SWNOVELS Chapter Alcor
You call out quietly, not wanting to overreact. Your party answers immediately, and the hallway brightens enough for you to see their figures clearly. You almost sigh in relief but then realize how noticeable it would be. The man with the shield questions you, but you assure him nothing is wrong. The sorceress looks as if she doesn’t believe you, but doesn’t press. The swordswoman has forged ahead, continuing along the ever brightening path. You and your party members follow, and the prick of loneliness you began to feel fades. Your surroundings are still blank and uneventful, merely walls of coding in various degrees of brightness. This virtual space needs some redecorating, you think.
The swordswoman yells in frustration, and you assume the room ahead has reverted to those the party had seen before. Your suspicions are confirmed when you enter the cramped space walled in by suspended codes. However the room was occupied by two identical twin girls, one with a somber and serious face and the other with a mischievous glint in her eye and a coquettish grin. The two motion in unison for you to step forward.
What do you do?
Myos walked into Achernar’s bar, immediately being greeted by a blonde in high waisted purple shorts. “Hey slowpoke! You’re the last one to show up,” she giggled.
After Myos had met Amaya, he spent the next few days introducing her to both Zeke and Achernar, knowing it would take both of them time to get accustomed to the stranger. Achernar didn’t take as much convincing as he thought, however, as she was glad to welcome anyone who wasn’t a guard into her fold. Zeke, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as welcoming. After a day of not speaking to him, Myos brought the four together to have a sit down and the guarded man eventually was brought over to her side. They had been biding their time since then, and it wasn’t until today that the four had scheduled another meeting with each other.
Myos glanced around, realizing he was indeed the last to show up. Achernar had closed up business for today so that they could plan this rebellion that so far had only been discussed in theory. The woman in question was putting up her long oceanic hair and adjusting the red visor-like computer glasses on her face while scowling at Zeke. The ravenette kept peeking over at a girl curled up in one of the plush bubble chairs behind the counter with a heavily modified computer shoved in front of her face.
The girl had ivory hair streaked with pink and lime cut in a short bob, and topped with a pink kitten head bow. Her most attention grabbing feature was the green jacket she wore, of which purple fur exploded from the collar. Myos unintentionally rubbed at his neck, wondering how the girl could stand that brushing against her all day. She flipped her hair with a black leather gloved hand, long, black bottom lashes dusting her cheeks as she narrowed her eyes at whatever code was scrolling across her screen at the moment - both on the computer in front of her, and most likely a different set in the squarish monocled computer glasses that adorned the right side of her face.
“Hey, Razzy,” Myos said, waving a hand at the girl who worked in technological development for the Empire. She merely ‘hmphed’ in response. Typical.
“Is she always this...taciturn?” Zeke asked, raising a perfectly manicured brow and re crossing his legs, eye finally being drawn to the boy who had just walked in and not the girl in front of him.
“You got a problem with that?” Achernar snapped, slamming her palms on the chrome counter, nose to nose with the larger man. Anger sparked in her eyes, and you could cut the tension between them with a knife. Amaya ran over them, trying to assuage whatever conflict had arisen for the hundredth time this morning, smiling cheerfully at the both of them until they had calmed down enough to go back to just angrily glaring at each other instead of coming to blows - after all, Zeke was still trying to nurse his black eye that he had gotten from merely walking into the bar.
“So, Razzy, I’m assuming Achernar told you about everything? And you decided to help us?” Myos asked cheerfully, taking the focus away from his wounded friend. He walked over to the bar counter and rested his elbows on it, body flowing with the grace of a runner gained from so many game campaigns.
“No, I’m not,” the girl replied, twisting an ivory lock between her fingers and finally looking up from the blue glow of her screen. Her eye flicked between the others in the bar for a moment before seemingly coming to a conclusion. She set her computer aside and rose from the chair, her black heeled boots clicking across the transparent glass surface as she walked over to hop up on the counter, the silver O-ring on her collar bouncing against her slender neck as she did so.
“C’mon, Razz,” Myos pleaded, gesturing everywhere with his animated hands. He felt a sense of déjà vu coming on, but continued anyway. “This is such a huge deal! Do you wanna be a robot?” She merely shrugged in response, emotion – or lack thereof - in her icy blue eyes never changing.
“I’m not here to stop you. Just not here to help,” Razzy explained, snorting and disturbing the ring around her left nostril. Her fingers twitched, and Myos assumed the girl once again wished she had her keyboard in front of her.
“Well, anyway, the rest of us can do it no problem! We’ll be an amazing team, and she’s welcome to join whenever she wants to, okay?” Amaya said brightly, immediately taking up the role of positivity. She bounced over to the counter and sat on a stool next to Zeke, grape colored eyes following the giant fish below her, and almost tripping due to not paying attention.
“Whatever,” the other girl replied, absentmindedly spinning the belt the hovered around her waist.
“Her aside, the rest of us can infiltrate the main citadel,” Zeke said, finger tapping the side of his sleek computer glasses, obviously pulling up relevant information. Myos hoped it was a map of some sort, and that his friend would be distributing it to the rest of them later. “It’s information not known to the public, but that’s where the Empress lives. The main gates that are guarded and the room behind it are just for show, the real ruling of this Empire goes down in a heavily guarded citadel,” he explained, eyes flicking over the words on his screen. “And before you ask, no I don’t know how heavily guarded, and I don’t know what she looks like.”
“I don’t care how heavily guarded it is, I’m gonna fucking smash them!” Achernar yelled, pumping her fist in the air. “Fuckers’ll never know what hit ‘em.”
“Quite. But however enthusiastic you may be, we need weapons other than our fists or we’re as good as dead,” Zeke replied, shaking his head. “Did you factor that into your plans, Myos? How are we supposed to acquire weapons to stage this little coup d'état of yours?”
“It’s not just my coo whatever the hell you said, it’s all of ours,” Myos corrected, waving his hand dismissively. “And I just assumed, y’know, you could get them for us? We’d just, like, find them?”
“You expected us to just ‘like, find’ military grade weapons lying around a peaceful spacecraft that’s had no known wars up to date,” the ravenette asked, deadpan.
“Yeah, I did, now you gonna lay off man and stop criticizing me and actually help?” Myos sneered, seconds away from shoving his friend from where he sat perched on the stool. He was normally laid back and easygoing, but something about Zeke’s nonchalance about almost everything got under his skin.
“I think maybe if we all took a break and gave it some thought; we could meet back here tomorrow and tell everybody what we’ve come up with?” Amaya ventured, once again noticing the hostile situation and trying to calm it. She fiddled with the star charm on the front of her sailor collar, waiting for their reactions.
Myos sat back, the blonde’s words hitting home. He looked away, twisting the metal gauntlet that covered his lower right arm and sighed. They couldn’t just tear at each other’s throat; they had to be a team if anything was going to get done. “Sounds like a plan, Amaya.”