Vilke:

  Of all the jackasses to show up, Vilke thought uncharitably.

  “Finally there. Jee-zus! My ass is killing me and I can’t wait to stretch these ancient bones.” Barclay chimed over the intercoms.

  “You two stay sharp, ya hear?” The Major cut off any further comment by inserting firm orders. “You get in, figure out if any of us are there. Evac anyone you find if you can, and if Mira is there, invite her along to join us. Try to avoid getting into too much trouble along the way.”

  Vilke eyed Barclay’s bike suspiciously, having never known the man to be terribly serious in all the years they’d been acquainted. From getting shot at for clearing out warlords’ coffers at card tables to accidentally toppling entire spy networks overnight? Vilke had never quite decided if Barclay had the best or the worst luck.

  The man insisted it was the latter, and denied having any agency in the fallout of whatever trouble always seemed to find him.

  And yet, that damned luck of his might just help them land a lead to Miranda’s whereabouts within the first day of their search.

  Finding other passengers from the Luminous Dream had raised a complication within Vilke. One he had mixed feelings about. Thanks to the memories he’d gained, he knew he had a family out there. A family that knew a version of his body that was two decades older. In many ways, it wasn’t his family. On the other hand, saying that would mean his wife would have to mourn the death of her husband. But he still felt like he’d become the man she had married.

  For that matter, he remembered their wedding. Their vows. Did ‘in sickness and in health’ cover being transplanted into a new body? Or maybe he was getting ahead of himself. He had no idea what had happened to any of his friends or family in all that time. Barclay had gone grey, for that matter.

  His thoughts were interrupted as the pair of bikes descended onto the rooftop of the city of Hallitheen. The entire surface of the huge platform was arranged like a park with fountains and flowerbeds. Various blonde men and women lounged on benches… until their two vehicles came closer and settled down onto the surface near one of the obvious elevators that could carry them down the garden pillars and into the city proper.

  Once they’d landed, Vilke keyed the vehicle to open up and clambered off the moment the panels folded forward. He checked his holsters for his handguns—all three of them—and tightened the strap of his rifle. Then he grabbed a travel pack and buckled it into place. Rations for a few days and plenty of spare supplies, along with some of Hallitheen’s ‘money’ for greasing a few rumors out of the locals.

  Barclay was leaning against the side of his bike with a random stalk of wheat in his mouth, staring at the Sylphariens that had gathered. Where the wheat had come from, Vilke hadn’t a clue.

  One blonde man stepped forward after a few moments, and upon realizing he was a good few inches shorter than Vilke, he straightened his posture and tilted his head back as if to look down his nose all the same.

  “You humans cannot be here. Vacate the gardens immediately.” His flimsy superiority on full display in his tone of voice, the man sneered at them both. “Don’t you inferiors know better than to tread where you’re not wanted?”

  Vilke pursed his lips in thought for a moment, taking in the sheer idiocy of a man to try to rile up a pair of heavily armed soldiers. Especially ones who hadn’t done anything. “You’re not very bright, are you?” He finally asked.

  The man had the good sense to take a step back. “I dare you to say that again!” The man practically squealed.

  Vilke stepped clear of the bike and briefly touched the side panel, where the armored plates folded closed and the entire exterior electrified as a defensive measure. Only enough shock to stun, but it wouldn’t feel too good regardless.

  Vilke turned to head for the elevator and Barclay had a big grin on his face when the idiot tried to stop them.

  “You cannot leave these tasteless things here! Get them out.” He then stepped forward and lamely kicked the side.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The obvious happened.

  The idiot stiffened, convulsed once, then crumpled on the spot.

  “How you fools once ruled this world is beyond me.” Barclay said in an unfortunately loud tone of voice.

  “Why you!” A woman growled as she stepped out of the crowd in their direction.

  Then a gunshot broke the silence.

  Vilke turned, and saw Barclay with his handgun out, and blood running down the woman’s head from where a portion of her ear had been removed.

  “Now, now, now, honeybuns. Since yer hard of hearing an’ all that, I thought I’d open your ears for you. One more step, an’ I’ll consider you just too stupid to leave alive. You feel me, beautiful?”

  Vilke sighed, already dreading how their search would go.

  The elevator opened as the woman’s knees gave out, and Vilke led the way into the elevator the moment the thing had emptied of more blonde people. He was already getting weird supremacist vibes, but with all the blonde haired and green eyed people he kept seeing? The mission was going to utterly suck.

  Not long after their elevator ride, the pair of them found their way to the ‘Core Sector.’ It was what attempted to pass for proper authority within the penal city. A few brief conversations along the way had revealed the stratified society that had developed. Humans were restricted to the lowest layers of the pyramid, where all the light was artificial and gangs had formed to create tiny governing organizations across each neighborhood.

  Some of those gangs were slightly benevolent, actually helping the local community to distribute food. Others were tiny kingdoms with oppressive leadership structures. That said, it narrowed to one unifying issue. The Sylphariens in power at the Core Sector made no effort to help or coordinate with the human population.

  “Greetings,” an android said, just as they crossed the threshold into the Core Sector’s offices. “How may I guide you today?”

  “Take us to whoever is in charge.” Barclay grumbled, apparently still annoyed by how Vilke had chastised him for shooting at a civilian. The man had changed, and not for the better.

  “Do you have an appointment with Emperor Leivarin?”

  Vilke winced at the title the fool had chosen. “Council Chairwoman Karin sent us.”

  “I do not see any appointments on the Emperor’s calendar for today,” the android said.

  Vilke could see the issues coming a mile away. The people living in Hallitheen had recreated their global empire within the boundaries of their prison and then built the same annoying hierarchy they’d had before.

  “Melinda, send them in,” a voice from the ceiling said. It sounded oddly juvenile, which did not have Vilke feeling any more confident.

  “The Emperor will see you now.” The android strode away and opened the door at the end of a glass hallway flanked by large rooms full of empty… cubicles was the closest description Vilke could come up with.

  They followed, and upon entering the room, they came face to face with a teenager with blonde hair and green eyes.

  “Hello, hello! Not often anyone visits from the utopia!” The youth cheered proudly as he stood from the desk and rounded it to greet them.

  “The utopia?” Vilke asked, curious.

  “Why, yes!” The boy offered his hand. “I’m Leivarin. I’ve actually never met anyone from outside before. We’re beneath your notice, I’m sure. After all, the utopia made by those who were prophesied to overthrow our empire must be something truly wondrous.”

  Vilke blinked, momentarily stunned. Then he took the outstretched hand and shook it. “Marcus Vilke. And this is James Barclay.”

  “A pleasure! How may I help you both?”

  It was not the reception he’d been expecting, truth be told. He really expected them to be fighting against the residents for every detail and scrap of a clue in their search. Aside from a few outliers, everyone had been fairly helpful, though.

  “Are there any research facilities beneath the city? Labs with cryogenic pods, maybe?” Vilke asked.

  The so-called emperor tapped his chin thoughtfully as he considered the question, then began pacing while staring off into nothing as he muttered to himself about files and folders.

  “Aha! Can I have your aug ID’s to send you the maps?”

  Barclay immediately rattled off a string of… something. Then his gaze grew distant as he looked at something Vilke couldn’t see. “Oh. Well this oughta be complete shit.”

  “Oh?” Vilke asked, trying to take it all in stride without thinking about how or why Barclay had gotten himself a brain-implanted cybernetic augmentation.

  “There’s a whole structure underneath the city. Some of it collapsed, but most is intact. We’ll have to head down and search for ourselves. But it’s massive.”

  “I wouldn’t recommend it. A lot of the areas are flooded. Getting from place to place means flooding other areas, too. It’s all stagnant, nasty stuff. What or who are you looking for?” The emperor inquired pleasantly.

  Vilke gave it careful thought when Barclay immediately cut in instead.

  “A woman. Human who’d been frozen in a pod for a long time. Tall with impressive muscles. Messy red hair. Name is Miranda Clarke.”

  Leivarin’s eyes went wide as he began to smile. “You’re looking for the heroine, Dame Clarke?”

  Vilke’s blood ran cold.

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