“What the—how did you do that?!” the voice demanded.

  Alex chuckled, then winced when the shards dug deeper into his back as he stood up. “Do you really think I’m going to tell you that? I’m not about to go into a monologue on how I destroyed your puppets so you can use that knowledge against me later on.”

  Shunting aside the pain from his back, Alex calmed his breathing and thought about all of the people he wanted to protect: Alice, Jasmine, Selene, Gabrielle. He thought about how important they were to him, and what would happen if he let Gabrielle be taken. Mars would be destroyed, his friends would be annihilated, and Gabrielle would be stuck in a miserable, loveless marriage.

  I won’t let that happen!

  “In that case, why don’t you use your power?” a voice that sounded exactly like him but more… pure… more innocent said.

  My power?

  “Yes, the power that you were born with. Use it.”

  What are you talking about? Who are you?

  “What a silly question. I am you.”

  … What?

  “…”

  Alex didn’t receive a reply in the form of words. A massive surge of energy rushed through him. The pain didn’t fade, he wasn’t granted any extra strength, for that was not what this aura did. It was not the power he had felt during his first battle with Al-lāt, when fear and adrenaline had been racing through him as he battled against four puppets. The blue aura returned. Like an ethereal flame it flickered around him, and Alex brought that flame to his hands, creating a whip with it.

  “Oh, shit!” the voice swore as the puppet in front of him tried to get away. Alex wouldn’t let it. He launched his whip at the puppet with a loud crack! At first, nothing happened, but after the first second had passed, the puppet split open like a grapefruit being sliced apart by a precision laser.

  Alex’s energy sparked the built up thermal heat inside of the puppet, causing it to detonate in a massive gout of fire. Holding up his hand, Alex created a large, blue shield in front of him. The debris that flew at him bounced off the shield and clattered to the ground.

  “Damn it! Don’t think I’ll let myself be defeated like this!”

  Despite the puppets being gone, the voice continued to speak. Alex discovered why a moment later. Eight more puppets darted out from within the trees. They surrounded him on all sides.

  “Take this!” the voice screamed from all eight machines.

  Eight beams of condensed, superheated sand shot at him. Alex raised his hands again, arms spread, and focused. A blue dome was erected around him. The sand slammed into the dome and scattered.

  “WHAT?!”

  Narrowing his eyes, Alex released the barrier and created a whip in each hand. Before the puppets could react, he spread his legs wide, bent his knees, and spun. His whips lashed out in a circle, slicing through all eight puppets as though they were made of paper. The puppets exploded. They broke apart into numerous fragments that rained upon the ground.

  Alex waited for a moment, then two, but when nothing happened, he allowed himself to relax. It looked like he had won. Just before anything else could happen, he paused as he could have sworn he heard the voice that sounded like him but was not him say, “Good job.”

  “Alex!” Gabrielle’s shout made Alex turn around.

  Gabrielle raced toward him. He smiled and waved. “Hey, Gabby. I guess you took care of the puppet that prince sent after you?”

  “Mm!” Gabrielle nodded and, after looking around, she stared at him. “Did you beat the other three?”

  That and eight more.

  “Yeah.”

  “So cool!” Gabrielle’s eyes sparkled. “I bet you were all like ‘boom!’ And ‘zap!’ And ‘pow!’”

  Alex chuckled at Gabrielle as his aura vanished completely, leaving him feeling drained. He swayed slightly, then stumbled, and then fell. He would’ve likely had a painful encounter of the face on ground kind had Gabrielle not caught him.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine.” Alex’s cheeks colored as her arms went around him. It was embarrassing to have someone help him—heroes didn’t need help—but he didn’t want Gabrielle to think he was ungrateful. “Thanks for catching me.”

  “You’re welcome,” Gabrielle said.

  Alex took a moment to just relax. Gabrielle’s refreshing fragrance wafted into his nose, calming his mind, relaxing his body. If it weren’t for his arms feeling like a set of durasteel slabs, he would’ve loved to wrap them around her and just remain like that. He knew they couldn’t, though. They needed to get back to civilization. There was no telling if that Jāhilīyahn prince would come back with more puppets.

  “Gabby?”

  “Yes?”

  “Sorry to ask this of you, but I’m… kinda tired. Do you think you could help me walk? We should get out of here.”

  “I don’t mind at all!” Gabrielle exclaimed, letting him lean on her with an aura of eagerness. Indeed, even her face seemed ebullient, as if the idea of helping him pleased her immensely.

  “Thank you,” Alex said.

  Together, he and Gabrielle slowly made their way out of the park.

  16

  It didn’t take long before they met up with Nicolas and Jessica. The two were running in their direction when Alex and Gabrielle emerged from the park. Both of them appeared out of breath as they skidded to a halt, bending over with their hands on their knees, backs slouched and breathing heavy.

  “A-Alex,” Nicolas gasped for oxygen as if he’d been stuck in a fuel tank filled with hydrogen. “Are you… okay?”

  “W-what about you… Gabrielle?” Jessica asked.

  “We’re fine,” Alex said.

  “I’m great!” Gabrielle added.

  “T-that’s… good…” Nicolas said. “We heard the… the explosions and feared the worst. Come on… l-let’s head back to my place. You two can… can tell us about what happened there…”

  They began walking to where Jessica had parked the limousine. They needed to move more cautiously due to the amount of chaos filling the streets. A lot of people were out and about, many of them pointing and staring at the plumes of fire appearing above them in the direction of the park.

  Alex also looked at the flames, which he knew had been caused by Gabrielle, even though he didn’t know what she’d done. Gabrielle had only fought one puppet. Why had she even needed to blow up half the freaking park?

  I don’t think I want to know.

  Sirens alerted them to the police and fire departments arrival. Several shuttles flew overhead. Despite knowing that there was no way anyone could know that the culprits were right underneath them, Alex still tried to act unobtrusive.

  When they reached the limousine, everyone hopped in and Jessica drove them to Nicolas’ mansion. While Alex and Nicolas remained silent, one because he was out of breath still and the other because he just didn’t know what to say, Gabrielle swiped her hand through the air, causing a flat tablet to appear before her.

  Curious, Alex glanced at what she was studying. It was his brain scans. He recognized the symbolic patterns that wrapped around parts of his brain, the part that controlled his long-term memory. As he observed the image, the screen split in two, with the brain scans moving to one half and a series of constantly shifting symbols moving to the other half.

  “What are you doing?” asked Alex.

  “I’m trying to decipher the ancient angelisian text. It’s similar enough to our current language that I feel like I should be able to create a program that will decode it for me. The problem is that, well, even if I created the program, without knowing the language, the program still won’t do anything.”

  “Is the old language really that hard decipher?”

  Gabrielle shook her head in the negative. “The problem isn’t that it’s hard to decipher, but that there are many different old languages based on the same symbolic format. Before we became a space faring race, we were a race that was constantly at war with each other. There were hundreds of different groups that constantly fought for dominance, and these groups each had their own language, but it was all based on the same symbolic alphabet.”

  The shifting symbols on the board stopped for a moment. Several symbols shifted again. Alex realized it was trying to match the symbols together. A buzzing noise issued from the tablet, and then the symbols started moving again.

  “Even though all the languages look similar, the symbols have different meanings. For example, one tribe might have used the symbol for ‘sun’ as their symbol for ‘food.’ Another tribe might have used that same symbol for ‘moon,’ and still another would have probably used it for ‘blue.’ With so many different meanings for the same symbol, determining which symbol means what is difficult.”

  “So I see.”

  As the symbols shifted some more, Alex realized that there were two different systems of writing. The symbols on top were similar to the ones on bottom, but different, too. Small variances like an extra line or a different level of thickness for a specific line let him know this. Alex came to the conclusion that one was the current angelisian language, while the other was shifting through the past tribal languages.

  “Ariel knows all of the ancient angelisian languages inside and out, but I never bothered studying them because learning languages is boring,” Gabrielle shamelessly admitted.

  Alex chuckled. That sounded just like him. He wasn’t much for languages either.

  Perverse old man giggling caused Alex to look up. Nicolas was staring at him and Gabrielle with an expression that could only be described as “lecherous.” There was a holographic keyboard in front of him, which he typed on at speeds that made his fingers blur. He was also mumbling to himself.

  “Yes… solid gold… pure gold… you two are a gold mine of inspiration…”

  “What are you writing about, old man?!” Alex shouted.

  His words were met with more perverted laughter.

  17

  It was later at night. Alex and Gabrielle had gone to bed. The last Nicolas saw of the young couple was Gabrielle dragging a reluctant Alex off. He giggled at the thought of what those two might be doing, though he knew that the image in his head, which was steeped in erotica, was an unlikely scenario—at least for right now.

  That damn brat is just too pure.

  He sat in front of a holographic projector, which was already connected to another line. The room that he sat in was his office. The soft carpet beneath his feet presented a contrast to the gleaming wood of his desk. Hovering above his desk was the image of a woman. Numerous drill-like curls. Sharp eyes. A figure that men would drool over and women would kill for. Karen Kanzaki, the head of the Mars City’s police department and an old friend of Farone’s, stood before him in all her miniature glory.

  “… And that concludes what happened,” Nicolas said.

  After leaving the Galactic Defense Force, he had kept a constant line of contact with Karen as a means of learning how his grandchildren were doing. She wasn’t his only contact, of course. However, she was the one who he kept in contact with the most.

  “I should have known it would be something like this.” Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Karen released a long exhale. “That boy always seems to get into trouble. Why I thought that would change because I sent him to another location is beyond me. Were there any civilian casualties?”

  “Not that I know of, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. You’ll probably be getting a report from the Homespring police office with that information.”

  “Fair enough.” Karen shrugged. Then she paused. “Do you have any idea how that Jāhilīyahn managed to infiltrate Mars Homespring Resort?”

  Nicolas crossed his arms and leaned back. “I don’t know if I’m right, but I do have a theory on how that prince managed to sneak in.”

  “Let’s hear it, then.”

  “Traveling underground,” Nicolas said seriously. “As you know, domes on Mars only extend a few hundred meters below the surface. This was done to accommodate for the minute shifts in tectonic plates, which are much more active here than on Earth, and a lot more volatile when messed with.”

  “I already know all of that.” Karen scowled. “Get to the point.”

  “Right. So, we found what appears to be the remnants of a hole that had been dug into the dome. There’s a large plot of dirt that had clearly been moved around near the east along the dome’s edge. Several scouts have checked outside and found a similar section about two kilometers out.”

  Despite being only 1/10th of her normal height, Karen’s scowl was fierce indeed. “Great. So, we’ve got a major security risk that can’t be solved.”

  The domes on Mars couldn’t extend too far beneath the surface. Doing so could disrupt the delicate balance of the tectonic plates, creating more earthquakes than they already had. Two hundred meters was as far as the domes could extend underground.

  “Not unless you want to have round the clock guards in every section of each dome.” Nicolas shrugged.

  Karen’s irritated sigh made Nicolas think she wasn’t getting enough sleep. It sounded exhausted, even over the holograph. “I had been hoping that we’d be able to keep Alex out of trouble if I sent them somewhere that Gabrielle’s suitors couldn’t find him. It looks like that didn’t fall through as I had planned.”

  “Is there a reason you’re not allowed to interfere?” Nicolas asked. “So long as King Lucifer doesn’t learn that you are helping Alex…”

  “It wouldn’t work,” Karen cut in swiftly. “Aside from Azazel, we have no idea who might be working for King Lucifer. Given that he has knowledge of our solar system, I’m willing to bet he has spies inside of Mars City. I’m not willing to risk it. Besides, King Lucifer has made his point explicit. Neither the Interstellar Police Force, nor the Galactic Defense Force, is allowed to intervene in Alex’s problem. He’s threatened to annihilate the entire solar system if we don’t do as he says.”

  Nicolas whistled. “That’s a pretty hard ass policy to take over something as simple as marriage, princess of a galaxy spanning empire or not. So our hands are completely tied?”

  “Not completely,” Karen admitted. “I’ve enlisted the aid of Caridna Tepes to provide Alex with anything he needs, but aside from offering covert help, there’s nothing we can do.”

  “I guess that means we’ll just have to trust Alex,” Nicolas said.

  Karen huffed. “You want me to place my faith in the boy who, to date, has caused over two hundred million credits worth of property damage?”

  “Of course I do,” Nicolas exclaimed, grinning. “After all, it’s the duty of a grandfather to have faith in his grandson.”

  INTERLUDE I

  Manāf walked through the empty corridor of his sister’s spaceship like a man stepping into his own grave. His footsteps echoed all around him, presenting an ominous cling that was tuned to his own thudding heartbeat. Even though he had said that he wasn’t going to try and claim Princess Gabrielle for himself, it didn’t change that he had been defeated—and by a human at that.

  No, there is no way that boy could be a human.

  While he didn’t think his sister was going to punish him, her disappointment in him would be punishment enough.

  Someone else was in the hallway. Manāf stopped as Ibn-Al Kalbi stepped into his path. His older brother’s glare wasn’t quite as fierce as it usually was because one of his left arms was in a sling. The other three were covered in bandages.

  “I hear you went down to Mars, fought against that human, and lost.”

  “You did the same thing. I’m not sure if you have the right to criticize me.”

  Ibn-Al Kalbi snorted. “Who said I was criticizing you? Maybe now people will actually believe me when I say that guy isn’t a normal human.”

  Manāf had to agree with his brother. He didn’t know who or what that Alexander Ryker was, but the boy was clearly not human—at least, not fully human.

  It made sense. There were numerous sub-humans—beings born between a human and another species. Oftentimes these sub-humans would display a unique power that they picked up from their non-human parent: psychokinesis, pyrokinesis, telekinesis… there were many different powers out there.

  Parting ways without another word, Manāf traveled to his sister’s meditation chamber.

  Meditation was an important ritual among his people. Those who were not one with themselves could not become one with the desert. To be capable of living on a planet so inhospitable, the inhabitants needed to form an innate understanding of and bond with the desert.

  His sister had achieved the highest level of understanding possible. She knew, instinctively, that the drought would not end unless they could receive help from other planets. The infinite storm that ravaged their land was a result of the drought, not the other way around. That was the whole reason she had left their home, traveled into space, and was attempting to help Ibn-Al Kalbi become the Emperor of the Galaxy.

  Al-lāt was sitting in the center of the room, her legs crossed, barely moving, scarcely breathing. The only way he even knew that she was alive was the slow rise and fall of her shoulders.

  “You’ve returned,” Al-lāt said without getting up.

  “I have.”

  The doors closed behind Manāf as he entered the chamber, walking to his sister until he was standing behind her. He didn’t say anything else. Having failed, his place was not that of a speaker, but that of a listener and someone who only spoke when spoken to.

  “You failed to defeat the one known as Alexander S. Ryker.”

  “To my great shame,” Manāf admitted with his head bowed. “He proved to be every bit as formidable as our brother said.”

  “So I see,” Al-lāt murmured. “I was afraid this would happen. Tell me, were you able to glean anything about him?”

  “Only that he does indeed have powers that are beyond human,” Manāf explained. “I was unable to determine exactly how his powers work because he only used them near the end, but I do remember a blue aura appearing around him before my drones were destroyed. He also created a whip made out of that same energy.”