Chapter 21
Counterstrike
Aix-Clovin, Île-de-Clovis, Clovingian Empire
Just when Marx thought he was going to black out, he could finally breathe again, but as he gasped for air, his lungs burned and he broke into a fit of coughing. Sunny pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and covered his nose and mouth.
"The air's not much fit to breathe," she said. "Not that there's anything living besides us that has to worry about it."
As she was saying that, Marx was taking in his surroundings. He could not believe what he was seeing, though. Nothing remained of the great capital city. Not a single stone was left standing as far as the eye could see. It was a barren wasteland of ash and dust.
He took up a handful of the blasted earth and watched it get carried off by the hot breeze wafting over them.
"What... what happened here?" Marx asked.
"The city was burned," Sunny replied.
"Burned?"
"It's standard operating procedure for acts of defiance... or for a Level 2 strategic threat."
"Standard operating... What are you talking about?"
Sunny sighed.
"I'm sorry, Marx, but I lied to you. I never had amnesia. I was just hiding the truth from you, from everyone."
Marx found himself at a loss. There was a part of him that suspected Sunny knew more than she let on, but for her to have lied about everything... What was he supposed to say to that? All he could manage to do was ask, "Why?"
Sunny rose to her feet while helping Marx up.
"Let's walk," she said. "We have a long way to go before we're clear of all this."
What else was Marx going to do, stay there? He followed her lead as she struck out, eastward for some reason. Although he wanted answers from her, he did not expect to get anything if he tried pressing her, leaving him with no choice but to wait for her to tell him when she was ready to do so.
As if the choking hot air was not bad enough, the ground pulverized into fine powder made for poor footing. As Marx stumbled along in the empty wasteland, he could only wonder. Was this really the celebrated Aix-Clovin, the Crystal Rose of the West? Was he not standing in the Palais-Royal only moments ago? What could possibly wreak destruction so absolute other than the very Hand of God?
When Sunny finally did begin to speak, she started by saying, "I suppose I should first tell you my name. I'm Soleil Van Houten, Oberleutnant Soleil Van Houten of His Imperial Majesty's Army."
"Which Imperial Majesty are were talkin' 'bout?" Marx asked.
"His Imperial Majesty John III Neologos... of the New Earth Empire."
"New... Earth...?"
"I'm not from this world, Marx. I suppose you would call me a 'Starman' or a 'Visitor from the Sky'."
Marx was quiet.
"You don't seem very surprised," Sunny said.
"You weren't just caught up in some explosion," Marx said. "That night... The shooting star I saw... That was you."
"The shooting star was my escape pod... Think of it as a sort of lifeboat. I destroyed it when I crashed here."
"Then I guess I was interrupting."
"No. My injuries were real and if you hadn't carried me to safety, I might not have made it. I'm lucky it was someone like you who found me. It's why I saved you, to repay my debt to you."
Marx looked around him and asked, "Could you have saved anyone else here?"
"Maybe," Sunny said, "but then they would've known I was alive and they would've hit back harder. If we're lucky, they think I'm dead and will continue to think so."
Marx swallowed hard. He would not have believed it if everything else that had happened was not so unbelievable.
"All of this, it was because of you? Why would they destroy an entire city to kill one person?"
"They tried a more surgical approach at Sainte-Camieux and Champs des Bleuets, but when that didn't work, and with me fusing with Sister..."
"Sister? That thing in the tube?"
"Do not call us... her a 'thing'," Sunny said, the hard edge of her reproach softening as she corrected herself. "She is human. We are human, or nearly enough so."
"What do you mean?"
"We are all daughters of one Mother. The Core Units are clones of Mother. We call them Alpha Types now. The reason the Gift exists, the very fact that the planet can support life, is thanks to her. ...And she's also the reason your civilization collapsed several hundred years ago."
"The Days of Fire and Forgetting?"
"So that's what you call it here. You see, Mother tried to free her daughters from their chains and those who couldn't be saved fell dormant, bringing hundreds of worlds down with them. Our Empire, which was on the verge of claiming supremacy over the entire galaxy, was nearly snuffed out.
"Mother was out of the Empire's hands, but they still coveted her power. It was decided the power of the Alpha Types was too great to control, so the Hybrid Series was developed. The Hybrids have a lesser share of Mother's power and so it's easier to keep us on a leash. I am, or was, a Delta Type. I only had an eighth part of Mother within me. Major Yang, the woman we fought at the cathedral, was a Gamma Type, with a quarter part. Normally I'd never stand a chance against her, but she underestimated you."
"Bad luck for her, I guess," Marx said, still having a hard time believing that he was able to take down a creature of such power with a cheap sucker punch. He then focused on putting together everything Sunny had told him and asked, "So you're tellin' me you're some kind of demigod?"
"That isn't the word I'd use," Sunny said, "but I can see why you'd think that way. We're not creatures of myth and legend. There's a scientific basis for all of this. It's just... a bit messy."
"I'm not the person to be talkin' to about science."
"I suppose not."
"So that thing, that Core Unit, Alpha Type, or whatever... Did you know it was here in Aix-Clovin?"
"I told you not to call us a thing," Sunny said. "And, no, I didn't know it was here. I only knew the general vicinity, and an escape pod isn't exactly designed for precise handling. Maybe if I landed closer to where I intended to, I could have found her myself, but as it stood, I figured that local Arcanists would have some sort of record or oral tradition that could get me back on course. When Doctor Furst started talking about the Imperial Circle of the Mysterium, it seemed like going to them would be my best bet. It just so happened that I was able to sense her before we arrived, so I didn't need the Circle after all."
"Then why did you have me go to them? That was what you were wanting, right?"
Sunny stopped walking and said, "I knew they would be interested in what I was and if they took me in, then my people might not make a move for a while." She glanced back to Marx and added, "I thought they might keep you safe, too."
Marx rubbed his side, which was still sore from a buttstroke or two from the guards.
"They kept me in one piece alright," he said. "Maybe cracked a bit, though."
"I'm sorry about that," Sunny said, "but I'm sure it's better than what would have happened to you if my people got their hands on you."
Marx did not doubt she was right about that. The sort of people who could do something like this were not exactly overflowing with the milk of human kindness. The best he could probably hope for was to be snuffed out as quickly and unceremoniously as the thousands upon thousands who lived in this city. God help him if they would decide to take their time with him. He could not begin to imagine the sort of things those people were capable of.
"So what happens to me now?" he asked.
"That's up to you, Marx," Sunny said. "You said you wanted to go west. You're welcome to do so. Or you can stay with me. I wouldn't say no to the company."
"And what are you going to do?"
"Lay low for now, keep moving."
"You just gonna wait until they go away?"
"They're not going away. This planet is part of the Empire. How many of them stay will depend on the planet's strategic importance, but that's above my paygrade."
"So you're just gonna stay on the run?"
"I can't leave them be. More of my sisters throughout the galaxy will suffer. I have to stop them. It's just a matter of me finding the opportunity to strike."
Marx stretched out his arms and gestured to the barren wasteland around them, asking her, "What can you against the people who did this?"
"Mother brought the Empire to its knees once," Sunny replied. "Surely one of her daughters can strike a blow that they'll feel."
Hearing something like that, any sane man would have gone running in the opposite direction, but Marx realized that even if he tried to run away, there was nowhere to run. Nowhere was safe, not with the sort of powers at play here. All roads led to doom, so he might as well choose the one that would let him see things through to the end. And so he continued to follow after Sunny across the vast field of ash where Aix-Clovin once stood.