Page 32 of Interstellar Love Song (Villains in Space #3)
ZIGGY
I awoke to someone screaming.
Multiple someones.
Opening my eyes, I found myself back in the amphitheater on Apotelesma, gazing out over the quiet of the moon’s barren landscape.
Quiet as death.
Didn’t I just hear…?
“We are doomed.”
I spun to find Valla standing behind me, flanked by the other bonded True Stellarians within their armored Vririte mates.
The only ones who’ve known the truth… until now.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, hanging my head in shame. “We didn’t mean for that bulletin to go out to all Star Units.”
“But it did, which means you doomed us all, ” Valla angrily snarled before Ondor took over. “As you can imagine, the Planet Eater was not pleased with the broadcast. We have been given the choice of either destroying the archives or being destroyed ourselves.”
A choice…?
Something didn’t sound right about this statement, but my thoughts were strangely foggy—as faint as the shimmering auras I could see above the others’ heads.
When did I start seeing auras?
I also couldn’t remember arriving on Apotelesma, which implied this was either another vision or…
“Are we communicating via the collective well?” I asked, confused how this was possible when Leeloo had claimed Nuclei City was safe from outside transmissions.
“In a way…” Ondor replied, sounding strained. “It is more that we put the call out to the universe and hoped it would reach someone who could help.”
Like when the True Eki sent their final words into the ether.
At the sound of distant screaming, I glanced over my shoulder, but Apotelesma’s surface still appeared peaceful.
Because I’m not actually here.
“How long have you been given to destroy the archives?” I blurted out, already knowing the clock was ticking.
And what does the Planet Eater mean to do if they don’t comply?
My blood chilled as I wondered if the threat of destruction included Stellaria or just its moons.
The loss of a single moon could alter the gravitational pull enough to drastically change the planet’s axial tilt and rotation speed, resulting in unstable weather—like massive dust storms—but all three?
Catastrophic.
Instead of replying, the others went eerily still. It reminded me of when I exited a skinsuit, leaving an empty shell behind, but these were true stellar collisions. Even if the Stellarians left their vessels, the Vrirites should still be in control.
But the only one in control right now is the Planet Eater…
“Genero is gone,” one of the other True Stellarians abruptly spoke, snapping back to consciousness.
Or subconsciousness, rather.
I froze, realizing the peace I was experiencing was nothing but a dream-state veneer hiding the horrific truth beneath. “You need to evacuate Interitus and Apotelesma— NOW!”
“We already have,” Ondor replied, their tone steeped in resignation. “The only ones left here are the bonded Stellarians. A willing sacrifice.”
They never expected to be free.
I slowly turned as the veil was lifted, revealing what was truly occurring on the surface of Apotelesma. Ondor and the others were hovering in formation, their battle cries echoing off the surrounding peaks as they bravely faced the looming darkness threatening to engulf the entire moon.
Along with Stellaria’s history.
We can’t allow this to happen!
Despite still floating in the psychic ether myself, I somehow detoured my subconscious thoughts toward the direct connection I had with my stellar collision, hoping he would be able to receive my transmission.
“MICAH! Wake up!”
Please!
“What’s the matter?! Where are you?”
I choked out a gasp of relief before refocusing.
“The True Stellarian strongholds are under attack. Genero is gone, and if the archives aren’t destroyed, the rest will be ? —”
“I’m on it.”
What?!
Before I could ask for a game plan, I awoke with a start, finding myself safely in our quarters on Ekistron with an empty bed beside me.
“M-Micah…?” I hesitantly called out, hoping he was simply in the next room washing up.
He wouldn’t have….
Did he go to…?
My Celestial Cube flashed red in the darkened room, and I awkwardly rolled my unbalanced center of gravity toward the bedside table to retrieve it.
When did the stellula get so big? !
The messages awaiting me made my throat close up with panic.
:Genero destroyed:
:Interitus destroyed:
:Apotelesma—:
The communication cut out before the largest moon’s status could be confirmed and I groaned in despair.
“Sunshine… where are you?”
“I’m here, Zig! I’m here.” My stellar collision appeared before me, his clothes covered in space dust and countless cuts and gashes on his face and forearms.
What in Stellaria’s name?
“Did you face off with the Planet Eater again?!” I choked out, tears blurring my vision. “Why… why would you do that?”
I told you, I can’t lose you!
Micah sat on the bed and pulled me into his arms the best he could. “I promise, baby, I was in and out so quick, the Planet Eater didn’t even know I was there.”
They know.
They know everything.
“What happened?” I asked through gritted teeth, unleashing a dozen tendrils to wrap around him—as if that would keep him from running off to save the universe again. “What did you do?”
While I understood why I was upset, I had never felt as intensely untethered as I did at this moment. It didn’t help that our stellula was bouncing around in agitation, but even with Micah safe in my arms— for now —I couldn’t seem to bring myself back to baseline.
What is the matter with me?
My stellar collision squeezed me tighter. “I relocated the archives, then collapsed the mountain into a crater to make it look like the True Stellarians obeyed,” he calmly reported, as if any of that seemed plausible.
“E-excuse me?” I stuttered, brought out of my anxiety by sheer astonishment. “What do you mean you relocated the archives? Where are the True Stellarians? And… where is the moon?”
Don’t tell me you moved that as well…
Micah released me and grinned. “Okay, so, remember how I’ve been working on a module to temporarily miniaturize cargo aboard the Lodger?
Well, I figured this was as good a time as any to field test it.
The archives are safe, along with the True Stellarians.
” His grin faded. “Apotelesma still stands but… it’s kind of beat up from the collapse and only stabilized because I tethered it to Stellaria. ”
If a rapidly growing stellula hadn’t taken up residence in my abdomen, I would have dropped my head between my knees again. Instead, I flopped onto my back on the bed, wondering if I was still existing in the subconscious ether after all.
He tethered a planet to a moon.
“Sunshine,” I whispered into the dark of the room. “How are you accomplishing any of this? ”
What are you?
“I d-don’t know, Zig,” he replied, sounding as unsure as I felt. “I’m not really thinking about it in the moment. Like Leeloo said, it’s all instinct, you know?”
“No,” I rasped, turning my head to peer at him. “I don’t. If I understood your powers better, perhaps I wouldn’t be so convinced I was about to lose you at any moment.”
My voice cracked as I confessed my deepest fears, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. While the Planet Eater seemed to be focused on the weaker species in the Caelestis lineage, if Micah proved to be enough of a threat, he would no doubt become a target as well.
Assuming he isn’t already.
“Oh, Space Daddy…” He laid down on his side and placed a palm on my stomach, settling both me and our baby. “I wish I could explain it in a way that eased your mind. The best I can say is, I take everything that’s been proven—and yet to be proven—about the universe and assume that it’s all true.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous a notion that was. “That sounds incredibly witchy and not at all rooted in logic, sunshine.”
He snickered. “It’s logical speculation, and a lot of it is based on what I’ve experienced with you.” When I arched my brow, he continued, “Take star hopping, for example. It’s pretty much string theory but riding those vibrations through spacetime to reach a destination, right?”
“I suppose you could say that,” I huffed, allowing my mate to help me awkwardly sit up again .
We’d had theoretical discussions like this many times before, despite me feeling as if I had little to add.
Unlike Earthlings, I hadn’t been raised seeing space as a “final frontier” to demystify.
It was my home, and the way I moved through the universe was simply how I naturally went from point A to point B.
On instinct, I suppose…
However, there were still universal rules— as unspoken as many of them were—and the way my incredibly impressive mate had been manipulating matter on a cosmic scale…
He might be the only one capable of defeating the Planet Eater.
No, Ziggy.
That was a speculation I planned on keeping to myself. Yes, Micah was incredibly powerful, but after already losing him once—even if it was only in my mind—I knew I wouldn’t survive experiencing that again.
Instead of examining how selfish that made me, I simply refocused on Micah talking me through his current hypothesis.
“So what I’ve been doing, which is essentially using my inorganic shields to move objects through time and space in this dimension, could be similar to what the Planet Eater does. The main difference is, they seem to be wielding opposing gravitational forces through multiple dimensions.”
I swallowed thickly, afraid of where this was headed, but then my cube lit up once again with an incoming call from Honnor .
I’m surprised they haven’t demoted me back to mercenary at this point.
My maker’s exasperation was apparent the instant their hologram appeared. “Shall I assume I have your stellar collision to thank for not only delivering my old friend Ondor to my doorstep but the entire history of Stellaria?”
Micah laughed nervously. “Yeah… I noticed some empty space underground when we were touring the communal skinsuit closet, but don’t worry! The Planet Eater thinks the collection was destroyed, so they shouldn’t come looking for it.”
Hopefully.
Honnor shook their head, as amazed as I had been. “Thank you, Micah, for saving Apotelesma, the archives, and the True Stellarians. Ondor and the others are resting after their ordeal, but they will soon begin tracking down the moons’ refugees and bringing them home to Stellaria once and for all.”
The immediate threat may have been over, but something was still bothering me from tonight’s trip through the subconscious ether of the universe.
“Why do you think the Planet Eater was so insistent on destroying these historical records?” I hesitantly asked, knowing full well I was only encouraging my curious mate. “The truth about stellar collisions had already been revealed…”
“There must be something else they don’t want us to discover!” Micah exclaimed, already looking for the next adventure. “We’ll come straight home and start looking through the archives. ”
Did he just refer to Stellaria as “home?”
Luckily, Honnor stepped in as the voice of reason. “Would it not alert the Planet Eater if you were to access the collective well through the memory bottles?”
Micah deflated but only for a moment. “Maybe I formed a psychic shield around the collection…”
Here we go.
While he speculated on a solution, I focused on the concrete—and on appeasing my maker. “Where do you want us next, Head Commander?”
Honnor stared at me for a long moment before sighing heavily. “I want to say wherever you and your stellula will be safe, but I know you will not listen. Leeloo has cleared you for travel, so you may as well prepare the Lodger.”
“For Stellaria?” Micah asked.
“No,” Honnor replied. “For Dionaea. After the events of tonight, I have changed my mind. The Hydrassians’ ability to psychically access the collective well may allow us to better understand what we are up against.”
“There’s one problem,” I reminded them, even as a smirk twitched my lips. “Theo forbade the twins from joining us.”
As if he’s the one in charge in that relationship.
Honnor chuckled, clearly on the same mischievous wavelength. “Unfortunately, Theo will be receiving a direct order from his Head Commander to lend his twin psychics to the cause. My two Interstellar Ambassadors need all the help they can get.”