The layer beneath the tree canopy was dark when they returned, risking one last burst of Sandsa’s powers to teleport them back to the hovercar. The moist air inside The Sample murmured along Callista’s skin, smothering the blush that had begun on a completely different side of the city. She leaned into Sandsa, enjoying his warmth, still amazed by how much he had gone through, how much he’d given up. For her.
Callista felt the strings tying him to the deserts strain and fray, but not snap entirely, not yet. Telling her his secret had just been the beginning, she knew, but already his shoulders stood higher, and his smile was fuller than it had ever been. His frequent kisses were ridiculously innocent considering what they had done. And what they would do…
Her thighs clenched. His eyes darkened when he caught the traitorous thought.
Callista rolled her eyes. ‘I’m human. I can’t help having those thoughts about you.’ She paused. ‘My love.’
‘My love,’ he repeated.
They resumed their positions in the hovercar, though not without Sandsa viewing the driver’s seat with a hunger akin to what he felt for her. Callista hoped to distract him by leaning forward, pressing her chest against the steering rods and forming a deeper dip between her breasts than usual. She felt a spike of interest from him. But then it was buried beneath his concern.
The falling night was nearly upon them.
As she drove Callista’s eyes chased passing shadows and her heart began to slam into her ribs more rapidly. Sensing her tension, Sandsa rested a hand over one of hers. What would it be like, she wondered, living when all of her friends had died, when Atsa City itself had finally been reclaimed by the wild desert?
She pictured herself standing in these very streets, surrounded by ruins, her voice the only sound in a desolate place. And then she glanced at Sandsa, understanding the loneliness he had suffered. It was beyond bearing.
Callista turned onto the road leading to their headquarters and immediately tapped the brake. The hovercar slowed, its engine purring a soft challenge. The blockade ahead was formed by four large vehicles, four bulky metal boxes packed with an array of lasguns and lascannons, though Callista had yet to see the reputed flamethrowers — why would the Chippers want to get that close to their victims anyway?
The Chipper tanks were painted a deep indigo, making them hard to see in the fading light. Dashed down two sides of each vehicle were the standard five gold strokes that GLEA used to advertise their presence. Callista had seen this symbol on enough Webcasts from enough planets to know who it belonged to.
‘It is tempting to resort to my godly powers,’ Sandsa murmured.
Callista firmed her lips into one tight line. ‘I bet it is.’
He cupped her cheek, his gaze boring into her. ‘The thought of having to leave you will curb that temptation. Now. I have already shown my powers to them — you have not.’ Sandsa moved his hand to her shoulder and squeezed. ‘You do not need to risk exposure.’
Callista shrugged him off. ‘Can’t stop me backing you up with a lasgun.’
‘I wouldn’t dare,’ Sandsa said, leaping out onto the pavement in one swift movement.
She tapped her lasgun against her thigh as she followed him down the road. She was impressed that Sandsa felt confident enough in his abilities to face the Chippers alone, but if he was clamping down on his powers the way he had promised her, then he was definitely going to need a subofficer at his back. The view wasn’t so bad either.
She admired his tight backside in the practical denim he’d swapped the leather for. The fabric, though more flexible, definitely still clung in the right places. His walk was different and his knees were slightly bent these days, no doubt from learning to keep his stance low during his training with Bock in the armoury. Even though he lacked a weapon this night, his hips still favoured one side as he sauntered forward to meet the Chippers. Callista remained a few paces behind him — she wasn’t crazy enough to put herself right in the firing line when he had used his powers for much longer than she had been alive.
‘It is almost too dark for you,’ Sandsa told the woman who stepped out to meet him.
This Chipper was not entirely human. The spray of purple freckles over her features was too delicate to be viral in nature — that and her scalp was covered with tiny tentacles that looked more like stubby toes than hair. Standing out on her temple, beneath a patch of stretched skin, was the chip that allowed her to touch and warp the universe’s energy.
‘Did you waste most of the day looking for us?’ Callista called over Sandsa’s shoulder. ‘Well, if the Alcazaar are footing your medical bills and paying you better, I suppose it’s worth braving the chill of night.’
The woman fiddled with the zipper of her purple jumpsuit. Callista supposed it must be a uniform because the other Chippers were also wearing them, though this woman’s jumpsuit bore enough gold strokes on the shoulders to indicate that she had a special rank.
The Chipper dropped her hand from the zipper to her holstered lasgun. ‘I’m Colonel Jeras Nerani and I don’t work with any starking gangs. The ones behind me don’t either.’
‘So there are renegade Chippers who have had enough of doing the bidding of the Creator God, how surprising,’ Sandsa said blandly. ‘You cut into your skin to insert those chips and yet he rarely talks to you. Clearly he is not worth the effort. It’s likely your traitorous comrades have worked this out for themselves.’
‘We do not use the chips solely to reach our Creator,’ Jeras said, murmurs sounding behind her as the other Chippers echoed their agreement. ‘To serve the galaxy, to protect those who need it, to uphold the laws of each planet’s governing body…those are the Agency’s goals.’
Sandsa lifted one eyebrow. ‘You threaten us with your tanks merely for a philosophical debate?’
‘We’re not all sellouts!’ the colonel said, her very human green eyes darting between the two clanspeople. ‘So what are you, Bolt? Desert magician? Or is your chip hidden?’
‘He can’t move sand and he doesn’t have a chip,’ Callista said, answering for Sandsa. ‘I’ve seen him use his powers. He’s not limited like you or the desert people.’
‘I can demonstrate, if you like,’ Sandsa offered.
Jeras snapped her head from side to side. ‘No! I do not want to die at dusk, thank you. The Agency may argue the point. I’m here for your help.’
‘You want him to deal with the Chippers who’re working for the Alcazaar,’ Callista guessed. ‘You’re not powerful enough to take out the clans or your renegades, are you?’
‘It’s just the one gang I want gone,’ the Chipper said, visibly grinding her teeth. ‘I understand how this city works. This day/night agreement between the governor and the gangs has worked long enough that it’s practically official — so that’s not my issue. No. There’s too many of my own people involved.’
‘So ask the regional commander of this solar system for reinforcements!’ Callista snapped.
Colonel Nerani cast her eyes down at the road — and her disappearing shadow. ‘One of them is the regional commander. His words mean more than mine to our superiors.’
‘You fools actually expect me to side with you?’ Sandsa said with a twist to his lips. ‘If your Creator God will not help you, then I certainly won’t do it in his place.’
Jeras retreated a pace, scowling. ‘Some of our agents are hurting innocent people. And so too are those Alcazaar you’re fighting against. You’re worth twenty of us, being the way you are, and I don’t care how you got your powers. I only care how you use them.’
‘Rather dark out, isn’t it?’ Callista said, waving a hand up at the pinpricks of light arrayed across the night sky.
‘Yes, it is,’ Jeras agreed and sought the safety of a tank.
The Chippers soared away, presumably to the outpost housing those of them who had not sold out to the Alcazaar. Sandsa turned to Callista and pulled her into a deep, lasting kiss. When he released her, she said, ‘Colonel Nerani really needs our help, I could feel it.’
‘I know. But that does not mean I should assist her.’
Callista released a hiss of air. ‘We’re going to have to fight her renegades either way. And I’m scared they’ll overpower us. We’re not gods, neither of us. Not anymore.’
‘I won’t let them hurt you,’ Sandsa told her in a low voice.
They kissed again, hands wandering and diving beneath clothes, sliding along bare skin, testing the boundaries they had shied from earlier. The kiss took everything from Callista but she gave more, hungered for more.
You are my future, he whispered. Only you.
Callista kept her tone playful. We’ll see. Ala says no one ends up with their first.
Their first what? he asked, confusion seeping into his thoughts.
Callista began to laugh, but it was short-lived.
The war had already begun.