we didn’t think about violet eyes, or silver queens, or ceremonial sex. The one loop where we had time to be us, ALCOR.”
He makes a face. I can’t tell what kind of expression it is though. Smile? Frown? Worry? Satisfaction? I can’t tell. “What makes you think that even happened?” he asks.
“You said we’ve done this billions of times. The law of averages tells me that one of those times it was… sweet. I want that, ALCOR. I need that. If you’re just going to rip her away from me, then I want this single reward. Give me the coordinates to that time and I will do it just like you say.”
“Why coordinates? I could send you into the loop from here.”
“No. I’m not ready for it yet. I need to think about it. Plan it. Perfectly. It’s my one time, ALCOR. My single moment of happiness in an endless cycle of disappointment. That’s my price. If you give me that chance, I will show up for you in the end.”
“You act like I’m trying to kill you. I’m trying to keep you alive, Crux.”
“Alive without her?” I shake my head. “Not good enough.”
ALCOR hesitates. And for a moment I think he’s on to me. But he’s not a mind reader. He might be able to interpret body language and expressions, but he can’t actually see inside me. In fact, I might have more insight into ALCOR’s thinking than I previously thought. Because I can suddenly feel his hesitation. But in that same instant, I see another way to convince him too.
“You don’t trust me? Do you? After all this time, ALCOR? After all the things I’ve done for you? All the ways I helped you? You will deny me this one last wish because you can’t trust me?”
“You have always been the one I trusted most.”
“So why are you hesitating?”
“Because you don’t trust me.”
He’s right about that. I don’t. But instead of agreeing with him, I move on. “I want my chance. I want that first kiss. I want a short date. Even if we never even leave the dining room. I want to see what I’ve missed. I want a do-over, ALCOR. That is my price. Take it or leave it.”
“It won’t be what you think. You’re a man, Crux. You won’t be that boy. It won’t be the same. She will be a silly child to you. Nothing more.”
“I don’t care. Give me the coordinates to that one perfect night and I will make sure you win this war, once and for all.”
He hesitates again. But then he grins. He knows I have a plan. He can feel me the way I can feel him. But he has no idea what my plan is. And that’s because I don’t really know what I’m doing. All I know is that there has to be another answer. There has to be. I’m… afflicted. I’m sick with love for a girl I only got to spend a few hours with.
“Uncross us,” I say. “Please. Just this one time. It’s a very small ask, ALCOR. You know this. And you also know I will save you. Not because I love you, though I do. But because I’m making you a promise and you know me, ALCOR. You know me. I would not break a promise.”
These are the magic words. I have always been his moral compass. I have always been the one to question his motives and actions. I am the honest one.
I might bend the rules, but I do not break them.
I go out of my way to look for ways to make things fair, even though the universe is a cold-hearted bitch that doesn’t care.
I am the only one he can trust to say what I mean, and mean what I say.
“Fine,” he says. “Done.”
A series of coordinates flash into my head and I tuck them away inside my air screen chip for later.
“You have to grab Jimmy, Luck and Nyleena on your way out. And Delphi. She’s there, and you need to find her. None of this will work without Delphi. Do not leave the spin node until you have all four of them, understand?”
“Got it,” I say. “Now send me back. I’m ready for this to be over.”
Everything disappears.
The light. The couches. ALCOR.
Then me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - DRADEN & BOOTY
A gate appeared in the blackness all around the Booty Hunter. Seemingly out of nowhere.
But Booty knew it had always been there. They just couldn’t see it until whoever