The path down the tunnel did not pass in silence. Preacher whistled or hummed bar tunes all the way along. Every once in a while, the tunes would switch to hymns, and the walls ahead would light blue. Three strikes to the skull with their palm, and the Preacher turned back to green lit cheery tunes. It allowed Alec's mind to ponder what came next. Doc and Preacher mentioned the ability to get into any building with the sewing circle and to relay false information through the mansion staff. A plan began to take form; it would be a whirlwind of chaos, but it was the only way he could see forward with any chance at all. Quip would be able to tell him without emotion what odds he couldn't see, but for now, it was what he had.

  "Where do you come from?" Alec stopped short, realizing the musical tones had ceased. Preacher had stopped and turned its head nearly fully back while its body continued walking forward. It was an unnerving image.

  "Nowhere near here." Alec offered, unsure how to answer that question when the place he was from had ceased to exist before Preacher was a thought.

  "Well, that is clearly apparent," Preacher's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Your technology is strange to me, which means it is either very old or very new. By the look of you, it's very… very old."

  "Thanks?"

  "It is not your image but the depth of your eyes. I have always found humanity's eyes so odd to look into. Mine are glorified cameras that light to make you feel at ease. Your tales take me to the ages you have seen."

  Alec pondered the android's words. He did suppose in ways Preacher was like himself, but Alec at least knew what it was to be true flesh. This creature had only lived a synthesized version of what was naturally within Alec. And yet they were the ones who helped Teretha first. Alec had gotten here late to the game. When it came to compassion, was this synth-person more human than Alec? "I'm from a long time ago."

  "Was it from a galaxy very far away?" There was a smirk on the Preacher's lips. He was referencing a joke that Alec did not understand.

  Alec passed by it, "No, it was this one, but from the days when we only knew Earth Prime as habitable. I came from a time of honour, but lived to become this?"

  "What do you mean by helping an oppressed people?" Preacher gestured ahead of them in the tunnel as if the entire Teretha tribe was there. "That seems fairly honourable to me."

  "That's not how I got here. I was hired to put them down."

  "And yet here we are!" The android stopped walking at this. They turned their body to match the orientation of their head, standing in front of Alec. "I am most eager for my body to hold a heart such as yours. My binary brain makes calculations, and I act, but my heart cannot interrupt." Preacher tapped his chest in careful consideration while pointing with his other hand at Alec's heart. "It is a marvel to me that you can interrupt your programming with such an organ."

  "Seems to me like you have the same process." Alec extended a hand and pointed the android's finger back to their own chest. "You used to be a religious puppet, and now you're… something else." Alec took in the half-showgirl, half-trapper look of Preacher and realized they were truly unique. In the hall, his dealings with Quip had taught him long ago that whether it was circuits or nerves, sentience was spiritual matter, not reserved only for flesh and blood.

  Preacher looked proud of themselves and turned again, beginning to walk. Its head, however, didn't move and kept eye contact with Alec as they continued down the tunnel. "I am indeed something else. I enjoy you, Half-Metal Man; you are much more engaging than the doc."

  Alec nodded in agreement and pushed some more Aamaranth into his legs. This was a long trek; he had tracked nearly eighty minutes of walking thus far. Preacher seemed to notice that Alec's flesh parts were still tired, unlike their synthetic form. It slowed its pace and turned its head forward again. The whistling began anew. Alec put one foot in front of the other and focused on the tune. It was something he had heard in many of the saloons across the universe. He pushed a little Aamaranth to his lungs and joined in harmony with the clear whistles normally reserved for battle. To share it in peace felt like a wonderful gift.

  He and Preacher finished another half hour of walking, and the tunnel began to take an upward turn. Alec could smell the cooking of the Teretha camp, and soon the flicker of firelight could be seen on the sides of the tunnel wall. They broke through to a celebration that made the one for Alec look like a luncheon for the elderly. Every Teretha man, woman, and child was dancing alongside Tusong and his war council. The dust of the planet mixed with the sweat of exultation on them, and it turned their skin a soft reddish purple. In the middle, covered in wreaths of flowers, animal skins and ornaments, was Quip.

  As Alec got closer, people raised a hand to him, even Tusong, but the dancing did not stop. He could hear Quip chattering over the rhythmic feet and drums. "I assure you, this is not necessary, and it is not possible that I am any kind of fulfillment of any prophecy. I am no immortal beast, and if you could move slightly, I could… ALEC!!!" The last was accompanied by the roar of Quip's engine; he was clearly excited to see him. The Teretha took the roar as encouragement and danced harder. Quip made its voice heard over the echoing beats. "You have been saved! I did not know what to do when the riders were upon us. I knew your best chance was help from these people."

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Preacher put a hand on Alec's shoulder. "It was wandering around looking for the Teretha when I happened upon it. Risked everything to make sure we knew that you had been taken. Made a pretty good case that you were our only hope."

  Quip carried on; the disdain for organic life had bled back into its tone. "As it turns out, my fears of being an illegal sentience were ill-founded with these people. They have some silly legend that states I am some form of alien or celestial life form. A harbringer of victory if you would… I do not like it, Alec. I have been trying to leave this cave for nearly two hours."

  It would appear that Teretha had been informed by Doc Death somehow; their celebrations lined up with the start of his and the Preacher's journey up the tunnel. Quip continued, "Now that you are here, we can stop this foolishness and get to the battles. I am not suited for dancing."

  "I think that makes it sixteen to three on who's got it better." Preacher chimed in again, beginning to dance as the Teretha, joining their circle. "I'll take my three, though, being able to dance I'd say is a definite win for my chassis."

  Quip growled its engine in response. "Alec, it speaks my language, which was nice, not even you can converse at our rate of thought. I do not like how odd it is at times; I find it unpredictable."

  "Them." Alec hitched his gun belt and smiled, first in a while; they weren't all that bad. He began to dance alongside the people.

  "Oh my… it has infected you. Alec, are you ok? I have not seen you do this outside of battle, Alec? Alec?" Quip was moving back and forth two inches like an anxious puppy. Alec let out a laugh, and two children grabbed his hands. The music took over, and Alec danced with all the might he had. The raw Teretha Aamaranth in his vial seemed to connect him to everyone and everything in this cave. It was dark before they had stopped, and Tusong came up to Alec to clasp his arm.

  Alecs' abandoned joy disappeared when he made eye contact with Tusong. "If I could have, I would have done something, the seven singers…. They are gone."

  Tusong took a sombre attitude as well, "Preacher told us, they have been walking tirelessly back and forth in the tunnel to make preparations. Your beast must have spoken well to focus the addled brain of Preacher."

  It was odd to Alec to speak freely of Quip's individuality. "A loyal friend indeed." He could tell Quip was tuning in, and Alec took the moment to pat one of its large tires.

  "One I may own when the offworlder dies." Maywil was seated atop Quip as if she thought him an actual steed. She slid down the cockpit glass and dropped the final six feet deftly to her feet. She extended her elbow casually to Alec. "Offworlder."

  Alec returned the greeting as Quip made itself known. "I do not know if I am something to be owned and passed along by humans."

  "I said she'd have to tame you; we know how that goes." As much as Alec enjoyed annoying Quip, he had a growing sense of loyalty to it. "And after two millennia, I have no intention of going down anytime soon."

  Maywil smiled, and Alec looked around to see that the small village had settled. All that remained was Alec, the dream singer, Tusong, Maywil and Preacher, sheltered under the shadow of Quip. Alec took the moment to clarify his position before telling them his plan. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I think I got it figured out. It's not going to be easy, and it's gonna get messy. And that's just the start."

  Alec looked into all the eyes turned expectantly toward him. "Look, when this is done, you're gonna have the baronhood crashing down on this place in force unless you destroy the rift station. Once you do that, you are on your own forever. This planet will be the lost planet of the Teretha rebellion."

  "Not just the Teretha, freedom for the oppressed. A planet of harmony. We did not invite the interlopers here, but Preacher and the dream singer confirm it to me. The people of the baron who live oppressed, losing their own sons to dreams of hate, we will take them in as our own. We will be the people of Keltar, free and equal." Tusong was filled with pride, but it sounded as if he had been strong-armed into it. The dream singer nodded and looked to Alec.

  "All that aside, Quip and I are not part of that. The way I see it, once the fighting's over, you have no need for us. We are tools of war, before the rift-station goes, I want to jump from this planet with any who wishes to go before you cut yourself off from the universe."

  The small group looked shocked for a moment, and silence fell. Preacher was the one who stepped forward, green eyes glowing. "Indeed, what one is made for pushes us forward. When you are guided by the wind, staying still is as good as death."

  Tusong took the solemnity of the moment to step forward and assert his tribal leadership. "We will thank you and take this in treaty with you, Alec, forever warrior of the winds. We will help you leave before we disconnect our world from the barons'. I am afraid, though, when it comes to how, I am at a loss. We have no allies at the station who know how it works."

  "But you have one here that does…" The voice was high and unsure of itself, but the attempt at confidence was admirable. It was the grounder boy who had hitched a ride on Quip over two systems. His grounder clothes had been torn where his leg was splinted, and it looked as if it took everything in the youth to stand, let alone show bravery.

  With that, Alec began to lay out the plan he had considered along the tunnel with Preacher. As he explained, each member took it in and understood that if any plan would work, it would be the carefully calculated work of Alec's mind. He felt the most fulfilled he had since the aged empire when his justice was pure and clean. As they all left, tasks in hand to prepare Tusong, hung behind with Alec.

  "I promise that in all of this, you will have revenge for Tsala, and we will set her free. Of anything, I have calculated that for sure. The rest will depend on your people; we will see if they have the spirit to free themselves." Tusong left in a solemn resignation, considering how to spur his people on to greatness. Alec retired to Quip, feeling at home at last. He searched for a pack of happy flares and lit one. He finished it in three inhales and sparked another. He vowed to himself he would embrace death before ever facing an imprisonment like what the baron had shown him, for himself and all that came along. It was victory or death, and it sat on Alec's plan and the warrior hearts of the most peaceful people in the universe.