Titanborn (24 page)

“I'll get you back inside. You'll die out here!” She grabbed my arms and started dragging me back to the tunnel.

“There's no time!” I shook her off and pointed to the container with my pistol. Speaking was getting difficult. The area directly inside the wound got so cold that it burned like molten metal, the sensation quickly spreading up and down my limb without respite. An iciness I thought impossible sent my whole body into a shiver. Each word I spoke labored through long, winded breaths. “They'll find me in there and I'll be dead anyway for killing him.”

“Then I'll carry you with me!” She knelt and tried to dig her hands under my body, but I nudged her away with my elbow. She was likely strong enough on Titan to carry both me and the medical containers, but not to do that and fly as fast as she'd need to in order to avoid the ships Zhaff had called for as well as the approaching storm.

“No,” I whispered, clenching my teeth. “Don't waste this chance. They don't come often.”

“I…I…”

I saw the internal struggle written all over her face, and I couldn't help but picture her as a little girl refusing to eat another yeasty ration bar. It was the same stubbornness that had likely led her to help the Ringers in the first place. I wasn't a stranger to it. It was what had kept me gallivanting around Sol for so many years. But as I looked at her, I finally understood how the Ringer on Earth could pull the trigger on himself so easily. Standing for all those people in the chambers behind us, rotting for no other reason than being born on the wrong world, was a cause worth dying for. Just like dying to keep her alive was for me.

“Now get out of here before it's too late!” I barked. One last order to the first partner I ever had.

She peered back at Zhaff's body with wet eyes, then tightened her lips and nodded. “I won't forget.”

I grasped her hand. It was shaking as much as mine was. I stared at her beautiful face and smiled through the agony. “Aria…I was never the dad you deserved. I hope you can forgive me for…everything.”

She placed a silencing finger over my visor. Her tear-filled eyes stared into mine for what seemed like eternity, and I into them. Then, without further hesitation, she got up and picked up two of the containers. There was another brief pause, and then I heard the whir of her winged suit as she took to the air.

She was gone.

I could no longer hold back the howl festering at the bottom of my throat. I released it as I made an attempt to drag myself back into the tunnel. The sting in my side was too painful. I needed one hand to cover the wound and didn't have enough strength with the other.

A pained laugh slipped through my lips as I reached Zhaff's body and gave up. “Maybe I really should have exercised more,” I said to his corpse. “We would've made a hell of a team out here I think—finding bombers, uncovering smugglers. We had a good run, my friend.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, and as I did a tear rolled down my cheek. Maybe it was drawn out by the pain, but I couldn't be sure. It'd been an eternity since I could remember crying. I rolled onto my back and turned my head toward his. The blood in his helmet was already completely frozen, covering most of his face except for his eye-lens. It was cracked, and through it I could see the color of his real eye.

I wasn't sure what would happen when Luxarn Pervenio found his body outside a Ringer quarantine zone, but I knew he wouldn't think to blame his death on a loyal collector like me. He'd blame it on every Ringer in existence. If the hunger I saw in his face when we met wasn't only a mask he wore for show, then he would crash down upon the people of Titan like a god with a hammer, and the Children of Titan would get the rebellion they so desperately craved. All in the name of credits and a son Luxarn was too proud to reveal to the world.

“Fucking family,” I grumbled. “I hope you understand, Zhaff.” I knew he wouldn't have.

Another wave of discomfort gripped me and caused me to clench my jaw. I turned toward the sky as it did. It was murky, exactly like I was used to where I grew up—no sun to be found. But there was something up there that I didn't anticipate. Something I've been told is as rare to see as a lunar eclipse on Earth, yet there it was. The storm was drawing ever nearer but the area directly in its path was clear enough that I could see the silhouette of Saturn's Rings beyond the shroud.

For some reason the sight was more striking from my unexpected vantage than it ever had been from space. Maybe it was a message from God, if there is one. I doubt it, but after a few more failed attempts at crawling into the tunnel, I was happy to stare. It's rare for a collector to get a chance to really stop and appreciate a stunning view.

I grew faint, but even as my vision went blurry, I couldn't take my eyes off it. Not until the pain transitioned to numbness, my shivering stopped, and everything went black.

PHOTO: MARILYN GLISCI

R
HETT
C
.
B
RUNO
has been writing since before he can remember, scribbling down what he thought were epic stories when he was young to show to his friends and family. He currently works at an architecture firm, but that hasn't stopped him from recording the tales bouncing around inside his head. Rhett is the author of the Circuit series and
Titanborn.

rhettbruno.com

@RCBruno44

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