chest.

“I've taken a couple of days off and thought of giving you a call, see how you're doing.”

“That's very sweet of you, Barry. You didn't have to, really.”

“I know,” the red haired said and grinned, “I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to. Just thought I might check on you.”

Swift beamed and looked down for a second while he recovered his composure.

“Thanks, Barry,” he managed.

“Hey,” Barry said, “I was just wondering when you'll be back at Launchhole U IV.”

“I'm not sure,” the little man said, “Things are never sure when you work for Captain Bristow.”

“She tough?”

“You have no idea!” Swift replied, “but she's also the most caring person in the world.”

“Well,” Barry said as he smiled once again, “at least I'm assured you're looked after.”

“I am,” Swift said and blushed once more.

“Well, gorgeous, I'm gonna go now. Hope I'll get to see you next time you're around.”

“You can count on it!” Swift said, “Bye now!”

“Bye, handsome!” Barry said and blew a kiss at the screen before his image faded into black and the AI voice thanked Swift for using subcom.

The handsome little man jumped down from the chair and went outside his room so he could give the books one more check before he conferred with Captain Bristow. This time, however, the grin on his face would not go away.

***************

“I still can’t believe it!” said Merrilyn Stewart as she cooked the day’s meal and talked to Athsari, “Something should be done about it!”

Athsari Rodriguez looked back at Merri, who was now hovering over the pot spicing up the stew she was working on.

“I totally empathize, Merri, but honest to God, I don’t really think we could do much about it. The system, unfortunately, is the system.”

“That’s such a horrible thing to say! No wonder the people on this moon are revolving!”

She remained silent and decided there was no point in arguing. After all, Athsari was right, there was no way for Athsari to empathize with that boy the way Merrilyn could.

Broken memories of her childhood came to her as she prepared dinner. She had tried really hard to forget, but to date, the horrible flashbacks of her abusive stepfather came back and again to haunt her. After years of enduring verbal and physical violence for no reason, she had finally been able to leave her hometown with the assistance of a distant cousin. She had never told anyone about it, but she’d tried hard to put it behind her.

“Merr?” Athsari asked, breaking her train of thought, “Are you alright?”

“Oh! I’m fine!” She said. “Anyway, you haven’t told me anything about your thing with Arthur!”

Athsari moved on the stool from where she faced Merrilyn, who came and went through the kitchen as she chopped, boiled and tried from one pot to the other.

“There’s not much to say, really,” the pilot said, “we had a lovely evening at the garden and then went to bed together. I don’t thing you could call that my thing with Arthur.”

“You’ve said as much!” Merrilyn replied, “but that smile in your face tells me there’s so much more to tell! C’mon, don’t be so greedy! Do give me the details, you bad friend!”

“What is it that you want me to say?” Athsari answered managing to look as offended as anyone could look.

“Well,” Merrilyn said stopping in front of her and chopping some root that had something of a carrot in it, but green in color, “you could start by telling me how he is in bed … I mean ….”

The Persephone shuddered as a boom interrupted Merrilyn’s sentence and spilled the stew all over the kitchen floor.

“What the hell was that?” Athsari asked as a new boom made the ship shudder again.

She moved to the ICD and tapped the button to the bridge. Hadzaana’s voice came through the device.

“Bridge here.”

“Hadz, this is Athsari. What just happened?”

“A couple of explosions outside,” Hadzaana said, “locals rioting, apparently.”

Ahtsari looked at Merrilyn and then answered, “I’m on my way to the bridge.”

“Good,” the first hand said, “In the meantime, I’m seeing that everyone is accounted for. Missdon out.”

Athsari walked through the ship’s mess hall.

“Sorry to leave you with all this mess all over your floor!”

“T’s okay,” Merrilyn said from the kitchen, “I’ll fix it, go see if everyone’s all right.”

Athsari walked from the mess hall to the bridge of the Persephone, and when she came in, she found both the Captain and First Hand at their posts. They were talking in short sentences as they counted the people inside the ship.

“So,” Auriel Bristow said, “the only people unaccounted for are Jay, Semyon and … that’s that?”

“Apparently so,” Hadz answered from her chair.

Bristow exhaled as she located every member of her crew in the ships grid.

“Wait,” Hadzaana said, “I have Arthur and Sasha Ahmose missing as well.”

Auriel Bristow stood from her chair and looked at her friend and first officer as she walked towards the exit.

“Assemble the crew in the mess hall, now! We need to locate whoever we’re still missing!”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

“Athsari,” Auriel continued, “get the Persephone ready for takeoff, just in case. I think a revolution might just have been born in this moon. And we’re now caught in its midst.”

“Yes, Captain,” Athsari said, and started on her way to the engine room.

She couldn’t help but think about Arthur not being on board and felt a pang of worry in her stomach, but she kept on moving. With Jay unaccounted for, it fell under her to start the engines before she could bring the Persephone ready for takeoff.

As Auriel left the bridge, Rharthza Melaree came her way.

“Cap’n?”

“Rhar,” she said, “am I ever glad to see you. We’re assembling in the mess hall for an emergency meeting. Please see that your infirmary is ready for whatever contingency might come our way.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Well,” she said, “We’ve two crew members and two passengers unaccounted for. And with the explosions outside, I’m not sure they’ll be entirely fine. So, I’d say it’s bad enough.”

She kept on towards the mess hall, followed closely by her Medical Officer. She looked worried, and Rharthza knew then it had to be really bad for her to look worried; she was human alright, but not few times had he thought she was made of steel. Seeing her like that, not only did he confirm her being human, but also the possibility of something real bad coming their way.

***************

When the first explosion went off, Jay Aodhagán had been unfortunately close to the plaza where the bomb had been detonated. It had all happened so fast that Semyon Zalicker had not even had to a chance to understand what was happening. Now, as a strong ringing in his right ear blocked every sound, he looked around desperately trying to find Jay in the horrible chaos of people running to and fro. He saw him not many meters away, face downwards and obviously unconscious.

Semyon tried his best not to panic, as he ran back to where Jay lay.

“Jay,” he said in the midst of chaos, and not sure he could be heard, for he couldn’t hear himself, “Jay, can you hear me?”

The young engineer remained quiet.

‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’

He couldn’t really think of what to do, so he started dragging Jay through the street when the second bomb detonated. He suddenly felt a buzzing in his left ear, and realized something was oozing from it, but he didn’t stop to consider checking it, he knew his priority was to get Jay out of the place which was now bursting with local enforcers.

As he dragged Jay through the street, he became aware of the screaming and noticed a woman standing over the broken body of a man. He also saw an old man carrying a limp little girl whose forehead was all covered in blood. There was a very young kid trying to bring his mother about, but it seemed the woman had already passed away. Everything was covered in a cloud of dust and he could not see very clearly, but the screaming and crying of people came from all places. He kept on dragging Jay and turned around a corner, where there seemed to be less movement, and noticed a half hidden cave not ten steps ahead. He dragged Jay all the way to the cave, and he sat down to recover.

He then called Jay again by his name, but he wouldn’t reply. He tried calling him again and shook him, but the result was the same. He approached his face and noticed he was still breathing.

‘Thank God,’ he thought as he checked Jay’s neck for a pulse, ‘Thank God he’s alive.’

He then noticed Jay’s shirt was stained in blood. He almost instantly knew it couldn’ be good, but still ripped the shirt to assess the damage. He then saw a piece of shrapnel stuck in Jay’s abs.

‘This isn’t good, this isn’t good! What am I gonna do?’

With what little medical knowledge he had, he decided not to remove the fragment and covered the wound with the ripped shirt, trying to apply as much pressure so as to stop the bleeding. The next thing he had to do, he knew, was to try and locate the Persephone, but he felt completely disoriented by the explosions, the screaming and the chaos all around him.

‘Hang in there, Jay,’ he thought, ‘please hang in there!’