Equivalent Worlds - Chapter Seven

For Tenyo's LMS contest. Word Count: 1346, approx.

Chapter Seven

Amerys watched the young man go slack against the seat and sighed, sitting back on his heels. He glanced towards Samira, and found her frowning at her brother. For a moment, he wanted to get up and go to her--but there was still an unconscious adolescent human-Kavian hybrid on his shuttle. He had to deal with Seth first.

"Well," he said, watching Seth closely. "That was quite interesting."

Samira snorted. "I told you he would be stronger."

He turned to look at Emir. "Emir, when we reach the Thanatos, would you and Teren put him in the other adjoining room?"

"Yessir."

Amerys nodded and stood up, stretching slightly. He watched as Emir reached out to put a steadying hand on Seth's shoulder. Emir was not threat. The man wasn't interested. At all. Amerys smiled at him and turned on his heel, heading for the cockpit as the shuttle began shuddering again. They were approaching the Thanatos.

The cockpit was quiet as the large, dark ship shimmered into view. They were passing through the camoflage shield. Amerys smirked. "Good," he said, "take us in nice and slow."

Anaua and Suvan were at the controls as usual. Suvan was now sporting a split lip, the result of being smacked into her controls when Hakor's ship had fired on them. Anaua seemed remarkedly unharmed. Suvan flashed his a bright smile as Amerys took up a position beside her.

"We're making a fine approach," she said, turning back to the controls. "The Thanatos is hailing us. Shall I put you through?"

"Please," Amerys muttered and Suvan adjusted a few things on her console before nodding to him. There was silence for a moment and then a female voice spoke in Ansharian;

"Shuttle Eros-591, we need your docking codes or you will be fired upon."

Amerys snorted. Pyrrha, of course. He sighed. "This is Shutle Eros-591," he announced in clear Ansharian. "I am Amerys aras Assur nir Anshar, and I believe I have no need for those codes, since you can quite clearly see me on your end."

Pyrrha chuckled. "Oh, I can, your highness," she replied, and there was a smidgen of a smirk in her tone. "But I still need those codes."

"Fine," he sighed and rattled off the six-digit code. "Permission to board my own ship now?"

"Permission granted." Oh, she was definitely smirking now.

The transmission cut out, leaving them in silence for several minutes. He shook his head and glanced towards Suvan. "Take us into docking procedures, please."

"Yessir," she said and turned back to the controls. Amerys watched her a moment longer before he turned to head back to Seth. He nearly bumped into Samira, backtracking a few steps before realising who it was. He scowled at her.

"Dayan, don't do that, Sam! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Sam frowned at him. "Sorry, Rhys. I was trying to get your attention."

He blinked at her slowly. "Alright. What is it?"

"Emir is concerned," she said, turning towards the other compartment of the shuttle. Amerys followed her into it, frowning. "He's... Well, take a look." She gestured to where her brother sat slumped between Emir and Teren.

Ameys moved closer, frown deepening. He realised right away what she was talking about. There were thin black lines snakes across Seth's cheek and down his neck. That wasn't exactly normal. He exchanged a confused glance with Samira.

"That didn't happen to you when your barriers broke."

"I know." Her voice was quiet, subdued. "This isn't normal, is it?"

"No, it's not... I don't know what this is." He looked to Emir. The other man was frowning. "Emir, any ideas?"

Emir shook his head. "We might have to search the archives when we get back." He shrugged, glancing towards Amerys. "That's if the Thanatos doesn't have anything on its archives." He leaned in to examine the lines. "These are rather odd, aren't they?

Amerys sighed and tried not to be too jealous about Emir's proximity. He sternly reminded himself that Emil wasn't interested in Seth. Or anyone, really. He crouched in front of Seth, gingerly reaching out to lightly touch his fingertips to the lines on his face.

"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

"We wait." Amerys looked up, meeting first Emir's gaze then twisting to meet Sam's. "It's the only thing we can do now."

~~~

The image being projected into the middle of the bridge was a study in shadows. Amerys was having a hard time picking out the Assurdayan's figure out of the darkness of the room. He tried not to squint at them.

"Do you find the boy?" the Assurdayan asked, tone sharp and brittle all at once, echoing and slightly distorted over the audiovisual connection.

"Yes," Amerys said, nodding sharply. "I now have them both."

"Aah, that is very good."

There was a long, pregnant silence. He shifted uncomfortably, but kept his expression fairly blank. The Assurdayan did not take to emotions well. He'd learnt that the hard way. If he were speaking to anyone else, he would be pushing his feelings to the fore and letting them know exactly how he felt about the situation. Just what the hell was the shadowy figure doing?

"And where is Sethos now, Amerys aras Assur nir Anshar, former Ahser of Anshar?"

Amerys stiffened slightly. He didn't like being referred to as former anything, but especially not as a former Ahser. He struggled to keep the anger off his face and out of his voice. "He is secured," he nearly spat, managing to reign in the anger at the last second. If the Assurdayan noticed anything, they did not comment on it. "Currently unconscious, but very secure. The excitement was too much for him, apparently."

"Excitement?" The Assurdayan's tone was very sharp this time, almost cutting. Amerys winced before he could help himself.

"Hakor aras Assur-Dan nir Anshar showed up," he said, biting a lip. "He has been causing us a lot of problems lately."

The Assurdayan chuckled and one shadowy hand cut through the darkness on the video. "Don't worry about him. He is being handled."

"Handled?"

"You need not be concerned about it, Amerys. You just need to tell us everything you know about Sethos dyr Haverj ora Gaia."

Amerys tensed. That...dismissal was different. Wrong. He frowned slightly then wiped all emotion clean off his face. "And I shall, when you ask the questions you seek answers to."

There was another dark chuckle from the screen before him. "Have his barriers broken yet?"

"Not yet," he hedged, wary despite himself. There was no reason for him to be wary, but something about the Assurdayan's tone, their questions, was bothering him. He wet his lips and continued in a thoughtful manner. "I do think they are close to breaking, though."

"Ah, I'm pleased. Do bring them both back to Kavia, will you? We'll be quite happy to reintroduce them to the Kavian people."

"I will," Amerys muttered and the screen cut out without the Assurdayan replying to that. He stood there for a moment, tense beyond reason, and then exhaled, sagging. Amerys glanced towards Pyrrha and Anaua. "Does anyone else feel like this is a set up?"

The other two exchanged glances and nodded. Amerys sighed. It was Pyrrha who spoke. "That is most definitely not the Assurdayan we usually deal with, is it?"

"Nope," he said, giving the spot where the holographic screen had been a thoughtful, distrustful look. "I feel like we're being played and we just walked right into someone's trap." He turned on his heel and strode of the door. "I need to speak to Sam," he called over his shoulder. "Alert us if anything else happens, will you?"

"Yessir!"