"Soul's Bonds", Chapter 26
It's almost over. :) I'll be posting the epilogue immediately after this, but I hope you find this chapter satsifying, if a bit long. I also have an interlude from Z's point of view that takes place during this chapter that I'll post over the weekend. Then I'll take a break from this continuum for a while and write the bunnies nibbling at me after transcibing the episodes "Idol" and "Missing" for RangerWiki. Hopefully I'll be able to get going on this fic's sequel, too.
Chapter 26 (Sky)
Even though we were helpless, bound, unable to morph or even defend ourselves in any way, Z and I still tried valiantly to escape as we were taken down a hallway, each of us held by one of the assassins and led by Syd- or whatever the Tri'rym controlling her body called itself- twirling the stolen Shadow Saber. Ka'ladra was forcing Bridge's bare hands to touch his armor, rendering him even more helpless than Z and I; he was whimpering, eyes rolling into the back of his head, seemingly oblivious to everything around him.
"Poor wittle squirt," Ka'ladra mocked. "Am I making you see bad, bad things? Things you must've been trying SO HARD to forget? Things you never wanted to see? Oh, how I'd love to finish the job I started on you when I kidnapped you, but I have my orders..."
"You're SICK," I snarled, ignoring the pain in my legs as I kicked at Narwick, though I knew I wasn't going to get out of his grip. "All of you. Let me go and I'll show you- mmmph!" Narwick had placed a hand over my mouth.
"I'm already sick of listening to you. Be a good boy and shut up, right," he said. "I'm thinking you'll be last to go when we infest you. It'll be so lovely to force you to watch us do it to the others and erase their memories- WOW! You're quite the firecracker," he simpered as I fought still harder, shouting as loud as I could even though it was muffled. "You'll be a valuable member of our team once you're properly modified." He, Ka'ladra, and Syd all laughed aloud; only Borandig remained silent. Our motley group stopped in front of the final door at the end of the hallway, and Syd punched in a code. I glanced over at Z, who was pale and shaking, looking completely petrified. Bridge, meanwhile, had seemingly passed out; his breathing was ragged and uneven, and his body trembled even harder than Z's. All I could think of as we approached Orpheus was I've failed them... I've failed them... I couldn't save them... I don't care if I die, but the others... it's all my fault for sending them here... Orpheus sat in a leather chair with his back to us, slowly rocking back and forth. He was facing a giant monitor, and all around him were jumbled masses of computer parts.
"The prisoners have been brought as you requested, Orpheus," said Polybius. "I await the opportunity to erase their memories."
"Not quite yet, friend. Put them down," Orpheus said in a rather bored voice. "All except the psychic. Keep him going out of his mind; it means he will resist less." Z and I were set down and shoved forward as he turned his chair, looking incredibly smug and satisfied. He strongly resembled Commander Cruger, I noticed, right down to the skin tone. My injured leg gave way underneath me when Narwick let go, making me fall over, but he didn't seem to care. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Sun Vulcan Squad, all three dying when they hardly even had a chance to attack us. And you, the Power Rangers. Famous for defeating Emperor Gruumm, now reduced to this pathetic rabble. Three good candidates to be infested; one other, waiting in vain for assistance to come for Doggie Cruger. Her brain injury means she cannot become one of us right away, therefore we will eliminate her after I deal with you three. Enough gloating, however. I'm sure you all have SO many questions to ask me. I'll indulge you for my own amusement; after all, your memories are about to be erased." Z and I remained defiantly silent, staring at him. "The quiet, stoic heroes. I should have thought as much from SPD brats like you. Alright, then, let us start from the beginning, shall we?" He recounted the story of the failed SPD expedition to the Tri'rym homeworld before going on,
"SPD logs officially show that no Tri'rym remained on board and that Polybius had been unplugged and disassembled after the mission. Of course, they were false. I made those logs myself as my final report before they were classified. I was then honorably discharged from Space Patrol Delta on permanent disability, using the excuse that the mission had traumatized me too much to go on serving. Fools. I took Polybius and the Tri'rym I had harvested and hid away on the planet Shi, thus surviving the destruction of Sirius soon afterwards, and began my experiments. The Tri'rym FASCINATED me, and I knew I could achieve a silent takeover of the galaxy utilizing them. I decided to breed them and test them on living beings, as a brainless slug controlling an inanimate object was of no use to me. Polybius, meanwhile, achieved sentience far beyond his original parameters and began working with me, utilizing programming I gave him to see inside the minds of our test subjects and try to understand and better the infestation process. He found that modifying the subject's memories made them much easier to subdue, so we began working from there. He would modify their memories, and I would then attempt to transfer the Tri'rym, now bound to the host's much more intelligent soul, into another body, a body that was unhindered by the restrictions of flesh and blood ones. Unfortunately, however, our experiments were hindered by the fact that so many of the host bodies died upon infestation. I also had to work excruciatingly slowly, as the people on Shi were beginning to notice the disappearances, infrequent as they were. I finally decided to relocate to Earth about a year and a half ago, taking Ka'ladra and Garo- my first successful experiments- with me. I felt confident that SPD would not know where I was going, as they had stopped keeping close watch on me years ago, occupied as they were with Emperor Gruumm.
"I was delighted to find when I arrived here that Gruumm had indeed set his sights on conquering it," he went on. "It would stop you nosy Space Police from looking into what I was doing too closely. I lived in some dreadful place called Wisconsin for several months before Polybius, Ka'ladra, Garo and I came to Newtech City. Once there, I quickly infested the first alien citizen I could find and used his identity to purchase this building we are now in. I then set up the Sinneslöschen company as a front and to bring in more money, using homeless aliens I had infested to act as my workers, all the while creating my new assassins and continuing to breed Tri'rym. My goal, of course, was to perfect infesting humans without killing them, then gradually work my way into taking over SPD by kidnapping and infesting cadets one by one. But there was one hitch... By this time, Polybius' technology and parts were worn and outdated, so Garo, Narwick and I traveled off-planet to acquire more in order to rebuild him. We were to be gone no more than a week and a half. During this time, however, that stubborn fool Ka'ladra got bored. He went out to kidnap and torture a civilian for sport, but upon finding out he'd captured no less than the Blue Ranger, changed his tack to trying to find out SPD secrets from him... and of course, he HAD to let the quarry escape and nearly kill him, thus rendering his body useless for infestation until it recovered.
"I was furious when I discovered this. Not only had he let the captive go and not held him for me, he had tipped off our existence to SPD. So I had to speed up our efforts, meanwhile sending my assassins out to harass you and make sure you were distracted enough to where you wouldn't catch onto the increased numbers of homeless people disappearing. My final step was capturing another Ranger" - he nodded to Syd - "in order to gain valuable personal information on the rest of you once I controlled them. The girl was well-suited to this purpose; once I infested her, her mind was completely taken over and she, as they say, sang like a bird. The transmission we sent to you yesterday and our attempts to hack your network were simple bait. We knew you would try and trace it, so we allowed you to and were ready for your arrival when you came today. Now..." Orpheus rubbed his hands together gleefully. "I never expected in my wildest dreams that I could kill Doggie Cruger and the renowned Sun Vulcan Squad in addition to capturing and infesting the Power Rangers. Whether you survive it or not is immaterial... once you are out of the way, I can impersonate Commander Cruger long enough to take over SPD Earth.... and then..." He laughed again as Z and I were hauled upright once more. My mind felt overfull with all of this new information, horrified at what he had confessed so casually to doing, struggling to process it even as I tried frantically to think of a way to escape. "Let us begin my favorite part- the infestation. Polybius, ready yourself."
"Yes, Orpheus." Orpheus walked past us, opened the door, and bid that we be taken after him... then three things happened all in quick succession. Borandig suddenly threw Z down, grabbing me and Bridge from a startled Ka'ladra and Narwick, throwing us down as well and standing protectively over us; the doors on either side of us opened, and two Rangers- presumably Rie and David, as they were in red and yellow suits adorned with the numbers 25 and 27- hopped out and knocked Ka'ladra and Narwick backwards into the room we'd just emerged from; then the door slid shut and there was an explosion.
"NOOOOO!" Orpheus cried. Syd demorphed and collapsed as a pale green slug slopped along the floor away from her. Borandig pulled off his helmet, revealing that it was actually...
"Charlie?!" I yelled in disbelief as he quickly stripped the rest of the armor off, nodding with satsifaction as Rie and David cornered Orpheus, judging and confining him.
"WHOOO-EEEEE!" Charlie whooped, and he came over to us, undoing our bonds. "Took Rie and David a bit longer than I thought to interfere, but it all worked out in the end. The explosives I planted did their work, completely blew apart Ka'ladra and Narwick's bodies. Did a nice bit of damage to Polybius' core, too, at least that's what I hope it was." He grinned down at the three of us on the floor, but Z and I simply stared back (Bridge was still out of it). "...You guys don't look too happy."
"Of COURSE they don't, Chuck," said Rie, shaking her head as she picked up Syd. "After what they've just heard? You poor kids. We need to get you out of here and back to the base first before we come back and clean up."
"Syd... Cruger..." Z said weakly.
"I think this little lady is going to be OK, she just needs some sleep," said Rie, examining Syd. "We should have Dr. Felix check on her just in case. Miss Tessie's with Doggie, he's en route to the hospital as we speak."
"But..." I began, lost for words.
"You want to know what happened?" Charlie asked, scooping up Bridge. "Long story short, we got attacked. The bleedin' cowards used Miss Sydney as a shield and injured Doggie; when he was taken care of in their eyes, she backed off, so I fought Borandig while David and Rie allowed themselves to be thrown to their supposed deaths. In reality they morphed and sneaked back up here, stoppin' to help Miss Tessie get Doggie out of here. Meanwhile, I drove the Tri'rym out of Borandig's body and decided to impersonate him. I planted some little explosives on Ka'ladra and Narwick, then I went along with their scheme, waited til I recorded all of Orpheus' nice confession, then we saved all of you. Can we get out of here now, please? Mister Sky, can you walk on your own?"
"No," I said, realizing for the first time how much my legs hurt. David helped me up, and Z stuck close to Charlie as the Vulcans escorted us out of the building. My brain was still feeling overwhelmed, trying and failing to process what had just gone on.
Then don't try. Focus on what's important right now, I told myself. We're alive. We're all back together. The details on how that happened don't really matter at the moment.
I was barely aware of anything except my friends as we were all placed in the Squad's hovercar and Rie drove us back. David sat in the front seat, supporting Syd, who appeared to be peacefully asleep. Charlie and Z sat in the back; she was leaning against him, and he didn't seem to mind at all. Through the numb confusion and fear in my mind and intense pain in both legs, I managed to find some courage and calm as I held a still-shivering Bridge, stroking his hair and whispering soothing words to him. When we arrived at the base after what seemed like an eternity, finding Kat, Boom, R.I.C., Isinia, Dr. Felix, and surprisingly Piggy and Jack waiting for us, I could even smile at Kat as we got out.
"Told you we'd come back in one piece," I said, reluctantly giving up my hold on Bridge as Charlie picked him up to carry him inside.
"What happened to you guys?" Jack asked, shaking his head as he and Piggy helped me walk inside. "All of you look like death warmed over."
" 'm fine," I insisted, though my voice sounded strange and I was swaying a little. Cold. Why was it so cold? "Really, I just need my bed... and Bridge... give him back..."
"Uh-oh. He's going into shock," David said urgently. "Come on, Mister Sky..."
"Gotta take care of the others," I insisted, shaking my head. "And Bridge. Bridge needs me. Give 'im back, Charlie. Come on. If I don' take care of everyone, who will?"
I then fainted, not really caring that Jack caught me as I fell.
Fear. Love. More fear. Relief. The image of an iron gate, banished, replaced by images of me, Z, Syd, Jack, Tessie, Cruger, and others... and still more love...
It was sometime during the night when I regained consciousness, as it was pitch black outside my window. My room. I was in my room, and I was holding Bridge, had him in tight grip, still feeling intense fear through his bare hands...
"Ahhh... surprised you're awake," said a voice. Jack. I felt incredibly woozy as I lifted my head to look at him; he was sitting next to our bedside in my desk chair, grinning at us.
"What the 'ell're you doin' 'ere?" I slurred.
"You never change, my friend," he snickered. "I was watching over you two, since everyone else is occupied. Syd's still out, Kat and Dr. Felix are attending to her... Z, Boom, Piggy and Isinia went to the hospital to join Tessie and be with Cruger... and the Vulcans are cleaning up what's left of the assassins. It's over. You've won, big guy. Dr. Felix gave you enough drugs to lay an elephant low, so it's your turn to rest now. Snuggle with Bridge. Everybody's taken care of, so forget about it."
Forget about it. There'd be time to think about it later.
Yeah.
Cuddling Bridge sounded nice.
I felt so warm and sleepy and content and... Bridge whimpered softly when I nuzzled him, and there was fear... but also love...
courage... warmth... my little kitten in my arms...
later...
* * *
The morning sun shone on my face when I woke up next, to find that Bridge's and my room was surprisingly full. Bridge was snuggled up against me; through his still-bare hands I felt some sharp fear and a bundle of other emotions I couldn't describe, but love and peaceful contentment were strong, too. Z lay sawing logs in the other bed, covered with Charlie's blue jacket, her right arm draped over the shoulder of Charlie himself. He was sitting up against the bed, his beak wide open as he snored quietly. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he and Z had fallen asleep holding hands... Jack was curled up in a ball on top of a pile of blankets on the floor, his dreadlocks falling untidily across his face. Tessie sat at Bridge's desk, her head resting on her crossed arms, her glasses askew. Boom lay at her feet, using her Spider-Man doll for a pillow. Even Piggy was there, sprawled out on the floor next to Jack, blue slime dripping from both nostrils. The only person absent that I really wanted to see was Syd, but I presumed she was still resting in the infirmary. Feeling truly happy, I looked around gratefully at my friends... no, my family. I kissed Bridge's forehead, making him smile in his sleep, before getting up, taking my journal and a pen and tiptoeing out into the rec room.
Extract from the journal of Sky Tate
The happiness I get when thinking that our enemies have finally been defeated absolutely cannot compare to the heart-swelled-to-bursting happiness that I feel right now. I woke up surrounded by love, knowing that none of us would ever be hurt by the assassins again, that our nightmare was over, that we could finally have some peace, and could look forward to many more mornings like this.
Polybius and Orpheus had it wrong. The right kind of bond isn't between a soul and its body. No, the soul's bonds made by love, between people who care about each other... THOSE are the ones that are right, stronger than any parasite, or computer, or Sirian with sick dreams of glory.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a kitten to hold 'til he wakes up.
Maybe even longer than that.
Maybe I'll never let go of him, ever again.
Chapter 26 (Sky)
Even though we were helpless, bound, unable to morph or even defend ourselves in any way, Z and I still tried valiantly to escape as we were taken down a hallway, each of us held by one of the assassins and led by Syd- or whatever the Tri'rym controlling her body called itself- twirling the stolen Shadow Saber. Ka'ladra was forcing Bridge's bare hands to touch his armor, rendering him even more helpless than Z and I; he was whimpering, eyes rolling into the back of his head, seemingly oblivious to everything around him.
"Poor wittle squirt," Ka'ladra mocked. "Am I making you see bad, bad things? Things you must've been trying SO HARD to forget? Things you never wanted to see? Oh, how I'd love to finish the job I started on you when I kidnapped you, but I have my orders..."
"You're SICK," I snarled, ignoring the pain in my legs as I kicked at Narwick, though I knew I wasn't going to get out of his grip. "All of you. Let me go and I'll show you- mmmph!" Narwick had placed a hand over my mouth.
"I'm already sick of listening to you. Be a good boy and shut up, right," he said. "I'm thinking you'll be last to go when we infest you. It'll be so lovely to force you to watch us do it to the others and erase their memories- WOW! You're quite the firecracker," he simpered as I fought still harder, shouting as loud as I could even though it was muffled. "You'll be a valuable member of our team once you're properly modified." He, Ka'ladra, and Syd all laughed aloud; only Borandig remained silent. Our motley group stopped in front of the final door at the end of the hallway, and Syd punched in a code. I glanced over at Z, who was pale and shaking, looking completely petrified. Bridge, meanwhile, had seemingly passed out; his breathing was ragged and uneven, and his body trembled even harder than Z's. All I could think of as we approached Orpheus was I've failed them... I've failed them... I couldn't save them... I don't care if I die, but the others... it's all my fault for sending them here... Orpheus sat in a leather chair with his back to us, slowly rocking back and forth. He was facing a giant monitor, and all around him were jumbled masses of computer parts.
"The prisoners have been brought as you requested, Orpheus," said Polybius. "I await the opportunity to erase their memories."
"Not quite yet, friend. Put them down," Orpheus said in a rather bored voice. "All except the psychic. Keep him going out of his mind; it means he will resist less." Z and I were set down and shoved forward as he turned his chair, looking incredibly smug and satisfied. He strongly resembled Commander Cruger, I noticed, right down to the skin tone. My injured leg gave way underneath me when Narwick let go, making me fall over, but he didn't seem to care. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Sun Vulcan Squad, all three dying when they hardly even had a chance to attack us. And you, the Power Rangers. Famous for defeating Emperor Gruumm, now reduced to this pathetic rabble. Three good candidates to be infested; one other, waiting in vain for assistance to come for Doggie Cruger. Her brain injury means she cannot become one of us right away, therefore we will eliminate her after I deal with you three. Enough gloating, however. I'm sure you all have SO many questions to ask me. I'll indulge you for my own amusement; after all, your memories are about to be erased." Z and I remained defiantly silent, staring at him. "The quiet, stoic heroes. I should have thought as much from SPD brats like you. Alright, then, let us start from the beginning, shall we?" He recounted the story of the failed SPD expedition to the Tri'rym homeworld before going on,
"SPD logs officially show that no Tri'rym remained on board and that Polybius had been unplugged and disassembled after the mission. Of course, they were false. I made those logs myself as my final report before they were classified. I was then honorably discharged from Space Patrol Delta on permanent disability, using the excuse that the mission had traumatized me too much to go on serving. Fools. I took Polybius and the Tri'rym I had harvested and hid away on the planet Shi, thus surviving the destruction of Sirius soon afterwards, and began my experiments. The Tri'rym FASCINATED me, and I knew I could achieve a silent takeover of the galaxy utilizing them. I decided to breed them and test them on living beings, as a brainless slug controlling an inanimate object was of no use to me. Polybius, meanwhile, achieved sentience far beyond his original parameters and began working with me, utilizing programming I gave him to see inside the minds of our test subjects and try to understand and better the infestation process. He found that modifying the subject's memories made them much easier to subdue, so we began working from there. He would modify their memories, and I would then attempt to transfer the Tri'rym, now bound to the host's much more intelligent soul, into another body, a body that was unhindered by the restrictions of flesh and blood ones. Unfortunately, however, our experiments were hindered by the fact that so many of the host bodies died upon infestation. I also had to work excruciatingly slowly, as the people on Shi were beginning to notice the disappearances, infrequent as they were. I finally decided to relocate to Earth about a year and a half ago, taking Ka'ladra and Garo- my first successful experiments- with me. I felt confident that SPD would not know where I was going, as they had stopped keeping close watch on me years ago, occupied as they were with Emperor Gruumm.
"I was delighted to find when I arrived here that Gruumm had indeed set his sights on conquering it," he went on. "It would stop you nosy Space Police from looking into what I was doing too closely. I lived in some dreadful place called Wisconsin for several months before Polybius, Ka'ladra, Garo and I came to Newtech City. Once there, I quickly infested the first alien citizen I could find and used his identity to purchase this building we are now in. I then set up the Sinneslöschen company as a front and to bring in more money, using homeless aliens I had infested to act as my workers, all the while creating my new assassins and continuing to breed Tri'rym. My goal, of course, was to perfect infesting humans without killing them, then gradually work my way into taking over SPD by kidnapping and infesting cadets one by one. But there was one hitch... By this time, Polybius' technology and parts were worn and outdated, so Garo, Narwick and I traveled off-planet to acquire more in order to rebuild him. We were to be gone no more than a week and a half. During this time, however, that stubborn fool Ka'ladra got bored. He went out to kidnap and torture a civilian for sport, but upon finding out he'd captured no less than the Blue Ranger, changed his tack to trying to find out SPD secrets from him... and of course, he HAD to let the quarry escape and nearly kill him, thus rendering his body useless for infestation until it recovered.
"I was furious when I discovered this. Not only had he let the captive go and not held him for me, he had tipped off our existence to SPD. So I had to speed up our efforts, meanwhile sending my assassins out to harass you and make sure you were distracted enough to where you wouldn't catch onto the increased numbers of homeless people disappearing. My final step was capturing another Ranger" - he nodded to Syd - "in order to gain valuable personal information on the rest of you once I controlled them. The girl was well-suited to this purpose; once I infested her, her mind was completely taken over and she, as they say, sang like a bird. The transmission we sent to you yesterday and our attempts to hack your network were simple bait. We knew you would try and trace it, so we allowed you to and were ready for your arrival when you came today. Now..." Orpheus rubbed his hands together gleefully. "I never expected in my wildest dreams that I could kill Doggie Cruger and the renowned Sun Vulcan Squad in addition to capturing and infesting the Power Rangers. Whether you survive it or not is immaterial... once you are out of the way, I can impersonate Commander Cruger long enough to take over SPD Earth.... and then..." He laughed again as Z and I were hauled upright once more. My mind felt overfull with all of this new information, horrified at what he had confessed so casually to doing, struggling to process it even as I tried frantically to think of a way to escape. "Let us begin my favorite part- the infestation. Polybius, ready yourself."
"Yes, Orpheus." Orpheus walked past us, opened the door, and bid that we be taken after him... then three things happened all in quick succession. Borandig suddenly threw Z down, grabbing me and Bridge from a startled Ka'ladra and Narwick, throwing us down as well and standing protectively over us; the doors on either side of us opened, and two Rangers- presumably Rie and David, as they were in red and yellow suits adorned with the numbers 25 and 27- hopped out and knocked Ka'ladra and Narwick backwards into the room we'd just emerged from; then the door slid shut and there was an explosion.
"NOOOOO!" Orpheus cried. Syd demorphed and collapsed as a pale green slug slopped along the floor away from her. Borandig pulled off his helmet, revealing that it was actually...
"Charlie?!" I yelled in disbelief as he quickly stripped the rest of the armor off, nodding with satsifaction as Rie and David cornered Orpheus, judging and confining him.
"WHOOO-EEEEE!" Charlie whooped, and he came over to us, undoing our bonds. "Took Rie and David a bit longer than I thought to interfere, but it all worked out in the end. The explosives I planted did their work, completely blew apart Ka'ladra and Narwick's bodies. Did a nice bit of damage to Polybius' core, too, at least that's what I hope it was." He grinned down at the three of us on the floor, but Z and I simply stared back (Bridge was still out of it). "...You guys don't look too happy."
"Of COURSE they don't, Chuck," said Rie, shaking her head as she picked up Syd. "After what they've just heard? You poor kids. We need to get you out of here and back to the base first before we come back and clean up."
"Syd... Cruger..." Z said weakly.
"I think this little lady is going to be OK, she just needs some sleep," said Rie, examining Syd. "We should have Dr. Felix check on her just in case. Miss Tessie's with Doggie, he's en route to the hospital as we speak."
"But..." I began, lost for words.
"You want to know what happened?" Charlie asked, scooping up Bridge. "Long story short, we got attacked. The bleedin' cowards used Miss Sydney as a shield and injured Doggie; when he was taken care of in their eyes, she backed off, so I fought Borandig while David and Rie allowed themselves to be thrown to their supposed deaths. In reality they morphed and sneaked back up here, stoppin' to help Miss Tessie get Doggie out of here. Meanwhile, I drove the Tri'rym out of Borandig's body and decided to impersonate him. I planted some little explosives on Ka'ladra and Narwick, then I went along with their scheme, waited til I recorded all of Orpheus' nice confession, then we saved all of you. Can we get out of here now, please? Mister Sky, can you walk on your own?"
"No," I said, realizing for the first time how much my legs hurt. David helped me up, and Z stuck close to Charlie as the Vulcans escorted us out of the building. My brain was still feeling overwhelmed, trying and failing to process what had just gone on.
Then don't try. Focus on what's important right now, I told myself. We're alive. We're all back together. The details on how that happened don't really matter at the moment.
I was barely aware of anything except my friends as we were all placed in the Squad's hovercar and Rie drove us back. David sat in the front seat, supporting Syd, who appeared to be peacefully asleep. Charlie and Z sat in the back; she was leaning against him, and he didn't seem to mind at all. Through the numb confusion and fear in my mind and intense pain in both legs, I managed to find some courage and calm as I held a still-shivering Bridge, stroking his hair and whispering soothing words to him. When we arrived at the base after what seemed like an eternity, finding Kat, Boom, R.I.C., Isinia, Dr. Felix, and surprisingly Piggy and Jack waiting for us, I could even smile at Kat as we got out.
"Told you we'd come back in one piece," I said, reluctantly giving up my hold on Bridge as Charlie picked him up to carry him inside.
"What happened to you guys?" Jack asked, shaking his head as he and Piggy helped me walk inside. "All of you look like death warmed over."
" 'm fine," I insisted, though my voice sounded strange and I was swaying a little. Cold. Why was it so cold? "Really, I just need my bed... and Bridge... give him back..."
"Uh-oh. He's going into shock," David said urgently. "Come on, Mister Sky..."
"Gotta take care of the others," I insisted, shaking my head. "And Bridge. Bridge needs me. Give 'im back, Charlie. Come on. If I don' take care of everyone, who will?"
I then fainted, not really caring that Jack caught me as I fell.
Fear. Love. More fear. Relief. The image of an iron gate, banished, replaced by images of me, Z, Syd, Jack, Tessie, Cruger, and others... and still more love...
It was sometime during the night when I regained consciousness, as it was pitch black outside my window. My room. I was in my room, and I was holding Bridge, had him in tight grip, still feeling intense fear through his bare hands...
"Ahhh... surprised you're awake," said a voice. Jack. I felt incredibly woozy as I lifted my head to look at him; he was sitting next to our bedside in my desk chair, grinning at us.
"What the 'ell're you doin' 'ere?" I slurred.
"You never change, my friend," he snickered. "I was watching over you two, since everyone else is occupied. Syd's still out, Kat and Dr. Felix are attending to her... Z, Boom, Piggy and Isinia went to the hospital to join Tessie and be with Cruger... and the Vulcans are cleaning up what's left of the assassins. It's over. You've won, big guy. Dr. Felix gave you enough drugs to lay an elephant low, so it's your turn to rest now. Snuggle with Bridge. Everybody's taken care of, so forget about it."
Forget about it. There'd be time to think about it later.
Yeah.
Cuddling Bridge sounded nice.
I felt so warm and sleepy and content and... Bridge whimpered softly when I nuzzled him, and there was fear... but also love...
courage... warmth... my little kitten in my arms...
later...
* * *
The morning sun shone on my face when I woke up next, to find that Bridge's and my room was surprisingly full. Bridge was snuggled up against me; through his still-bare hands I felt some sharp fear and a bundle of other emotions I couldn't describe, but love and peaceful contentment were strong, too. Z lay sawing logs in the other bed, covered with Charlie's blue jacket, her right arm draped over the shoulder of Charlie himself. He was sitting up against the bed, his beak wide open as he snored quietly. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he and Z had fallen asleep holding hands... Jack was curled up in a ball on top of a pile of blankets on the floor, his dreadlocks falling untidily across his face. Tessie sat at Bridge's desk, her head resting on her crossed arms, her glasses askew. Boom lay at her feet, using her Spider-Man doll for a pillow. Even Piggy was there, sprawled out on the floor next to Jack, blue slime dripping from both nostrils. The only person absent that I really wanted to see was Syd, but I presumed she was still resting in the infirmary. Feeling truly happy, I looked around gratefully at my friends... no, my family. I kissed Bridge's forehead, making him smile in his sleep, before getting up, taking my journal and a pen and tiptoeing out into the rec room.
Extract from the journal of Sky Tate
The happiness I get when thinking that our enemies have finally been defeated absolutely cannot compare to the heart-swelled-to-bursting happiness that I feel right now. I woke up surrounded by love, knowing that none of us would ever be hurt by the assassins again, that our nightmare was over, that we could finally have some peace, and could look forward to many more mornings like this.
Polybius and Orpheus had it wrong. The right kind of bond isn't between a soul and its body. No, the soul's bonds made by love, between people who care about each other... THOSE are the ones that are right, stronger than any parasite, or computer, or Sirian with sick dreams of glory.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a kitten to hold 'til he wakes up.
Maybe even longer than that.
Maybe I'll never let go of him, ever again.