Celestial Bodies

[CHAPTER 11] - DRACO : ORPHEUS

I was left with mortals, a constellation amongst men. And to better this, I was helping them take down my own. It felt wrong, unsettling. I was a traitor to my kind.

I mused into the night sky. For Lyra, I would betray my own again and again.

Though I don't intend on sticking around long enough for Florence Wolfe's questions. I could feel the mystery of her parents running deep within her, alas, it must be dispersed. They bound Lyra and I to the cosmos orb for her own protection, not to tell her of the stars' secrets. That would create... difficulties, to say the least.

Team Polaris, awful, distasteful name by the way, gathered in Mr Winter's strangely western office. It gave an air of ranch, and it made me reconsider the free spirit hidden within the old man. Having been such a successful astronomer for so long, I wondered if the label locked him in a little box with a telescope, keeping him from his dreams as a... cowboy?

The defiant one named Zara studied me thoroughly from across the hideous barf of colour that was the Navajo rug. Her dark features and unnaturally long eyelashes made her a very pretty woman, though the way she contorted those features said otherwise. A more dangerous kind than the one Roy Orbison sung about. Yes, I may be a celestial, but music is my forte. After all, Roy is out of this world. No pun intended!

I stared at an idle man... Adrian, that was his name. We sat in a circle of chairs around the rug, that really was starting to irk me, and his presence made the situation tenfold more awkward. Don't ask me why, or how, but it just was. He slouched there, staring distantly, his brain no doubt doing summersaults or daydreaming of clapping monkeys. Though I couldn't say I was entirely unbiased when it came to the bushy-moustached fellow, the glares he was giving our Florence Wolfe suggested a few rough experiences too many, his malice enough to build a slight amount of defensive resentment in my chest. Look at me, caring for mortals.

A beeping interrupted our thrilling staring competition, and I rose, my legs taking me to action.

"Team Polaris, with me!" I stomped out, heading for the armoury. I just knew Zara was rolling her eyes, but what is a team without a leader? Nothing.

"Mr Winter, what are we hearing exactly?" The four of us huddled around a petite woman working a radio device, which was riddled with distortion. Her finely polished nails twizzled a wheel, bringing a few overlaying urgent voices into the foreground.

"This is the private line of firefighters in the local area." The silver fox answered, leaning in intently.

"The design is a little... old. Is it not?" Adrian commented, analysing the form of the rectangular speaker.

"It goes undetected, because this is the device originally linked to the fire service's frequency. They gave it to me as scrap, and I kept it. Upgraded it a little." On cue, the woman plugged a thick cable into the side of the wooden box, flickering the sleeping screen in front of her with activity. It was a map, from a star's view, looking down at the valley and surrounding territories of the Tuscan Archipelago.

"What are the blue dots?" The mathematician questioned, furrowing his angular brow at the mystery as he brought his face intimately close to the screen.

"Fire stations." The smooth, delicate voice of the operating lab tech responded, edging slightly away as Adrian peered over her.

"And the red?"

"Fires." She turned, an unspoken message passing between her and the boss. With a brush of his wiseman's beard, he regarded me.

"It seems as though we have found your friend."