The Beast

The Beast - Part 27

"I think those terms are reasonable. It might be a little bit late to ask but how will I spend my days from now on?" Gabriel had not yet thought about working conditions, he was mainly happy not to be a forced conscript anymore.

"You will be by my side anytime I leave this room. If I'm in here you're free to choose whatever you want to do."

"I can recall a time when this room wasn't very safe." Gabriel was absolutely fine with what Taro proposed but Taro's death would spell certain doom for him. He could maybe even kill the entire crew of a cruiser in his suit but then he'd be left in a gigantic grave flying aimlessly through empty space and he couldn't risk that.

Taro chuckled at his statement: "And I recall a time you saw an invisible assassin. I'm sure you'll keep me safe."

"Your choice. I'm gonna head to my room if that's okay for you." Gabriel still desperately needed a break.

"Verona will take you. Killing is hard." Taro sounded understanding.

"It is." Gabriel left the room unable when he remembered that he had needed to wait for Verona. He turned around to look for her but she was already waiting behind him.

"Can you take me to my room?" Gabriel's current objective was just to find a bed and finally get a good night's rest.

"Follow me." Verona took the lead and guided him around the numerous hallways and corridors on the ship. He noted that he needed a good tour around the ship some time soon. They went lower and lower in the ship, the business fading with every story they got deeper until they walked down stairs revealing a completely silent area. The light was dimmer and dust glided around the floor, the only thing of interest were three doors one on each wall. She stopped at the last step and announced that the whole area belonged to him. Unsure if he was supposed to be happy or not he thanked her and walked to the right door.

"So what's behi-" He looked for Verona but she was already gone. He was scared for a moment, when he remembered that the scariest thing on the ship was probably him. Accepting a bad surprise he opened the door but behind it was a well lit withe closet with parts of his armor inside. All parts looked repaired so he concluded that Chip had the rest. Curious, he turned around and walked to the left door. Behind it was a replica of Tibi's office and on a desk was Tibi with her back to him writing down something. She turned around but not in the mood for conversation. He closed the door before a word left her mouth, the door at the far end had to be his room. The door opened before he reached it, it was Zuski.

"I haven't seen you since you left to talk with Taro about your sale. What happened?" He accepted blame for basically leaving her alone but her voice sounded sincere.

"You know the classic. The poison knocked me out on the way back and when I woke up we were already attacking the gate." There was a time when he would tell her about his breakdown but that time wasn't now.

"I need more than that. Nobody here wants to talk with me." She made way for him to enter the room.

"That's good you can't trust anybody here, don't forget that they worked with Aina." He was tired and wanted to sleep more than anything right now but he owed Zu honesty, "This is a ship filled with scum, barely better than Pirates. We are lucky they still assume I am less intelligent from modifications otherwise they'd never take the bomb out of me."

Zu's demanure took a 180 turn: "I know Gabriel, they all have blood on their hands. I just thought you'd enjoy a little bit of casual small talk after what happened since you woke up."

"Thank you. Sorry for crushing your spirit like this, you're right, times are hard and I need that but I'm also fatigued. How about I give you a summary of the last day, then I get some rest and tomorrow you can spend the entire day beating me in terret." He put on a smile but she saw right through it.

"Skip the summary, you're clearly on the brink of collapse." She put his arm on her shoulder and led him into the room. Taro didn't hold back on his room, it was so well designed it felt almost luxurious to enter. The room was more than tripled the size of his cell on the spike. The floor was soft and heated, all the furniture was in a distinct minimalistic style and a bathroom of sorts was attached.

"Thank you." He headed to the bed in the corner and was out cold not a minute after reaching it.