Under a Starless Sky novel Chapter 73

Shen revealed anger. His hand clenched Bevan’s tighter. Were the giantess nuts because they were clone? Was Xana that disillusion that she though a human from another origin point could really impregnate her?

“What? Already addicted to giant strange? Not going to give it up?” Bevan asked.

“Why do you care?” Shen asked.

“I am an agent of the underground. A lot of effort went into bringing you into the world. You’re off track again, and I am just trying to light you back on path,” Bevan said.

“You’re an angel?” Shen asked.

“No, I am human,” Bevan said. “I used to be more.”

“Let me guess, a lot of Bothans died to bring me this message,” Shen said.

“I don’t known Bothans. I hear sarcasm,” Bevan said.

“You think? If you know why I am here, wouldn’t it be in my best interest, and everyone else’s involved in this fiasco, to let me in on the details?” Shen asked.

“No,” Bevan said.

“What kind of spirit guide are you?” Shen asked.

“I am not a spirit guide, Shen. I don’t know your ultimate purpose in life. I don’t need to know. If you had the cheat codes for the test, it wouldn’t be a fair exam, now would it?” Bevan said.

Shen tried to pull away, but she held his grip and her hand on his back held him firm. She was surprisingly strong.

“Shen, if I told you the end of the movie, you might not go,” Bevan said.

It didn’t register she knew what a movie was. “But you know something. Something important,” Shen said.

“I only know you are off track. I have been asked to get you back planet side,” Bevan said. “This is not a small thing being asked of me. There could be consequences.”

“But you’re not doing it out of altruism. You want something,” Shen said.

“Yes,” Bevan said.

“What’s your plan?” Shen asked.

“We clone you. We put you in an ejection pods, and launch you out with the overflow waste,” Bevan said. He clearly wanted to ask but didn’t; she explained. “This ship produces more biomass than it requires for sustainability. They can only turn so much of it directly into energy. The rest has to be ejected. Once a month, excess mass is ejected, and it burns up in the atmosphere. We launch you alongside of that, and they won’t suspect any duplicity. I suspect, we could launch you any time and they wouldn’t notice, but we go with the schedule dump.”

“And what do you want?” Shen asked.

“I want you to take my son with you,” Bevan said. “You can raise him, or adopt him out. Just get him off this station.”

There was a sound of thunder and all the artificial lights went out. The candles in the ballroom remained lit. The candles flickered with a strange wind. Camera orbs blinked out and dropped to the ground. The orchestra didn’t quit right away, but soon after. All the giantesses dropped, regardless of full size or not. Shen went straight to the nearest centaur. Bevan, too. The Centaur’s eyes were open. Her eye tech had lost its sparkle.

“Can you hear us?” Shen asked.

“She’s asleep,” Bevan said. “This is not the sleeper tree spell.”

“They’re augmented,” Shen said. “They can’t asleep…” The centaur eyes shifted to look at him. “Sleep paralysis! Your body has been turned off.”

A whirling noise and a swirl of lights revealed the arch at the end of the hall was powering up. People started moving off the dance floor. Most of the Orchestra deserted their posts. Jerica tapped his arm.

“Let’s go,” Jerica said.

“What?”

“Loxy’s opening the gate,” Jerica said, and looked back to where she thought Loxy was.