Silverline (2/?)
Title: Silverline
Pairing: N/Minah
Rating: PG-13, eventual NC-17 (violence, porn)
Genre: AU, scifi, crossover, romance, angst
Summary: One of the USF’s best-kept secrets is The Six: an elite force of cybernetic supersoldiers who carry out the USF’s most dangerous covert missions. But it won’t stay secret for long.
Notes: This is the first in a series of VIXX/Girl’s Day crossover cyborg AU stories (with appearances of idols from various other groups I like). These stories are inspired by medieval legends adapted to a space western setting. This installment is loosely based upon Robin Hood. And yes, I was totally on this before “Error."
Fortunately for N, he didn’t have to do a lot of physical piloting of the ship. With the coordinates of the Tesseline shipyard already in the computer, it was just a matter of locating them and landing. N watched as the vessel approached the moon, the gas giant planet of Logres looming behind it like an ever-watchful being. Rays from the star system’s red sun shot over the planet’s horizon, making for a truly breathtaking vista if only N weren’t trying so hard to remember when and if he’d seen it before.
The ship lurched and shuddered its way through the terraformed moon’s atmosphere, its powerful thrusters kicking in to slow the descent. Alarms went off, warning messages coming thick and fast. “Code red… plasma leak is losing containment… please land immediately.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” N muttered, though he wasn’t really doing anything but monitoring a bunch of coordinates on the console. At least he remembered that, more or less.
Outside the window, the moon’s scrubby, rocky terrain rose to meet the ship. N could see a smattering of vessels docked in the shipyard, located on a plateau overlooking the moon’s only major settlement. “Major” was a bit of a stretch, to be honest, but during his descent N hadn’t seen much outside of the town but a few scattered way stations and other isolated buildings. The town itself was barely more than a cluster of modest buildings and dwellings marching up the hillside. Most of them were built of stone, the same stone that comprised most of the moon’s surface, making them appear almost as an extension of the landscape. The newly-terraformed atmosphere reflected a pale blue, and it could almost look like Earth sometimes if not for the red sun. A few clouds drifted overhead, and in the afternoon light three other moons appeared in the sky.
The ship’s landing gear extended and with a jolt, made contact with the ground. The ship shuddered to a stop, whirring engines winding down to silence, alarms finally, mercifully, quiet. N let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He’d made it through this.
Unfastening the harness, he rose from his seat. His legs felt stiff and sore, probably from sitting on the ship for so long. He winced as pain shot through his left leg. Was it ever going to go away? He took a few steps. At least he could walk. For the first time since landing, he took the time to do a cursory investigation of his ship.
There wasn’t much to it. There was a bathroom (which was essentially a cell containing a toilet), the bridge, and a small room to the side containing a cot. He searched the room for any personal effects, anything that might shed some light regarding who he was, but there was nothing. Of course not. He was a cyborg soldier and possibly a spy. If he’d ever had an identity, his bosses had surely erased it. The only personal effects he found were a toothbrush, a comb, soap, and a razor. He supposed even cyborgs had to comb their hair and shave. He also noticed a cloak with a hook hanging beside the cot. He wasn’t sure how cold it got on Tesseline, although the ship’s computer reported the moon’s climate as temperate. Perhaps he’d need it later.
He collected his meager personal items, threw them in a bag, and took one last look around the ship for anything else he might need. He located a phase pistol, which he tucked into his uniform belt. For a cyborg soldier, he didn’t have many weapons. Maybe he was the weapon.
He opened the door of the ship, its airtight seal disengaging with a faint hiss. He stepped outside onto the planet’s dusty surface. The shipyard was currently empty, save for him. Good. It occurred to N suddenly that he couldn’t just wander about the town all metal-limbed and whatnot, especially if he was a spy. What if the wrong person recognized him? What if he scared people? Best not to call any unnecessary attention to himself. Not that he knew what he was going to do on this moon just yet. But he couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity, that there was something about this place. Something important.
Climbing back on board the ship, he grabbed the cloak from beside the cot and shrugged into it. The weather outside was too warm for it, but he couldn’t afford to take any chances. Briefly, he inspected the vessel to ascertain what was wrong with it and what he’d have to do to repair it. Even a quick visual inspection confirmed the worst. The plasma leak in the engine was releasing vapor into the atmosphere, through a huge gash in the ship’s hull. It was amazing the engine had gotten him down to the moon without a crash landing. He cursed under his breath, fearing that the leak would draw attention to the ship and as a result, to him. But it wasn’t like he could move the ship now. At least it was free of any identifying details? Surely his bosses made provisions for that.
There were other signs of heavy damage to the ship’s hull-more gashes and dents, some burns as if from phase fire. Before he’d lost his memory, he must’ve been involved in a fight or a chase of some sort. Whatever it was, his ship was going to require some major repairs. And he was in no position to do that right now. He wasn’t sure he even had any credits to his name (and considering that his bosses apparently wanted him invisible, how would he be able to amass and spend any credits, anyway?)
There was only one way he could think of to get off the moon, at least for now. He’d have to steal a ship.
But that’d have to wait. Right now, he had more important things on his mind. Like finding out why this moon was so familiar to him. Maybe it’d be the first clue in helping him remember who he was.
He’d need a hover to get into town. He supposed he could walk, but considering he was still feeling stabs of pain in his left leg when he took any steps, it probably wasn’t the best idea. But how to rent a hover without paying the android on duty, which would require an identity?
He approached the hover rental lot and sized up the scene. Three androids on duty. Two were busy dealing with customers and various duties to keep the lot running smoothly. If he could get past the third, he’d have to steal a hover. Wait-hovers used facial and voice recognition software. In order to rent one, he’d have to be in the database. Shit. But wait-terrestrial vehicles still operated with keys. He could use one of those.
But how was he supposed to get the keys? Where did the androids keep them? Did he even know how to drive one?
Well, he reasoned, it can’t be that hard. He’d just landed a spaceship, after all (never mind that the computer had done most of the work). What choice did he have?
Crouching behind one of the scrubby bushes surrounding the lot, N surveyed his quarry from higher ground. He immediately located a shed at the edge of the lot-that had to be where the androids kept the keys. Now, there was only the matter of getting in. There was probably an entry code or scan or some other form of security, though it couldn’t be too stringent, since this lot was manned by the most rudimentary design of non-humanoid service androids.
He had to get closer to reconnoiter. Eventually, the third android rolled across the lot to take care of another matter, and N had his opening. As stealthily as possible, he crept over to the shed, carefully inspecting its security measures for anything he could exploit. Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten to far when the android returned to its post. Shit.
“Sir, you are not supposed to be here,” the android informed him. “This zone is for employees only.”
N pulled his hood further forward to obscure his face more. “My apologies. I was looking to rent a vehicle.”
“Very well. Would you be interested in a hover or one of our terrestrial vehicles?”
“Terrestrial, please. Might I have the keys?”
“Of course. But first, you must lower your hood for a facial recognition scan.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“It is required if you wish to rent a vehicle from us,” the android insisted. “Without your identity, we cannot complete the transaction of galactic credits. If you do not cooperate, we will have no choice but to remove you.”
“I don’t think you could remove me even if you wanted to.”
“Sir, if you do not vacate the premises I will have to contact law enforcement.”
“Please don’t.”
“You leave me no choice.” Lights flashed on the android’s interface, accompanied by intermittent beeps.
N could not let it complete the call.
As if on instinct, he raised his phase pistol and fired. It hit the android right between the eyes. Sparks flew up from the point of contact, and the android teetered backwards. Immediately, its companions noticed the commotion and rolled toward him with unexpected speed. But N was quicker. He shot one first and then the other, his aim impeccable, stopping both androids in their tracks.
He didn’t know if they’d had time to call law enforcement, but he’d have to be long gone if they had. Still operating on instinct, he sprinted to the nearest truck and climbed inside, not bothering with the shed or the keys. Once inside, he found himself reaching under the steering wheel and yanking several wires loose, connecting two specific ones. The truck’s engine coughed and sputtered to life. How did he know how to do this? When did he learn?
He supposed he remembered more than he thought.
It wasn’t long before he realized he did know how to drive, and was peeling out of the lot, tires skidding over the sun-baked ground and kicking up clouds of reddish dust in their wake. The truck careened down the hill toward town, as he took back roads he didn’t realize he knew.
Nothing like a spot of danger to bring back those dormant memories.
He only hoped that more would follow.
---
Coming here was a bad idea.
Minah knew that, yet somehow, she couldn’t resist the compulsion every time the Archer stopped on Tesseline. She could blame the pint of Tydorian ale she’d downed with her crew at the pub but the truth was, there was just something that kept drawing her back to this place.
It wasn’t a long walk here from town, maybe a couple of miles. Uphill, granted, but not very steep. This was the section of the colony where the more modest homes were located, which would be most of its homes. Only the most affluent of its citizens lived further up the hill, where the sheriff had grown up even before he’d inherited his father’s post. Deputy Doojoon, his younger brother, had grown up there, too. Minah’s nose crinkled in distaste at the thought of him.
Doojoon’s family came from old money, while Minah’s father had been largely a self-made man. His trading company had been responsible for much of the commerce on Tesseline before the boom in intergalactic trade that brought more prosperity to the colony, which led the two families to establish a working relationship. Of course, it soon became apparent that what money Tesseline brought in went mostly to padding the sheriff’s pockets. And then the Great Intergalactic War happened, and many sons and daughters of the colonists’ poorer families enlisted. With the trade company languishing, Minah’s father and her brother had been among them.
It was this stone house, here on the hill, where Minah had grown up, where she had done everything she could to try to revive her family’s ailing business while waiting for the news that never came on the fates of her father and brother. Eventually, she’d had to sell the house and the Archer became her home, its crew her family.
The house still stood, dormant and empty, its modest garden dried up, gnarled branches of dead rose bushes reaching outward like wraiths. Everything in the house was gone-sold or collected by the sheriff, with only Minah’s dearest possessions taken on board the Archer. Now, the house was little more than a shell, the abandoned remains of a life long lost. It wasn’t even her family’s anymore-the property of some rich developer who couldn’t even be bothered to rent it or raze it for a more profitable venture. As long as the house was still standing, she could never visit Tesseline without also visiting this place.
Tough blades of grass flattened under her boots as Minah exited the back gate of the property, making her way down the dusty path to the field that stretched across the span of several houses. Her feet carried her as though by instinct, until she reached her destination. It was still there. Weeds climbed up its legs and partially obscured its face, but for the most part, the target was still visible, still waiting for her like an old friend.
Minah picked up the bow slung across her shoulder, a newer model she’d acquired while on a job. She then drew an arrow from her quiver. An antiquated weapon, one that rarely showed up anywhere other than ancient Earth weaponry exhibits in museums, yet she’d always been drawn to it, and she’d always enjoyed archery. She blamed her father. He’d had an avid interest in history, particularly ancient weaponry, and both she and Taekwoon had learned archery as children. There was just something deeply satisfying about drawing the bow, letting the arrow fly, and hearing the crack as it hit the target.
Minah raised her bow, squinting at the target before taking her shot. The arrow didn’t hit the bullseye, but landed a few rings out. Not bad. She drew another arrow, narrowing her eyes and focusing on the feathered end of the first (synthetic feathers, since hunting had been outlawed on Earth and the United Space Federation’s colonies a long time ago). These arrows, like her bow, were also constructed of a lightweight aluminum alloy, and couldn’t be split. But her father the purist had taught her and Taekwoon archery on replicas of ancient wooden bows and arrows, and those could.
Taekwoon’s childhood friend, Hakyeon, had often come over to visit Taekwoon and ended up learning archery as well. He had been an alarmingly quick study. To Taekwoon’s consternation, Hakyeon’s skill was soon on par with his and his sister’s. But it was hard (for Minah at least) to begrudge Hakyeon that, because his quick smile and contagious laugh made it hard to begrudge him anything. For a moment, a chill swept over, as though two ghosts accompanied her in this field, wondering how she was the only one still standing.
It was something she had often wondered herself.
Unbidden, a memory sprang to Minah’s mind. It was the summer before the war, before everything had changed. She and Taekwoon had indulged in a bit of friendly competition-admittedly, mostly instigated by Hakyeon.
“How about we make a friendly wager here?” he suggested, a mischievous glint in his dark eyes. “Whoever can split the arrow gets a Tydorian ale from each of us.”
“She’s underage,” Taekwoon deadpanned, throwing a glance at his sister.
Minah rolled her eyes. “Whatever. How about if I win, I get the hover for a week?”
“Sounds good,” Hakyeon agreed, without bothering to check with Taekwoon. Not that it mattered. Taekwoon was probably confident he was going to win.
“You first,” Hakyeon told his friend.
Taekwoon (whose facial expression never changed throughout the entire exchange) raised his bow and nocked the arrow. After a moment of concentration, he let it fly, the point embedding itself solidly in the bullseye. He drew another arrow, squinted at the target, and took several more moments to assess his shot.
“You going to fire that thing or try to win by outlasting us?” Hakyeon quipped.
Startled, Taekwoon released the arrow, which careened past the target to land on a fence post with a dull thwack.
“Well, that was a very threatening fence post,” Hakyeon remarked. Taekwoon threw him a look that would’ve frozen the blood of anyone else, but Hakyeon was unfazed. He was used to it by now.
“My turn!” Minah exclaimed gleefully. “I’m thinking I’ll take the hover on a road trip, if there were anywhere worth road tripping to on this rock.”
“They say the Mirabel Canyons are striking this time of year,” Hakyeon suggested.
“Yeah, but that implies that a bunch of rocks are interesting.”
Hakyeon shrugged. “You aren’t curious what this place was like pre-terraforming?”
“Not really. It was probably the same, with less trees.”
“Ahh, ye of little imagination,” he kidded. “If you win this, I’m taking you out to the canyons.”
“And that’s supposed to be incentive?”
“If not the canyons, then the pleasure of my company.”
She threw him a withering look, but in truth… she wouldn’t be all that averse to the possibility. Sure, he talked too much and could really be annoying sometimes, but it was hard to deny that he could be very charming when he wanted to be. Or even when he didn’t. He was definitely attractive. When he and Taekwoon hit the pubs, he was never lacking for female attention. He didn’t strike Minah as the playboy type, however. In a town this small, he’d have a reputation if he was. But the opportunity was definitely there, and Minah could understand why.
She was about to make a quip in response, until she saw that her brother was glaring again. So instead, she drew an arrow and raised her bow. She wasn’t one to concentrate as hard as Taekwoon, so she quickly let the arrow fly. It missed the bullseye by several rings.
Hakyeon shook his head. “You have got to fix your technique. Now, you don’t need to take aeons until the sun shrinks into a brown dwarf and we’re all dead, like your brother does here”-Taekwoon looked none too pleased at the turn of this conversation had taken-“but take some time to assess your target.”
Minah nocked another arrow, and this time Hakyeon came to stand beside her, stooping slightly so they were on eye level. His closeness left her feeling unsettled somehow, disrupting her concentration. She liked her personal space and, well… this encounter with him was leaving her feeling strange, out of whack, like there was a shift in the air and that easy dynamic between her, Hakyeon, and her brother was thrown off-kilter. She couldn’t say why. She just knew that Hakyeon was standing very close to her and she was acutely aware of his presence, far more so than she should be, particularly since it was occupying her conscience more than the task at hand-splitting the arrow.
“Try turning your elbow a little, like this,” Hakyeon advised. He put his hands on her arm, gently adjusting her position, and she nearly jumped.
Good Lord, woman, get ahold of yourself, Minah thought, and hoped her face was as impassive as her brother’s usually was.
Her eye was still trained to Hakyeon’s hands on her elbow. He had very nice hands, strong but graceful, with long and slender fingers. The pressure they exerted on her elbow, light but firm, showed them to be very dextrous as well.
Arrow, she told herself. You need to split the damn arrow.
“And try moving this arm a little higher.” His hand still on her elbow, Hakyeon placed his other hand on her drawing arm, the one holding the arrow, correcting her position. At this point his front was practically flush against her back, and his face was close enough to hers that she felt his breath on her neck. It stirred the fine hairs that had escaped her ponytail and raised a rash of goose bumps on her skin. How in the moon was she supposed to concentrate on anything in this state?
The only thing that might be making her feel more uncomfortable than Hakyeon was her brother’s deadpan stare, which she could sense without looking. Taekwoon was a man of a few words, but when he eventually did utter them, they probably weren’t going to be pretty.
She let the arrow fly.
It missed.
Still clutching her bow tightly, she sagged forward, a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding ejected from her lungs. Hakyeon had stepped back, and she felt the rush of cold air on her back where his warm body had been blocking it before, and the goose bumps cropped up again. She stayed facing the target, looking neither at him or at Taekwoon.
Calm down, nothing happened except you lost a bet, she reminded herself. So maybe for a moment she had been attracted to her brother’s best friend when he had his hands on her. But well, she reasoned, he was an attractive guy. It was natural to be attracted to an attractive guy especially when his hands were on you, right? That didn’t mean she wanted things to progress any further, mostly because Taekwoon might inflict bodily harm on Hakyeon if it did, and she couldn’t be sure that he was feeling the same way. He probably wasn’t. He probably wanted her to win the bet to stick it to Taekwoon. It was just a moment, and the moment was over.
Minah never thought she’d feel so relieved over losing a bet.
---
For the life of him, N could not pinpoint what had drawn him to this place.
As he’d driven the truck down the dusty road toward town, he’d had no idea where he was going or what he was looking for. Mostly, he wanted to put as much distance as he could between him and the shipyard, and as quickly as possible. As he clutched the old steering wheel he realized that his hands were shaking. He’d refused to think about the incident at much length for the time being, his priority being to keep himself together until he was out of the woods, so to speak. But now that the initial rush of adrenaline had gone away he couldn’t stop the thoughts from racing through his mind, the recollection from replaying itself over and over behind his eyes.
The incident in the hover rental lot felt surreal to him, almost as though he’d been watching it happen while someone else was in his body. He’d acted on instinct, not even blinking as he shot all three androids. And while those androids were little more than a collection of wires and chips, what happened if any humans crossed him? Would he respond the same way?
What the hell had been done to him?
Drive, he told himself. Just drive.
And so he did. The truck bounced and jounced over the bumpy road-since hovers were used so much more often than terrestrial vehicles, upkeep of the roads wasn’t really priority-past house after house, until he came to a juncture near the bottom of the hill. He’d long since left the fancy houses behind (granted, there weren’t many of them), and was now rolling up to a juncture in the midst of a slew of nondescript stone houses. Up on the hill, the sheriff’s mansion squatted like a gaudy stone gargoyle, as though monitoring its subjects through beady glass eyes.
N turned the truck left at the juncture, and he couldn’t say why. He just felt strongly there was something down this road, something important. Something that was significant to him-or at least, to the person he had been. He soon found out exactly what that thing was, when he pulled the truck up to a plain stone house.
It was empty, no sign of life anywhere to be seen on the property. Even the plants had died, save for a few weeds and hardy blades of grass pushing up through the sun-baked ground. The windows were boarded, but N would be very surprised if there was anything here of interest to looters. He opened the wrought-iron gate, its hinges creaking shrilly in protest of the disturbance, and noticed that a thick layer of dust come off onto his left hand. Frowning, he wiped the hand across his cloak, still not quite used to the fact that he now possessed a metal limb.
He walked up the path to the door, turning the knob tentatively. To his surprise, the door swung open. In fading light of the late afternoon, the house’s interior was nearly pitch-black, only a few rays of reddish sunlight seeping around the boards on the windows. Suddenly, his surroundings snapped into focus as something activated his circuitry, and his night vision kicked in. This startled him, almost more so than anything else he’d encountered on this day. Was there no end to his newfound freakishness?
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see. Just an empty house left in a sad state of neglect, all of the former owners’ belongings removed or sold or stolen, apparently. Still, he searched, desperate for something that might shed light on what this house meant to him. But there was nothing.
Frustrated, he kicked open the back door, which gave little protest aside from raising a thick cloud of dust. He emerged into what remained of the house’s backyard, his vision immediately switching back to normal. Afternoon was melding into twilight now. He should probably get back to the ship soon. Still, he had to see what else was here. He refused to believe that this was all that he’d discover during this venture.
N walked over the broken stone path to the back gate, surveying the scene before him. What he saw was a long stretch of field-well, the closest you got to a proper field on this moon. There was a path along the edge of the field, behind the houses. He followed it, passing a few empty lots until he reached the next house.
It was just as nondescript as the one he’d left, and also apparently abandoned. But it wasn’t the house that he noticed. It was the object that stood in the middle of the field. In the dim light, he was able to make out a target. An archery target?
Before he could inspect the target any further, however, an odd sensation gave him pause. He sensed that he was not alone here. That feeling was affirmed by the faint mechanical whir he heard behind him-like the sound a phase pistol makes when being calibrated, only it’s usually so quiet as to be undetectable by human ears, even at this close range.
Well, if he’d been a normal human.
“Don’t move,” a female voice warned.
The memory of the androids’ fates was still vivid in his mind. “I could kill you before you even pull the trigger.”
“Try me.”
“I really don’t want to do that.”
“You’re awfully brave for someone with a phase pistol to your head. That, or foolish.”
Briefly, he closed his eyes. “I’m neither.”
The instinct kicked in again, and a split second later he had turned and knocked the gun from the woman’s hand. She stumbled backward but he seized her arm, preventing her escape. Her other arm shot up and the heel of her hand slammed into his face with all her strength. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, but she otherwise had done little damage aside from startling him. She lunged for him again but this time he was ready, seizing her wrist and twisting it painfully above her head. A cry ripped from her throat, but to her credit, she still found the wherewithal to kick him in the shin.
Unfortunately for her, it was his metal one.
The dull clang as the sole of her boot made contact, coupled with his complete lack of response, stunned her into stillness. His eyes met her startled ones briefly, until another female voice rang out and distracted them both.
“Let her go!” The voice’s owner leapt onto N’s back and attacked ferociously, causing him to release his the other woman.
In all the melee, lettering flashed across his vision. ASSAILANT AT SIX O’CLOCK. APPROXIMATELY FIVE FOOT FOUR INCHES AND ONE HUNDRED TEN POUNDS, LIKELY FEMALE.
“Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious-ow!” He flinched as a sturdy metal object clanged against his metal shoulder. He was trying to shake her off but the woman clung to his back with the stubbornness of a magnet, scratching and spitting and repeatedly berating him with the metal object-a wrench? Her fingernails clawed at his face and in the ensuing struggle, his hood fell back.
A gasp from the first woman caught his attention. She was staring at him, eyes wide not with fear or revulsion, but rather, something else altogether.
Recognition.
The word she uttered next was barely more than a whisper, one he might not have heard if not for his enhanced senses. “Hakyeon?”
---
Chapter Three
Pairing: N/Minah
Rating: PG-13, eventual NC-17 (violence, porn)
Genre: AU, scifi, crossover, romance, angst
Summary: One of the USF’s best-kept secrets is The Six: an elite force of cybernetic supersoldiers who carry out the USF’s most dangerous covert missions. But it won’t stay secret for long.
Notes: This is the first in a series of VIXX/Girl’s Day crossover cyborg AU stories (with appearances of idols from various other groups I like). These stories are inspired by medieval legends adapted to a space western setting. This installment is loosely based upon Robin Hood. And yes, I was totally on this before “Error."
Fortunately for N, he didn’t have to do a lot of physical piloting of the ship. With the coordinates of the Tesseline shipyard already in the computer, it was just a matter of locating them and landing. N watched as the vessel approached the moon, the gas giant planet of Logres looming behind it like an ever-watchful being. Rays from the star system’s red sun shot over the planet’s horizon, making for a truly breathtaking vista if only N weren’t trying so hard to remember when and if he’d seen it before.
The ship lurched and shuddered its way through the terraformed moon’s atmosphere, its powerful thrusters kicking in to slow the descent. Alarms went off, warning messages coming thick and fast. “Code red… plasma leak is losing containment… please land immediately.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” N muttered, though he wasn’t really doing anything but monitoring a bunch of coordinates on the console. At least he remembered that, more or less.
Outside the window, the moon’s scrubby, rocky terrain rose to meet the ship. N could see a smattering of vessels docked in the shipyard, located on a plateau overlooking the moon’s only major settlement. “Major” was a bit of a stretch, to be honest, but during his descent N hadn’t seen much outside of the town but a few scattered way stations and other isolated buildings. The town itself was barely more than a cluster of modest buildings and dwellings marching up the hillside. Most of them were built of stone, the same stone that comprised most of the moon’s surface, making them appear almost as an extension of the landscape. The newly-terraformed atmosphere reflected a pale blue, and it could almost look like Earth sometimes if not for the red sun. A few clouds drifted overhead, and in the afternoon light three other moons appeared in the sky.
The ship’s landing gear extended and with a jolt, made contact with the ground. The ship shuddered to a stop, whirring engines winding down to silence, alarms finally, mercifully, quiet. N let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He’d made it through this.
Unfastening the harness, he rose from his seat. His legs felt stiff and sore, probably from sitting on the ship for so long. He winced as pain shot through his left leg. Was it ever going to go away? He took a few steps. At least he could walk. For the first time since landing, he took the time to do a cursory investigation of his ship.
There wasn’t much to it. There was a bathroom (which was essentially a cell containing a toilet), the bridge, and a small room to the side containing a cot. He searched the room for any personal effects, anything that might shed some light regarding who he was, but there was nothing. Of course not. He was a cyborg soldier and possibly a spy. If he’d ever had an identity, his bosses had surely erased it. The only personal effects he found were a toothbrush, a comb, soap, and a razor. He supposed even cyborgs had to comb their hair and shave. He also noticed a cloak with a hook hanging beside the cot. He wasn’t sure how cold it got on Tesseline, although the ship’s computer reported the moon’s climate as temperate. Perhaps he’d need it later.
He collected his meager personal items, threw them in a bag, and took one last look around the ship for anything else he might need. He located a phase pistol, which he tucked into his uniform belt. For a cyborg soldier, he didn’t have many weapons. Maybe he was the weapon.
He opened the door of the ship, its airtight seal disengaging with a faint hiss. He stepped outside onto the planet’s dusty surface. The shipyard was currently empty, save for him. Good. It occurred to N suddenly that he couldn’t just wander about the town all metal-limbed and whatnot, especially if he was a spy. What if the wrong person recognized him? What if he scared people? Best not to call any unnecessary attention to himself. Not that he knew what he was going to do on this moon just yet. But he couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity, that there was something about this place. Something important.
Climbing back on board the ship, he grabbed the cloak from beside the cot and shrugged into it. The weather outside was too warm for it, but he couldn’t afford to take any chances. Briefly, he inspected the vessel to ascertain what was wrong with it and what he’d have to do to repair it. Even a quick visual inspection confirmed the worst. The plasma leak in the engine was releasing vapor into the atmosphere, through a huge gash in the ship’s hull. It was amazing the engine had gotten him down to the moon without a crash landing. He cursed under his breath, fearing that the leak would draw attention to the ship and as a result, to him. But it wasn’t like he could move the ship now. At least it was free of any identifying details? Surely his bosses made provisions for that.
There were other signs of heavy damage to the ship’s hull-more gashes and dents, some burns as if from phase fire. Before he’d lost his memory, he must’ve been involved in a fight or a chase of some sort. Whatever it was, his ship was going to require some major repairs. And he was in no position to do that right now. He wasn’t sure he even had any credits to his name (and considering that his bosses apparently wanted him invisible, how would he be able to amass and spend any credits, anyway?)
There was only one way he could think of to get off the moon, at least for now. He’d have to steal a ship.
But that’d have to wait. Right now, he had more important things on his mind. Like finding out why this moon was so familiar to him. Maybe it’d be the first clue in helping him remember who he was.
He’d need a hover to get into town. He supposed he could walk, but considering he was still feeling stabs of pain in his left leg when he took any steps, it probably wasn’t the best idea. But how to rent a hover without paying the android on duty, which would require an identity?
He approached the hover rental lot and sized up the scene. Three androids on duty. Two were busy dealing with customers and various duties to keep the lot running smoothly. If he could get past the third, he’d have to steal a hover. Wait-hovers used facial and voice recognition software. In order to rent one, he’d have to be in the database. Shit. But wait-terrestrial vehicles still operated with keys. He could use one of those.
But how was he supposed to get the keys? Where did the androids keep them? Did he even know how to drive one?
Well, he reasoned, it can’t be that hard. He’d just landed a spaceship, after all (never mind that the computer had done most of the work). What choice did he have?
Crouching behind one of the scrubby bushes surrounding the lot, N surveyed his quarry from higher ground. He immediately located a shed at the edge of the lot-that had to be where the androids kept the keys. Now, there was only the matter of getting in. There was probably an entry code or scan or some other form of security, though it couldn’t be too stringent, since this lot was manned by the most rudimentary design of non-humanoid service androids.
He had to get closer to reconnoiter. Eventually, the third android rolled across the lot to take care of another matter, and N had his opening. As stealthily as possible, he crept over to the shed, carefully inspecting its security measures for anything he could exploit. Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten to far when the android returned to its post. Shit.
“Sir, you are not supposed to be here,” the android informed him. “This zone is for employees only.”
N pulled his hood further forward to obscure his face more. “My apologies. I was looking to rent a vehicle.”
“Very well. Would you be interested in a hover or one of our terrestrial vehicles?”
“Terrestrial, please. Might I have the keys?”
“Of course. But first, you must lower your hood for a facial recognition scan.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“It is required if you wish to rent a vehicle from us,” the android insisted. “Without your identity, we cannot complete the transaction of galactic credits. If you do not cooperate, we will have no choice but to remove you.”
“I don’t think you could remove me even if you wanted to.”
“Sir, if you do not vacate the premises I will have to contact law enforcement.”
“Please don’t.”
“You leave me no choice.” Lights flashed on the android’s interface, accompanied by intermittent beeps.
N could not let it complete the call.
As if on instinct, he raised his phase pistol and fired. It hit the android right between the eyes. Sparks flew up from the point of contact, and the android teetered backwards. Immediately, its companions noticed the commotion and rolled toward him with unexpected speed. But N was quicker. He shot one first and then the other, his aim impeccable, stopping both androids in their tracks.
He didn’t know if they’d had time to call law enforcement, but he’d have to be long gone if they had. Still operating on instinct, he sprinted to the nearest truck and climbed inside, not bothering with the shed or the keys. Once inside, he found himself reaching under the steering wheel and yanking several wires loose, connecting two specific ones. The truck’s engine coughed and sputtered to life. How did he know how to do this? When did he learn?
He supposed he remembered more than he thought.
It wasn’t long before he realized he did know how to drive, and was peeling out of the lot, tires skidding over the sun-baked ground and kicking up clouds of reddish dust in their wake. The truck careened down the hill toward town, as he took back roads he didn’t realize he knew.
Nothing like a spot of danger to bring back those dormant memories.
He only hoped that more would follow.
---
Coming here was a bad idea.
Minah knew that, yet somehow, she couldn’t resist the compulsion every time the Archer stopped on Tesseline. She could blame the pint of Tydorian ale she’d downed with her crew at the pub but the truth was, there was just something that kept drawing her back to this place.
It wasn’t a long walk here from town, maybe a couple of miles. Uphill, granted, but not very steep. This was the section of the colony where the more modest homes were located, which would be most of its homes. Only the most affluent of its citizens lived further up the hill, where the sheriff had grown up even before he’d inherited his father’s post. Deputy Doojoon, his younger brother, had grown up there, too. Minah’s nose crinkled in distaste at the thought of him.
Doojoon’s family came from old money, while Minah’s father had been largely a self-made man. His trading company had been responsible for much of the commerce on Tesseline before the boom in intergalactic trade that brought more prosperity to the colony, which led the two families to establish a working relationship. Of course, it soon became apparent that what money Tesseline brought in went mostly to padding the sheriff’s pockets. And then the Great Intergalactic War happened, and many sons and daughters of the colonists’ poorer families enlisted. With the trade company languishing, Minah’s father and her brother had been among them.
It was this stone house, here on the hill, where Minah had grown up, where she had done everything she could to try to revive her family’s ailing business while waiting for the news that never came on the fates of her father and brother. Eventually, she’d had to sell the house and the Archer became her home, its crew her family.
The house still stood, dormant and empty, its modest garden dried up, gnarled branches of dead rose bushes reaching outward like wraiths. Everything in the house was gone-sold or collected by the sheriff, with only Minah’s dearest possessions taken on board the Archer. Now, the house was little more than a shell, the abandoned remains of a life long lost. It wasn’t even her family’s anymore-the property of some rich developer who couldn’t even be bothered to rent it or raze it for a more profitable venture. As long as the house was still standing, she could never visit Tesseline without also visiting this place.
Tough blades of grass flattened under her boots as Minah exited the back gate of the property, making her way down the dusty path to the field that stretched across the span of several houses. Her feet carried her as though by instinct, until she reached her destination. It was still there. Weeds climbed up its legs and partially obscured its face, but for the most part, the target was still visible, still waiting for her like an old friend.
Minah picked up the bow slung across her shoulder, a newer model she’d acquired while on a job. She then drew an arrow from her quiver. An antiquated weapon, one that rarely showed up anywhere other than ancient Earth weaponry exhibits in museums, yet she’d always been drawn to it, and she’d always enjoyed archery. She blamed her father. He’d had an avid interest in history, particularly ancient weaponry, and both she and Taekwoon had learned archery as children. There was just something deeply satisfying about drawing the bow, letting the arrow fly, and hearing the crack as it hit the target.
Minah raised her bow, squinting at the target before taking her shot. The arrow didn’t hit the bullseye, but landed a few rings out. Not bad. She drew another arrow, narrowing her eyes and focusing on the feathered end of the first (synthetic feathers, since hunting had been outlawed on Earth and the United Space Federation’s colonies a long time ago). These arrows, like her bow, were also constructed of a lightweight aluminum alloy, and couldn’t be split. But her father the purist had taught her and Taekwoon archery on replicas of ancient wooden bows and arrows, and those could.
Taekwoon’s childhood friend, Hakyeon, had often come over to visit Taekwoon and ended up learning archery as well. He had been an alarmingly quick study. To Taekwoon’s consternation, Hakyeon’s skill was soon on par with his and his sister’s. But it was hard (for Minah at least) to begrudge Hakyeon that, because his quick smile and contagious laugh made it hard to begrudge him anything. For a moment, a chill swept over, as though two ghosts accompanied her in this field, wondering how she was the only one still standing.
It was something she had often wondered herself.
Unbidden, a memory sprang to Minah’s mind. It was the summer before the war, before everything had changed. She and Taekwoon had indulged in a bit of friendly competition-admittedly, mostly instigated by Hakyeon.
“How about we make a friendly wager here?” he suggested, a mischievous glint in his dark eyes. “Whoever can split the arrow gets a Tydorian ale from each of us.”
“She’s underage,” Taekwoon deadpanned, throwing a glance at his sister.
Minah rolled her eyes. “Whatever. How about if I win, I get the hover for a week?”
“Sounds good,” Hakyeon agreed, without bothering to check with Taekwoon. Not that it mattered. Taekwoon was probably confident he was going to win.
“You first,” Hakyeon told his friend.
Taekwoon (whose facial expression never changed throughout the entire exchange) raised his bow and nocked the arrow. After a moment of concentration, he let it fly, the point embedding itself solidly in the bullseye. He drew another arrow, squinted at the target, and took several more moments to assess his shot.
“You going to fire that thing or try to win by outlasting us?” Hakyeon quipped.
Startled, Taekwoon released the arrow, which careened past the target to land on a fence post with a dull thwack.
“Well, that was a very threatening fence post,” Hakyeon remarked. Taekwoon threw him a look that would’ve frozen the blood of anyone else, but Hakyeon was unfazed. He was used to it by now.
“My turn!” Minah exclaimed gleefully. “I’m thinking I’ll take the hover on a road trip, if there were anywhere worth road tripping to on this rock.”
“They say the Mirabel Canyons are striking this time of year,” Hakyeon suggested.
“Yeah, but that implies that a bunch of rocks are interesting.”
Hakyeon shrugged. “You aren’t curious what this place was like pre-terraforming?”
“Not really. It was probably the same, with less trees.”
“Ahh, ye of little imagination,” he kidded. “If you win this, I’m taking you out to the canyons.”
“And that’s supposed to be incentive?”
“If not the canyons, then the pleasure of my company.”
She threw him a withering look, but in truth… she wouldn’t be all that averse to the possibility. Sure, he talked too much and could really be annoying sometimes, but it was hard to deny that he could be very charming when he wanted to be. Or even when he didn’t. He was definitely attractive. When he and Taekwoon hit the pubs, he was never lacking for female attention. He didn’t strike Minah as the playboy type, however. In a town this small, he’d have a reputation if he was. But the opportunity was definitely there, and Minah could understand why.
She was about to make a quip in response, until she saw that her brother was glaring again. So instead, she drew an arrow and raised her bow. She wasn’t one to concentrate as hard as Taekwoon, so she quickly let the arrow fly. It missed the bullseye by several rings.
Hakyeon shook his head. “You have got to fix your technique. Now, you don’t need to take aeons until the sun shrinks into a brown dwarf and we’re all dead, like your brother does here”-Taekwoon looked none too pleased at the turn of this conversation had taken-“but take some time to assess your target.”
Minah nocked another arrow, and this time Hakyeon came to stand beside her, stooping slightly so they were on eye level. His closeness left her feeling unsettled somehow, disrupting her concentration. She liked her personal space and, well… this encounter with him was leaving her feeling strange, out of whack, like there was a shift in the air and that easy dynamic between her, Hakyeon, and her brother was thrown off-kilter. She couldn’t say why. She just knew that Hakyeon was standing very close to her and she was acutely aware of his presence, far more so than she should be, particularly since it was occupying her conscience more than the task at hand-splitting the arrow.
“Try turning your elbow a little, like this,” Hakyeon advised. He put his hands on her arm, gently adjusting her position, and she nearly jumped.
Good Lord, woman, get ahold of yourself, Minah thought, and hoped her face was as impassive as her brother’s usually was.
Her eye was still trained to Hakyeon’s hands on her elbow. He had very nice hands, strong but graceful, with long and slender fingers. The pressure they exerted on her elbow, light but firm, showed them to be very dextrous as well.
Arrow, she told herself. You need to split the damn arrow.
“And try moving this arm a little higher.” His hand still on her elbow, Hakyeon placed his other hand on her drawing arm, the one holding the arrow, correcting her position. At this point his front was practically flush against her back, and his face was close enough to hers that she felt his breath on her neck. It stirred the fine hairs that had escaped her ponytail and raised a rash of goose bumps on her skin. How in the moon was she supposed to concentrate on anything in this state?
The only thing that might be making her feel more uncomfortable than Hakyeon was her brother’s deadpan stare, which she could sense without looking. Taekwoon was a man of a few words, but when he eventually did utter them, they probably weren’t going to be pretty.
She let the arrow fly.
It missed.
Still clutching her bow tightly, she sagged forward, a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding ejected from her lungs. Hakyeon had stepped back, and she felt the rush of cold air on her back where his warm body had been blocking it before, and the goose bumps cropped up again. She stayed facing the target, looking neither at him or at Taekwoon.
Calm down, nothing happened except you lost a bet, she reminded herself. So maybe for a moment she had been attracted to her brother’s best friend when he had his hands on her. But well, she reasoned, he was an attractive guy. It was natural to be attracted to an attractive guy especially when his hands were on you, right? That didn’t mean she wanted things to progress any further, mostly because Taekwoon might inflict bodily harm on Hakyeon if it did, and she couldn’t be sure that he was feeling the same way. He probably wasn’t. He probably wanted her to win the bet to stick it to Taekwoon. It was just a moment, and the moment was over.
Minah never thought she’d feel so relieved over losing a bet.
---
For the life of him, N could not pinpoint what had drawn him to this place.
As he’d driven the truck down the dusty road toward town, he’d had no idea where he was going or what he was looking for. Mostly, he wanted to put as much distance as he could between him and the shipyard, and as quickly as possible. As he clutched the old steering wheel he realized that his hands were shaking. He’d refused to think about the incident at much length for the time being, his priority being to keep himself together until he was out of the woods, so to speak. But now that the initial rush of adrenaline had gone away he couldn’t stop the thoughts from racing through his mind, the recollection from replaying itself over and over behind his eyes.
The incident in the hover rental lot felt surreal to him, almost as though he’d been watching it happen while someone else was in his body. He’d acted on instinct, not even blinking as he shot all three androids. And while those androids were little more than a collection of wires and chips, what happened if any humans crossed him? Would he respond the same way?
What the hell had been done to him?
Drive, he told himself. Just drive.
And so he did. The truck bounced and jounced over the bumpy road-since hovers were used so much more often than terrestrial vehicles, upkeep of the roads wasn’t really priority-past house after house, until he came to a juncture near the bottom of the hill. He’d long since left the fancy houses behind (granted, there weren’t many of them), and was now rolling up to a juncture in the midst of a slew of nondescript stone houses. Up on the hill, the sheriff’s mansion squatted like a gaudy stone gargoyle, as though monitoring its subjects through beady glass eyes.
N turned the truck left at the juncture, and he couldn’t say why. He just felt strongly there was something down this road, something important. Something that was significant to him-or at least, to the person he had been. He soon found out exactly what that thing was, when he pulled the truck up to a plain stone house.
It was empty, no sign of life anywhere to be seen on the property. Even the plants had died, save for a few weeds and hardy blades of grass pushing up through the sun-baked ground. The windows were boarded, but N would be very surprised if there was anything here of interest to looters. He opened the wrought-iron gate, its hinges creaking shrilly in protest of the disturbance, and noticed that a thick layer of dust come off onto his left hand. Frowning, he wiped the hand across his cloak, still not quite used to the fact that he now possessed a metal limb.
He walked up the path to the door, turning the knob tentatively. To his surprise, the door swung open. In fading light of the late afternoon, the house’s interior was nearly pitch-black, only a few rays of reddish sunlight seeping around the boards on the windows. Suddenly, his surroundings snapped into focus as something activated his circuitry, and his night vision kicked in. This startled him, almost more so than anything else he’d encountered on this day. Was there no end to his newfound freakishness?
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see. Just an empty house left in a sad state of neglect, all of the former owners’ belongings removed or sold or stolen, apparently. Still, he searched, desperate for something that might shed light on what this house meant to him. But there was nothing.
Frustrated, he kicked open the back door, which gave little protest aside from raising a thick cloud of dust. He emerged into what remained of the house’s backyard, his vision immediately switching back to normal. Afternoon was melding into twilight now. He should probably get back to the ship soon. Still, he had to see what else was here. He refused to believe that this was all that he’d discover during this venture.
N walked over the broken stone path to the back gate, surveying the scene before him. What he saw was a long stretch of field-well, the closest you got to a proper field on this moon. There was a path along the edge of the field, behind the houses. He followed it, passing a few empty lots until he reached the next house.
It was just as nondescript as the one he’d left, and also apparently abandoned. But it wasn’t the house that he noticed. It was the object that stood in the middle of the field. In the dim light, he was able to make out a target. An archery target?
Before he could inspect the target any further, however, an odd sensation gave him pause. He sensed that he was not alone here. That feeling was affirmed by the faint mechanical whir he heard behind him-like the sound a phase pistol makes when being calibrated, only it’s usually so quiet as to be undetectable by human ears, even at this close range.
Well, if he’d been a normal human.
“Don’t move,” a female voice warned.
The memory of the androids’ fates was still vivid in his mind. “I could kill you before you even pull the trigger.”
“Try me.”
“I really don’t want to do that.”
“You’re awfully brave for someone with a phase pistol to your head. That, or foolish.”
Briefly, he closed his eyes. “I’m neither.”
The instinct kicked in again, and a split second later he had turned and knocked the gun from the woman’s hand. She stumbled backward but he seized her arm, preventing her escape. Her other arm shot up and the heel of her hand slammed into his face with all her strength. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, but she otherwise had done little damage aside from startling him. She lunged for him again but this time he was ready, seizing her wrist and twisting it painfully above her head. A cry ripped from her throat, but to her credit, she still found the wherewithal to kick him in the shin.
Unfortunately for her, it was his metal one.
The dull clang as the sole of her boot made contact, coupled with his complete lack of response, stunned her into stillness. His eyes met her startled ones briefly, until another female voice rang out and distracted them both.
“Let her go!” The voice’s owner leapt onto N’s back and attacked ferociously, causing him to release his the other woman.
In all the melee, lettering flashed across his vision. ASSAILANT AT SIX O’CLOCK. APPROXIMATELY FIVE FOOT FOUR INCHES AND ONE HUNDRED TEN POUNDS, LIKELY FEMALE.
“Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious-ow!” He flinched as a sturdy metal object clanged against his metal shoulder. He was trying to shake her off but the woman clung to his back with the stubbornness of a magnet, scratching and spitting and repeatedly berating him with the metal object-a wrench? Her fingernails clawed at his face and in the ensuing struggle, his hood fell back.
A gasp from the first woman caught his attention. She was staring at him, eyes wide not with fear or revulsion, but rather, something else altogether.
Recognition.
The word she uttered next was barely more than a whisper, one he might not have heard if not for his enhanced senses. “Hakyeon?”
---
Chapter Three