Prodigal (Maelstrom Chronicles) (30 page)

He did, though he felt leaden. Heavy. Guilty. She reached for him, tears glistening on her eyelashes, and he fended her off.

“I can’t touch anyone. I might—”

“Fuck that.” She surged into his arms, and he waited for the hunger to strike, like it had with Priiit. It didn’t. All he felt was her solidity, her fear, and her grief. “I love you, too.”

“You say that now,” he joked gently. Fatigue from absorbing the entities, from the stress and dread, nibbled at the edges of his veneer. “But I just destroyed the world.”

“You didn’t. You didn’t.” She kissed his face and his lips, one damp glove rubbing his bare arm. “You aren’t the Shipborn who insisted on fighting the shades directly.”

“That would be us,” Cullin said. Raniya slid from the top of the shuttle, into his arms, but stepped quickly away from him. Her solemn face and huge, liquid eyes held no blame for Adam, only for herself.

“We did this,” she agreed, her gaze downcast. “When we heard the daemons were overcoming the defenses, we chose to fight because you were too valuable a resource to lose, Adam. We’d just had a breakthrough that indicated… Well, never mind. We assumed our emergency protocol would be enough and didn’t anticipate anyone being too discombobulated to activate it. We made a mistake.”

“Clearly,” Claire growled. “Fucking suicidal idiots. Ship’s landing outside the dirtside base in Yellowstone to let its people evacuate and hunker down there, and I intend to be with Frannie. Can you fix this shuttle?”

“No,” Cullin said. “We’re scientists, not mechanics.”

“With enough time, I could,” Raniya said, “but we don’t have time.”

“Then Sarah will have to come get me. Niko’s out cold. Jackass was going to stay with Ship. What is wrong with you people? Goddammit. Damn, damn, damn it.” Claire clung to Adam’s hand, her grip not as self-assured as her cursing, and stalked across the battlefield, avoiding Priiit’s sad, blue form.

…

Claire breathed in the scent of Frannie’s blankie while her daughter played on the floor with Adam. They were in the dirtside base in a room near the scientists’ lab. Claire had commandeered the only chair. Adam stacked specimen cups into tall towers, and Frannie knocked them down with a shriek of laughter.

Over and over and over. His patience was commendable, and his laughter authentic. Claire was only good for about fifteen minutes of tower toppling—and God, the shrieking—before she distracted Frances with a book or different toy. Something quieter, which allowed Claire to sit on a couch instead of the floor.

She loved that baby, but she loved her spine, too.

So they played. And pretended playing was all that was on the agenda. With no daemons and shades left to fight, there was nothing to do but wait.

Wait, and say good-bye. To everyone she loved, and to Ship, who was preparing for the voyage of its lifetime.

“Mama. Mama? Mama!” Frannie crawled toward Claire’s feet in her awkward crab scuttle, one foot on the ground as if she intended to walk but the other knee dragging. The kid was determined to do things her own way.

She could have gotten that from Claire or Niko. Hell, or Ship, Sarah, and Tracy. Every one of Frannie’s parental influences was guilty in that regard.

“Baby. Baby? Baby!” Claire answered her in the same tone. Frances pulled herself to her feet and laid her head on Claire’s knees. A wide grin crossed her round face, exposing a few teeth. Her black hair sprang from her head in random baby curls that not even Shipborn tech was able to tame.

Adam watched with a smile, hands relaxed on his knees. The fact that she’d let—encouraged—him to play with Frannie, touching and holding the baby, seemed to have heartened him. They had so little time left, she didn’t see that caution mattered. She trusted him, and she loved him.

Raniya interrupted their diversion with a polite clearing of her throat. Tracy lurked behind her.

“We’re ready.”

The scientists, along with Ship, had conducted some final tests on the data gathered during the convergence. Once it was analyzed, Ship would leave. Adam’s connection to the shades lingered, and he could sense where the leviathan was in its waking process.

Creepy as fuck, but useful.

“I’ll watch Frannie,” Tracy volunteered, lines of sadness etched on her cheeks like scars. From the looks of her, she might also be a little drunk. But not too drunk to babysit. “I need some baby time anyway.”

“I’ll be back soon,” Claire reassured her little sister. “Thanks.”

Reluctantly, Claire and Adam followed Raniya to the lab. He paused so she could walk beside him, and she wound her fingers through his. She didn’t care what people thought of the fact she wanted to cling to him every possible moment she had left.

“Claire and Adam are present and accounted for,” Ship announced when they arrived. “Shall we begin?”

In the lab with the scientists were Niko and several of Niko’s trine advisors, including Gregori CallenMali and Naveen. No one was seated. The anxiety level was way too high for that. The lab’s chill whiteness did nothing to improve the ambiance.

Then again, they were about to discuss how everyone was going to die.

Ship opened the conference smoothly. “Let me bring our guests up to speed. Once the Shipborn committed to the Terran system, we began studies and improvements in our protocol to increase the odds of survival in the event of a leviathan wakening. My short-range drives were tweaked, increasing my speed, but burn fuel too fast. Outrunning the leviathan is still impossible if we attempt to exit the system.”

“We used to need a fifty hour head start,” Niko said. “Now it’s about thirty, plus we’d be low on fuel once we passed the boundary beacons. It’s not enough time.”

“No, it’s not,” Adam agreed. “I’m sort of losing my awareness of the leviathan, but it will happen faster than that. Whatever it is that’s going to happen.”

She squeezed his fingers. Admitting his shade connection, including the desire to drain Priiit of life, hadn’t been comfortable, but the people in this room weren’t inclined to be suspicious of him. He was the least of their worries.

“I have enough time and fuel to reach Terra’s sun,” Ship said. Solar system charts pinged to life on the large view screens—trajectories and measurements. “While we don’t know if a star can eliminate a leviathan or whether the leviathan will take the bait and follow me, I am determined to try.”

“You have free will,” Niko said, his back to the screen and a glower on his face. Dude was taking Ship’s self-sacrifice really hard. “As do we all.”

Who were they to prevent a nearly omniscient being from doing its part to save this planet and its people? Ship was a nosy, interfering pain in everyone’s ass, but its behavior in the past years, and its decision today, definitely placed it on the side of “good guys” and not “evil sentient robot” in Claire’s mind.

She was sad that it was going to die, just when she’d decided she trusted it.

“We believe the leviathan is comprised of many of the planet’s shades that gather together at the site of the original nexus, though it does not respond or behave like the entities we are accustomed to so far.”

“The leviathan is definitely made of shades?” Adam asked. Claire could sense his tension through his fingers. Perhaps it was the rigidity of his shoulders. He was usually relaxed, like he’d rather be surfing. Or sitting in the floor playing with babies.

“Indeed,” Ship confirmed. “We have sensors trained on the original nexus location where the creature is forming. Terrans have reported a reduction of entities all over the planet. The Global Union has chosen not to inform the populace of the leviathan’s wakening until we know the results of my experiment. In the event that I am able to eliminate the leviathan, there is no reason to allow panic to spread. Peace in the safe zones is fragile at best.”

“As for Adam,” Cullin cut in, “it’s what I said. He’s some kind of daemon.”

“No, he’s not,” Raniya corrected. “He is a combination of human and entity fused by the transition between dimensions, but he is no daemon. Exposure to the shades enhances his strength and addles recent memories, but those effects fade if exposure isn’t maintained. It’s possible his ability to absorb them might fade as well. We haven’t seen any evidence that daemons do that.”

Cullin hooked his thumbs in his Terran jeans. “Saying he’s like a daemon is easier for the laypeople to understand.”

“Do you see any laypeople here?” Naveen asked, eyebrow raised. Prickly son of a bitch—but yeah. “Don’t patronize us, Cullin KeshTaggert. It wastes our time.”

Raniya ignored the two men and displayed new charts on the big screens. “This was what we’d just discovered when we tried to save Adam. Remaining separated from entities for a length of time should return Adam’s original memories.”

“Including his memories of the other side of the void, which my partner in science has admitted exists.” Cullin eyed Raniya as if he expected her to argue. Claire couldn’t help but notice that he hovered near the other scientist like he was attached to her.

The inevitability of death altered a lot of people’s behavior and emotions, hers included.

“That’s a big deal, sure, but are we going to have that kind of time?” Claire asked. Angeli soldiers were part robot. Ship was almost all robot. Hell, there was a masssian and human pairing on Ship whom, she gathered, were having babies, thanks to a medtech named Ori. She could accept that Adam was part entity, because he was all Adam.

Her Adam. Not the before Adam. That guy was a prick. Her Adam was magnificent.

“I will give you that kind of time,” Ship reassured them. “I am reasonably confident this will work. All you need to do is destroy the rest of the entities once I’m gone.”

Raniya continued where Ship left off. “That could be ongoing. We don’t understand how the pods are arriving. They’re definitely the method of conveyance the entities are using to reinforce Terra in the absence of a nexus. Our research revealed they travel in the void between dimensions, which is why conventional radars never detected them.”

Adam slipped his arm around Claire. “I guess I hijacked a pod to come home.”

“Or you were placed in one to help destroy us. Your call.” Cullin shrugged.

“It is his call,” Claire said, leaning into Adam. “Can we get on with this?”

“One last thing,” Raniya warned. “There’s a high probability that consuming too many shades in a row might divest Adam of his humanity entirely.”

“And
then
he’d be a daemon,” Cullin announced, satisfied. “Which gives rise to the possibility that daemons were once sentient beings, too, but if we don’t survive the leviathan, that hardly matters. I don’t think any of us are crazy enough to want to rehabilitate a daemon.”

Ship concurred. “I do not know if that would be possible, but it will be possible to learn about the other side. Someday, the Chosen One will be able to tell you about the maelstrom dimension. Someday, our efforts here may aid our progress in abolishing the entity threat entirely. I regret that I will not be part of the revelation.”

A man of few words, Gregori hadn’t spoken this whole time, but he did now. “Even Adelita mourns that we are losing you, Ship. We will honor your memory for all time.”

“She does?” Ship said, somehow inserting emotion into its toneless words. “I will be sure to speak with her before I sally forth. It occurs to me, Nikolas, if I had only been possessed of an android body, I could remain with you in part. What a shame your father never procured me one.”

Niko sighed. “Sarah and Raniya were looking into that, but—”

“We cannot construct one in the amount of time we have,” Raniya said. “I’m sorry, Ship.”

“I was teasing,” Ship confessed. “I know it is hard to tell when you cannot see me smile. If I had an android body, I believe I would smile all the time.”

Niko glowered, lips tight, but Claire knew it wasn’t anger. The guy was trying not to cry. They should wrap up this meeting so everyone could say the good-byes they needed to say in private.

“Please instruct everyone to unload the last of the valuables, including all extraneous power sources,” Ship said. “I must depart in two hours.”

The meeting disbanded. Claire headed toward the room where Tracy and Frances waited, but Adam stopped her.

“I’m going on board Ship,” he said. “It’s the only chance I’ll have. I want you to come with me.”

Claire hesitated. “Frannie’s waiting for us.”

“Frannie’s dad should have some time with her right now,” Adam suggested, proving he’d observed Niko’s grief as well. Claire wasn’t surprised—he always seemed to sense what people needed. “She has a very healing presence. She gave me a lot to think about.”

“What, like how you’ll never be an architect?” Claire asked. Why did he want to board Ship? Did he think he needed to help carry stuff?

“No. She made me think about how much she deserves a chance to grow up.”

He tugged her along. She wasn’t inclined to resist him, even if she didn’t understand. He worked so hard to make other people happy—she could do a little something for him. “This relates to boarding Ship how?”

“You’ll see,” Adam said mysteriously.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“We found this crib in a deserted furniture warehouse.” Claire traced a finger along the wooden railing of the bed where Frances had slept while they’d lived on Ship. Or not slept, since the kid had had colic and had preferred to sleep in someone’s arms—someone awake and rocking and singing to her. “Niko and Sarah were a few doors down. It was good to have help with a newborn.”

“Had you been around babies before Frannie?”

When they’d boarded Ship amidst all the comings and goings of the crew, Adam had wanted to be introduced to Ship’s matrix. That had taken all of ten minutes. The countless blue, glowing wires and cables that formed the giant column of Ship’s being had pulsed out a greeting in a creepy manner. Ship had shown no wariness of Adam’s other-dimensional abilities, chatting away as if it wasn’t about to fly to its doom. Next, Adam had wanted to see Claire’s old quarters.

“Nope. I had no interest in babies.” She considered how that sounded. “Until Frannie.”

In her absence, the room had been used as storage. Excess furniture and protective crates were stacked in various spots around the chamber.

“Why is your room full of armory boxes?” Adam hoisted a yellow carton off her old bed, turning it in his hands. “What’s this one?”

“Probably some kind of bomb. Don’t open it. Or drop it.” She assumed all manual weaponry was on the list of supplies to unload, but a few distinctive crates and boxes remained, along with random furniture. “Niko must have had them store excess munitions here. They turned the armory into a testing lab, since it was the most reinforced area on Ship besides the matrix. They were doing a lot of experiments with weaponry.”

As far as these crates went, they must be the heavy-duty stuff. Shipborn-quality explosives weren’t needed—or allowed—on Terra. Why would they want to denude a million-acre area of life or activate an earthquake fault line? Not to mention take the chance that dissidents could steal the explosives and kill millions in one swoop.

“You’d think they’d keep bombs on lockdown,” Adam said.

“Maybe nobody knew they were here but Niko. The door’s still coded to me, so only a few people can get in. Oh, look.” Claire picked up a circle of smooth amber. “There’s the damned teething ring Adelita gave me. I guess we finally need it.”

She pocketed the amber toy. Hands on hips, Adam appeared to be imagining the room without the munitions, the way it had been, she a new mom, Frances a screamy infant. It had been one of the hardest things she’d ever survived.

The next thirty hours were going to be worse, and a lot less gratifying than raising a child. But she couldn’t dwell on that. If Ship insisted there was a chance, the least they could do was humor it. No need to send Ship off full of doom and gloom.

At least, that was how Claire felt. She wasn’t sure about the others.

“I have no idea if I wanted kids,” Adam said. “I suspect I didn’t, if I didn’t have any. I’m told I had ample opportunity.” He wandered to the intercom next to the door and said, “Ship, see that we’re not disturbed.”

“You have one hour and thirty-three minutes before I depart,” Ship replied. The door slid shut.

“What gives?” she asked.

Adam gave her no warning. He pretty much pounced her, cornering her against the wall and claiming her lips with a reckless, demanding kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him back. His tongue probed the inner recesses of her mouth, and his teeth bit her bottom lip. His hard cock pushed against her insistently. Wrapping a leg around him, she hauled him closer.

With a curse, he grappled with her coat, yanking it off her, followed by the rest of her clothes. All of them.

If she’d wanted to stop him, she doubted that she could have.

Still fully dressed, he cupped her pussy with a groan. “I need you, Claire.” He trembled as he restrained himself from taking her without foreplay.

“I’m all yours.”

He sank his fingers into her body. She wasn’t yet aroused—hadn’t had time to get that way—but she was headed there. The strength of his yearning woke hers as well. He nudged one of her thighs aside and worked another finger into her, stretching her painfully.

She couldn’t help it. She whimpered. He trapped the sound with his mouth. Swallowed it. His other hand slid into her hair and immobilized her head.

Right now, and any time he touched her, he could inhale her. He could consume her. Was he feeling that hunger, like he said he had with Priiit?

Did she care?

His unrelenting hands and lips pulled a different response from her. He fingered her until she grew wet and achy. She rubbed down his spine, kneading his muscles, until she landed on his ass. His pants were too snug to slip her hands inside easily, so she groped him through the denim.

His breath caught when she wedged a leg between his thighs, grinding his cock against her. “Is this what you had in mind when you brought me here?”

“I’ve had this in mind since almost the first time I saw you.” Adam shoved some containers off a countertop—luckily not any bombs—and whirled her onto it. Parting her legs wide, he strummed her clit so thoroughly that she grew dizzy and shameless.

She whipped off his belt and unbuttoned his pants. Her hands found his erection, stroking him rhythmically. He grew slick, panting. The sound of their mutual wetness was music to her ears.

“Now, Claire.” Poised at her entrance, he dug his fingers into her hips. “I know you’re ready.”

He penetrated her in a single, abrupt thrust, and they both groaned with satisfaction. But his next powerful thrust shoved her backward on the counter. She slid off his cock, and they both laughed.

“Actually, no.” She pushed him away, and he stumbled. He wasn’t naked—just had his pants around his knees. “This isn’t what I’ve had in mind.”

This time, Claire Lawson was going to be on top.

She slid off the counter, the floor cool under her bare feet, and advanced on him. He reached for her but she grabbed his cock, hard.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll do what I tell you. Take off your shirt.”

He did, quirking an eyebrow at her. “Pants?”

“Nope. Get on your knees.”

Instead he seized her ass and hoisted her against him. “I don’t think so.”

He kissed her, clearly intending to dominate, so she pumped his cock a few times to get his attention. His body tensed when she rotated her fingers over the sensitive tip. He leaked pre-cum into her palm, onto her stomach, and he caught her by the chin. “You don’t exactly have the upper hand.”

She switched from his cock to his balls. And smiled. “I do now. Walk backward.”

Adam opened his mouth to respond, but when she squeezed, he began a slow shuffle, hindered by his pants. “Whatever the lady wants.”

The glint in his eyes promised a retribution she didn’t intend to give him.

His calves met her old bed, narrow but soft, and she pushed him onto it. Clambering atop him, she studied the outstanding body beneath her—the chiseled face, the direct gaze, the well-developed chest and taut abs. She caressed his smooth, unblemished skin, tweaking his nipples before positioning herself over his hips.

He grabbed her legs and tried to pull her down, but she jabbed a finger into the soft spot in his throat. “It’s not your turn, boy.”

Instead of gliding onto his cock, she bent over to tantalize him with bites and kisses. Her breasts, the nipples tight and responsive, brushed the crisp hair on his chest. She let the tip of his cock tease her entrance before she drew back, and he cursed.

“Claire. I can only take so much.” He smoothed his hands up and down her body before bringing her to his lips for a long, deep kiss.

His tongue entered her mouth, and she allowed the tip of his cock to push into her slit. Adam stifled a groan, skating a hand to her ass. But her position gave her more control—or he allowed her to have it. She hovered there, squeezing her muscles around him, enjoying the hot promise of their joining.

She was in control…until his hand found her clit.

He rubbed it the way she liked, and she sank onto his cock. This angle wasn’t deep, but their upper bodies could touch. He sighed, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

“Not too fast,” he said. “I’m really close.”

“So you do like it when I’m on top,” she pointed out, wriggling her hips. The feel of him made her head spin. She almost wanted to roll over—let him pound into her—but not this time.

“I like it when you’re anywhere.” He pushed her shoulders up until she was astride him and cupped her breasts. “Ride me.”

She did. She took her time, exciting them both, prolonging their pleasure. But every time he pinched her nipples or plied her clit, she realized it wouldn’t take much for her to lose focus. He fixed his gaze on her face, her body, lids half closed as they made love.

She wanted this to take hours. She wanted it to take forever. Why did she get the impression this would be their last time together? Something about the way his eyes consumed her, the way his hands worshipped her, whispered that they weren’t on the same page.

He must not think Ship would succeed. That was why he wanted her here, now. Depending on what happened in the next thirty hours, who knew if they’d have time to be together or even want to be? After this, she planned to devote herself to easing her daughter’s fears, if she had any, and holding her tight until the very last minute.

Hopefully, Adam would be with them.

She increased her pace, enjoying the twitches of pleasure on his face. The glimmers that he, too, was losing control. His cock swelled inside her, and he grabbed her hips and shoved her down.

Her breath hitched. “Are you—?”

He sat up, never losing their connection, and kissed her fiercely. His tongue probed her, his cock probed her. He cupped her ass, lifting her up and down on his cock. “God, Claire.”

“Yes.” She found her clit with experienced fingers and caught up to him. Surpassed him. They rode each other into an orgasm that had them both gasping and clinging in the aftermath.

He might have forgotten nearly everything about his life, but he had not forgotten how to fuck. And she’d finally learned how to love someone besides her family.

Or was it because Adam was her family now, too?

This time she said it first. “I love you.”

He kissed her and held her for another several minutes. His cock softened, and she realized his zipper was kind of chafing a spot on her butt.

“I should have gotten you naked,” she told him, easing out of his lap. She’d never felt as safe and secure as she did in his arms. It wasn’t his extra strength, either. It was who he was.

“It’s all right.” Adam rose, stretching, and helped her get dressed. “Some other time.” He kissed her, slow and lingering, until she thought he might want to have sex again, but he broke off and led her to the door. “We should see if the crew needs help unloading.”

“Ah. I thought you might want to pitch in.”

“Anything I can do to help, you know I’ll do it.” He wouldn’t meet her eyes. A lump formed in her throat. Somehow, if he’d believed in Ship’s mission, she could have believed, too. Either way, there was nothing left to do besides get whatever load Ship wanted them to carry and return to Frannie’s side.

They found the remaining crew in the cargo bay, hustling their asses off. Some were trying not to be upset, while some appeared stoic. Ship directed them all, seemingly calm, but how could you tell with Ship?

“Forty-one minutes until my departure,” Ship intoned. “Please take the cargo into the base. Medicines and tools are vital in a primitive survival situation.” They loaded shuttle after shuttle, vehicle after vehicle, since Ship was far too big to dock in the base itself. It hovered about ten feet above the ground in a snowy valley. Masses of larger cargo lay strewn all around it, to be retrieved later.

Claire lost track of Adam in the bustle, dropping into managerial status with her fellow workers. It came naturally, and they mostly followed her advice. The last she’d seen of Adam, he’d been hefting a giant load of medical supplies, much to the amazement of some Shipborn soldiers—enhanced ones—who hadn’t been able to carry as big of a load.

Braggart.

In any case, she figured she’d catch up with him underground. Pretending not to notice the number of Shipborn crying now that Ship was about to depart, Claire hopped one of the final shuttles instead of wading through the snow to the base’s ground entrance. She didn’t watch Ship rise into the air, slowly, so as not to dislodge any of the snow pack, any trees—considerate to the last.

Claire couldn’t linger. Comforting people wasn’t her forte, and Sarah might need help with Niko. She’d overheard a few snatches of conversation about how he’d tried to reboard Ship with the intention of accompanying it into the sun.

While it would be tough for him when Ship…ceased to be, severing their Shiplink, he could survive it. Whether any of them could survive the leviathan was another story.

A story they were about to finish.

Back in the base, she caught a Shipborn by the arm, one of the soldiers who’d been helping with the medical supplies. “Have you seen Adam?”

She peered at Claire with a worried expression. “Yeah, but…I thought you knew.”

Dread pulsed through her, like that creepy throb of blue when Ship had greeted them in the matrix chamber. “Knew what?”

“I don’t think he debarked.”

“What the hell?” Claire’s hands trembled. “Give me your array.”

“My array?” The woman, Isla something, one of Niko’s field techs, pressed a hand to her head. “It’s not sanitary. I…”

Claire growled and snatched it out of Isla’s temple. She crammed it into her own head, and the sharp pain of implantation was nothing compared to the pain in her soul right now.

“Adam, get your ass back down here,” she demanded over Ship’s common frequency.

All around her, the Shipborn and Terrans inside the base’s docking bay stopped and stared. Isla stepped away, as if frightened Claire might yank something else off of her body.

Adam’s voice crackled over the space between them. Space that was increasing by the minute. They could be out of the atmosphere—out of orbit. “The leviathan is made of shades, Claire. I eat shades, remember? I’m going to try to stop it when it comes for Ship. And it’s coming. It’s coming now.”