Oriehn

Chapter 38- Taliesin

Chapter 38- Taliesin

"I have missed you, Alice," Ian sounded over the intercom. "It hurt not knowing where you were and if you were safe or not."

It was as if he was ripping the words directly from my own heart and imprinted them along his mouth. I could hear Alice's breath hitch. My anger boiled, as I sat in the corner of my cell, hidden in the dark shadows from the wardens.

"It really killed me, you know?" Ian offered.

I only scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"I..." Alice muttered. Hearing her voice made my body ache, my heart felt bruised, although the most overwhelming of all was relief. It washed over me like a wave. Alice, the person I loved the most whether I liked it or not, was alive.

"I'm sorry, Ian, I didn't know," She added.

"It's okay, but don't do that to me again," Ian said sadly. I rolled my eyes at his visible emotion. He was weak, for an Oriehn; too weak to be bonded to someone as vibrant and brave as Alice.

The radio crackled, and with a sinking feeling, I knew that my eavesdropping had come to an end. I growled lowly at the thought.

"Hello?" Louder now, Alice's voice called from the within radio. I took a moment to recompose myself, knowing that Alice was on the other end, safe and alive, and I felt the rage melt away.

"Alice," I called out.

"Sin?" I heard her gasp. "Taliesin, is that you?"

"Yes, Alice, it is me. I am fine." I sighed, contentedly resting my head on the back wall. "Are you?"

"Y-yes." She sighed, her breath crackling as static overtook it for a moment. "Ian is here with me. We had a bad crash, but for the most part, we are all okay."

I heard a different sigh in the background, which was probably Ian's. "Good," I trailed off. "Good."

"Sin? How is this possible?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly. I could imagine her covering her mouth as emotion took over her face. "H-how am I talking to you? Are you sure you are okay? I didn't mean to leave you, I promise, I lo—"

"Alice," I interrupted, wanting to stop the influx of words. "You did the best you could. I am fine, and because of you and your canny knack for picking up things quickly, the resistance has fresh reinforcements."

She chuckled dryly. "You saw that? Me flying the shuttle, I mean."

"I thought you were splendid, darling," I told her tenderly. "Although you had me on the edge of my seat when you flew through the machines in a fiery explosion."

She laughed fully now, and my chest swelled. "I learned from the best. But you still did not answer my question. How are we talking right now? Over radio no less..."

"Dr. Prose had banked quite heavily on the fact that the crash would kill you all. He had the carpet ripped out from under him when you refused to die, and rushed off without checking to see if the wardens were still guarding me."

"Which they were not," She filled in. "So you what? Went to find a radio?"

"Quite the opposite actually," I exhaled slowly. "When I went to escape, I got caught. But not before I grabbed a portable radio off of the open console."

"But you decided to stay? Why?" Her voice was soft, as if wounded.

"To help you, Alice. To help the insurgence." I patted the floor in a slow rhythm as I let the previous sentence sink in. "If I stay here, I can act as an informant, hiding just under their noses."

"They would never suspect a thing," she whispered, and then spoke excitedly. "Have you found anything? Heard anything?"

I leaned in, crouching over the radio and running a hand through my matted and dirty hair. I looked at it, grimacing, and then wiped it on my already dirty pants. "Not really, but something Dr. Prose said to me has revolved in my brain around and around, but I can't seem to put the pieces together."

"What? Maybe I can makes sense of it for you," Alice offered.

"How much time to you have?" I chuckled, jokingly.

"We are about to arrive at the garrison, but they have to document and care for the survivors first. It will still be a while yet."

"Alright then," I paused. "He said something along the lines of 'Order the machines to follow the survivors of the crash. Use the master mainframe so their movements are synchronized.'"

She was silent for a while, until her breathing suddenly picked up its pace. "Oh my god, Sin."

"What? What?" I panicked. "Are you okay?"

"I am perfect!" She exclaimed. "Do you know what this means?"

"No," I furrowed my eyebrows. "That is why I asked you."

"Sin! Master mainframe!" She shouted excitedly. "The machines are controlled by a singular master mainframe."

I hesitated, still not understanding. "Why is that relevant? I could have told you that."

"All of the machines, the very foundation of the human war effort, are controlled by one accessible computer. One master mainframe."

"You have said that already!" I exclaimed, hitting my head against the wall. "Multiple times! Are you sure you did not hit your head in the crash?"

"I did, but that is neither here nor there. I am fine." I could imagine her waving her hands at this point, dismissing my proffered concern. "If you can access and destroy the one master mainframe, then you can stop all of the remote-controlled machines, the very foundation of the human war effort."

"They will be rendered useless, and the humans will lose," I answered slowly, comprehension filtering in as I understood her words.

"You can come home, and help us rebuild!" She laughed happily. "If you destroy the mainframe, you can come home, Taliesin." Her smile sounded through the radio, and I felt my own lips quirk up in response.

I had thought that my home was on the lunar station. But now that was destroyed. So what was my home? With my father? I scoffed at the thought. With Alice? I leaned back. I liked that idea. Alice and I sharing a home, and a family. Alice was-is my home.

"If I destroy the mainframe, I can return to you," I whispered softly, it being more of a thought than an addition to the conversation.

She fell silent, sighing slightly. "Yeah. If you destroy the mainframe, you can come home to me."