The Forgotten

Chapter 9

by Dustin

The battle was still raging as violently as ever, but the Preventers were finally making progress. Heero, Arys and Duo had forced their way out of the suffocating mass of Forgotten suits and were slowly breaking them up, allowing the other pilots more maneuverability.

Quatre threw one of Sandrock’s scythes into a shield-less Virgo, then finished off the Gemini he’d been dealing with. Recovering his scythe, he quickly scanned the situation, then entered a series of commands into his tactical computer. He received confirmation of his instructions from the other Gundams, including Meela’s, then initiated the sequence.

Immediately, all the Gundams broke off from whatever engagement they were in and rearranged themselves. Quatre spun around and slammed Sandrock forward, straight towards where he knew the Deathscythe was. Duo was head to head with him and at the last second, they both spun away, and engaged a new group of suits, taken completely by surprise. The maneuver was repeated in pairs, leaving the Gundams now completely separated from the battle.

There was a momentary lull and Quatre took advantage of it, ordering the remaining Preventer forces to new positions and assessing their remaining strength. There were just over forty Taurus’ and twelve Raptor fighters remaining. He estimated that they’d reduced the Forgotten force by nearly twice what they’d been reduced, leaving them still outnumbered, but far better off than they had been.

“Guys, we’re going to isolate the remaining Geminis and take them ourselves while the rest of our force deals with the others,” he ordered. He counted only twenty four remaining Gemini’s. All the Gundams together would be able handle them, then go assist the Peacemillion if she needed it. “Engage on my mark. Three… two…”

“This is Calder, can you guys read me? Over,” the radio suddenly crackled. Quatre immediately opened a channel. “Calder, this is Quatre. What’s your status?”

“Just wonderful. I just got clear of this ion field. The weapon is being transported on six freighters. I‘m in their general area, but I can‘t see them. The Peacemillion is here, and she’s been disabled by something, I don’t know what.”

Quatre’s stomach clenched. “We heard from Colonel Une about five minutes ago. She’d detected the freighters and sent us their cloak frequencies. She didn‘t say anything about being under attack. Whatever disabled the ship must still be around, be careful.”

“Roger that. Send me the frequencies and…” he broke off with a curse. “I’ve just been engaged. Six Virgos. They were cloaked. Standby.”

Quatre frowned. Six Virgos couldn’t have disabled the Peacemillion, even if they could cloak. Duo obviously thought the same thing.

“Quatre, we need to…,” he said urgently.

“I know, but we can’t leave the Preventers without support,” Quatre responded. He thought quickly, but was interrupted.

“I’m going,” Meela said flatly and her Gundam took off.

Quatre swore softly. “Alright, Duo and I will go with her. Heero, Arys, Trowa and Wufei, stay here and deal with the Geminis.”

He quickly turned to follow Duo and Meela, hoping he’d made the right decision.

Heero reassessed the situation. With only four Gundams now, victory looked a lot less like a sure thing. “We still have to handle the Geminis ourselves,” he said. “The Preventers have to be able to focus on the remaining dolls.”

Arys calculated the odds of victory. With all the Gundams running low on firepower, they were about even. She didn’t like odds like that. But they’d all survived more overwhelming odds before. She smiled grimly. “Let’s get to it,” she said. The other pilots acknowledged and they attacked.

Calder buried his saber into the sixth and final Virgo and pushed it away, lifeless. He took a deep breath and tried to get a fix on the freighters.

“Had a good warm-up?”

Calder had been expecting the voice this time, but it still sent chills through him. “Where are you?” he demanded.

Alexia laughed. “Getting right to the point this time I see. Attack the root of the problem directly. Good boy. But why don’t you try using your eyes?”

A warning went off in his cockpit. Instinctively, Calder jerked Wraith to the side and a beam of energy swept past him. Feed from the sensors registered a trace of energy that faded immediately.

“Or can’t you learn to see in the dark?”

Calder barely spun out of the way of a second blast and immediately fired a burst of plasma at the origin. It passed through empty space.

“You’re very quick,” his mother said, a thoughtful tone to her voice. “You’re not using the Zero System are you? No, not after what it did to you, I think. You were never strong enough for it. Pity. That might have made this challenging.”

Suddenly several more mobile suits decloaked around him and attacked with impossible speed. Calder counted about two dozen Virgos and fourteen Geminis, all apparently mobile dolls under Alexia’s Zero System, but he didn’t see her suit anywhere.

He ducked a pair of shield emitters and drove in close to the offending Virgo, ramming his shield straight though the torso. He was instantly surrounded and slammed in his harness by the assault. He fired his engines and Wraith scattered several suits with its bulk. Flipping out both sabers, Calder blocked two Gemini’s while another tried to angle in from behind. Calder barely blocked him and was hit twice by Virgo beam rifles. He accelerated again, trying to keep from getting hemmed in, but the dolls were ready this time, hitting him dead on and halting his thrust. To his surprise, several of the dolls had dropped their weapons and grabbed Wraith’s arms, pinning them. He struggled to wrench himself free, but was distracted by what was now looming up on his screen.

It looked similar to the Geminis, but taller and less bulky, with dark purple and black armor. It leisurely approached and activated a double ended red saber.

“Well son, it has been very entertaining,” Alexia said silkily. “But I’m in a bit of hurry, so I’m afraid our little party must come to an end. You’re not everything your father and I could have expected of you, but that really isn’t your fault.” She sighed. “I suppose I can only blame myself. Good bye.”

She drew back the saber to strike and Calder felt for the first time that his life would truly be ending. Unable to move, he watched as the saber angled in straight for his cockpit. There was a jolt and Calder flinched in spite of himself. But Alexia’s suit wasn’t in front of him any more. He looked sideways to see it tumbling away, entangled with one of the Geminis. A female voice came over his Comm as the two suits grappled.

“Are you alright? I just managed to override this suit’s system and get control!”

Calder didn’t have time to wonder. The suits surrounding him broke up to attack this new threat and Calder managed to wrench Wraith free. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “But be careful, that pilot controls…”

Alexia’s Gundam had wrenched free of the rogue Gemini and smashed its fist into the face, shattering the optics. Calder heard the pilot’s voice cry out in pain. He slammed Wraith’s throttle forward and jetted straight for his mother as she reactivated her saber and closed on the wounded Gemini. The pilot tried to defend herself, but her suit’s single saber was knocked out her grasp. Calder’s heart sank. He wasn’t going to make it. The brave pilot was going to die.

As Alexia’s double saber spun into its death-blow, it was suddenly stopped by what seemed to be a green force field, hovering a meter above the Gemini. There was a ripple against the backdrop of stars as the Deathwing decloaked, holding its scythes in a protective arc over the disabled suit.

Dominique opened her eyes, certain that the flickering light in front of her meant that she had just died. Instead of a long tunnel though, she saw the black Gundam holding the crimson blade at bay.

They stayed that way for several seconds, Alexia staring at this new Gundam with fury. “No,” she whispered, her eyes on fire. “No, you will not stop me. No matter what you throw at me, I will not… be… stopped!” Her voice rose to a scream and she spun her saber, throwing off the green scythes, then threw herself at the new Gundam.

Meela fell back, fighting off the viscous assault, the red and green blades crisscrossing in a blinding display of speed. Her mind reeled at the overwhelming presence of the Zero System in her adversary, but she fought it down as she’d learned, keeping it at bay.

Alexia had no such compunctions as the yellow mist saturated her mind, fueling and being fueled by her blind fury. Meela was kept on the defensive, her already damaged suit hindering her. She managed to catch both sides of Alexia’s saber at once and twisted the other Gundam around, kicking it hard in the back, creating a short distance. She launched a flat, sharp disk from her left arm, which caught Alexia a glancing blow as she jerked out of the way.

Suddenly Alexia was jolted violently in her cockpit as something collided with her again. She slashed viciously, trying to throw off whatever had hit her. It was one of her own dolls. She realized she’d started to lose track of them and quickly got her bearings. Two more Gundams had arrived and engaged her dolls, and Calder had driven one of them right into her. There was a momentary pause in the battle and each side rearranged themselves. She was down to sixteen Virgos and twelve Geminis and herself versus four Gundams.

She took a deep breath to calm herself. She was confident she could win, but she’d have to focus. She glanced at the new Gundam, looking like a mirror image of Deathscythe beside it. She could feel the Zero system emanating from the pilot.

Meela stared back at Alexia’s Gundam, processing what she’d learned in their brief engagement. She opened a channel to the other pilots. “That pilot has the Zero system. I should take her while you get the dolls.”

Calder’s voice came back immediately. “No. She’s mine.”

“Calder, I don’t think…” she started.

“You know better than that,” Calder interrupted. “You know that having the Zero system doesn’t guarantee superiority.”

Meela bit back an angry retort, remembering when she’d met Calder last. He was right. She hadn’t been able to kill him when she tried, nor had she been able to stop Wufei when she fought him in his Gundam.

Calder continued. “Besides, you’re damaged. We need you where you can stay in the fight the longest.”

“Are you finished yet?” Alexia sneered, her voice calm again. Her dolls maneuvered into formation, advancing slowly on the Gundams.

Calder pushed his throttle gently forward. The engines rumbled, ionized plasma flame flaring from the exhaust ports and Wraith advanced on its adversary. Calder felt nothing as he lit his sabers. Either he or his mother would die today, that he was sure of. He could only do the best he was able to ensure it wasn’t him.

Alexia leapt forward and Calder met her head on. He parried her saber with his left, twisted to bring his shield forward and slammed the reinforced point into her Gundam’s chest. The armor dented and Alexia fell back. Calder slashed with his other saber and Alexia turned it gracefully away, bringing the other end of her blade from underneath to slash at his left side. He caught it on the left saber and spun Wraith completely around, angling his shield upward towards the vulnerable area under Alexia’s cockpit. She dodged, but Calder anticipated her and landed a blow with the follow-through of his right saber.

Alexia snarled and rushed forward again, blindingly fast. Calder moved back, dodging and parrying with both sabers. The massive Gundams moved gracefully through the vacuum in a terrifying dance of deadly light, coming close, but never quite landing a crippling blow.

Calder spun out of Alexia’s flight path and ignited his main engines again, putting some distance between himself and his mother, simultaneously switching to long range weapons. He spun around just as she did and opened fire with all his machine guns and plasma cannons. He had less than a second of sustained fire before she closed the distance. He flipped Wraith backwards, meeting her Gundam with Wraith’s feet and pushing off, spinning a hundred and eighty degrees. In one fluid motion he pulled his energy whip from behind the shield and flicked it out, catching Alexia’s Gundam at the knee joint.

The white-hot cord dug into the Gundanium, fusing the joint, and Calder used her momentum to spin himself around, at the same time dragging her towards him and slamming his right saber straight at her engines. Centimeters from penetrating the vulnerable exhaust port, his saber was deflected. Instead it drew a fiery line down the unlucky Virgo she’d used as a shield. His saber penetrated the doll’s reactor and it exploded, rocketing the two Gundams apart.

Calder stabilized himself and was just barely in time to take her saber on his shield. She followed through with the other end of her saber, knocking the shield aside and slashing across, drawing a black line across Wraith’s torso. She pushed forward, the red energy blade battering at the gundanium, which slowly melted and turned to slag.

The temperature inside Calder’s cockpit jumped. Blinking sweat out of his eyes, he saw that his forward machine guns were disabled. He managed to take Alexia’s next attack on his shield and fired Wraith’s engines, leaping out of her reach. She kept after him, moving up behind Wraith and driving for the engines. Calder backhanded his shield across the other Gundam’s face and the suit was snapped back. He pinned her right arm with his left and pulled the other suit toward him. Alexia twisted, keeping Wraith’s sharp knee joint from penetrating her cockpit. Her left arm lashed out, hitting Wraith’s side, but Calder held her there and punched with Wraith’s right arm. Alexia caught its fist and a horrible groaning vibrated through both Gundams as they strained against one another.

A warning went off and Calder was forced to release his mother’s suit and dodge as a doll attacked him from behind. Duo moved in quickly to engage it.

“I’ve got your back buddy, keep on her!” Duo said as he raced by. Calder focused back on his mom and pressed forward.

The other Gundams weren’t fairing well against the dolls. Each was dealing with three Geminis and four or five Virgos and they were hemmed in, being harassed from all angles by the Zero system enhanced automatons. Quatre switched one of his scythes for a Maguanac machine gun and fired on a Virgo that moved in front of him. Suddenly a Gemini moved in to take the bullets on its gundanium armor and attacked with a beam saber. Quatre growled in frustration and heated his other scythe, meeting the Genimi’s blow and spinning around it, trying to angle in on its engines. But just as rapidly as it had come, it was gone, replaced by another Virgo that took the blow to its shields and pounded Sandrock with its beam rifle. The dolls were shifting rapidly, keeping the pilots from focusing on any one of them.

Calder glared in frustration at Alexia’s Gundam. How could she be controlling such a large number with such effectiveness? As if reading his mind, her voice came over his comm and her image appeared on his screen. Her cockpit was filled with golden light and her eyes glowed eerily.

“Calder, you wouldn’t believe this,” she said, her voice high and dreamy. “I can see everything. The Zero System is a part of me now. I think it’s… seeping into my mind.” She laughed, giddy, insane. “Taking up residence as it were. When this is over, I’ll run scans, analyze how it happened. I just let myself go, letting it wash over me. It’s incredible.”

Calder stared for a second, horrified at visage on his viewer. Then suddenly, he knew how to win. “You’ve lost yourself,” he said softly.

Alexia laughed. “How limited your perspective is. I’ve found myself, Calder! I can see the whole of the universe, the whole of existence!”

Calder nodded. “You’re perception is no longer bound by the limits and laws that we know.”

“Yes, exactly! I wish you could see it, son. But I see that won’t happen. Your fate is to die at my hands.”

“Maybe. But the Zero system doesn’t know.” He closed his eyes. “I pity you, Mom. You tried so hard to leave this world, leave yourself behind. And you will in a way. The Zero system will kill you.”

He closed the channel, then shot off a coded transmission to Meela, Heero, and Arys. There was a pause before he received their acknowledgements. He wondered if he had any idea of what he was doing as he called up a systems list and looked at one particular item, one that had been dark for almost two years. He noticed that his heart was hammering, but he didn’t bother to slow it down

He closed his eyes and typed in the appropriate command. Z-E-R-0.

He opened his eyes again and wondered where he was. It was dark and quiet. No battle, no clashing titans, no fear or pain… it was peaceful. A soft ticking could be heard, muffled by walls and by the heavy air itself. Calder noticed a soft light coming from near the floor and suddenly he realized where he was. He moved to the door, opened it, and stepped out of his bedroom into the hall of his house.

It was exactly as he remembered it. Bare, soft gray walls, hard-wood floors and dim light from a lamp sitting on a small table at the end of the hall. He could even smell the wood and knew the ticking was from the old grandfather clock in the living room.

He tensed as a door opened a little ways down the hall. To his surprise, Arys emerged from it, looking wary. She spotted him and moved towards him. “Is this what you had in mind?” she asked, her gray eyes flicking here and there as though expecting an attack.

Calder shook his head. “Not exactly. I don’t know why we’re here, but this is my house, back on Earth. Or it was my house. It can’t be real though, this is exactly what it was like when I still lived here…”

He broke off as someone else rounded the corner. It was Meela, looking just as apprehensive as they were. A second later, Heero emerged from another door.

Calder nodded. “All of us using the Zero System are here.”

Heero frowned. “I thought you said you removed the system from your Gundam.”

Calder smiled apologetically. “I wasn’t entirely truthful. I never thought I’d use it again, but something made me leave it installed. Deactivated, until now.”

“Your mother must be here as well,” Meela said softly.

“But where is here?” Arys asked. “It’s your house, but in the past you say. Some kind of virtual reality?”

“And why has nothing like this ever happened before?” Heero asked.

“We’ve never known so many people to be interconnected with the system before,” Meela pointed out. “When Calder activated his system, maybe it triggered something.”

“I’m guessing we can all realize that this isn’t real because we’re maintaining a degree of control over the system,” Calder said. “But my mother isn’t.”

Arys frowned. “You think she won’t realize its an illusion?”

“That’s what I’m guessing. I think she’s become so immersed that she’s become confined to the world that the system presents her. And that’s how we’ll beat her.”

“So why has the system created this world?” Heero asked.

Everyone was quiet.

“Well, I guess the only way to find out is to have a look around,” Calder finally said. “We should find my mother. But keep out of site, in case she can perceive us in this reality.”

The others nodded and Calder led them out into the living room, where the grandfather clock kept its steady vigil of time. This room was also dark and empty. A calendar on the wall read November 18^th, 185. Calder frowned. Twelve years ago. “November 18^th,” he murmured to himself. His insides went cold. “I know where she is,” he said.

He led them to a narrow staircase and went down it into a sparse basement. He went past the old couch and TV to the opposite wall and slid his hand over an inconspicuous brick. A section of the wall depressed, then slid sideways, revealing an opening into sterile looking laboratory. The overwhelming smell of antiseptics washed over them. Calder started breathing hard.

“I’m there,” he said, moving into the dark lab and staring into the glass-walled room at far end. The others moved up beside him and followed his gaze. Alexia Slandovich was there, wearing a white lab coat and leaning over a table where a small figure lay. A man was there also, looking intently at a computer screen.

“She’s here. And my dad is here,” Calder said, more to himself than to the others.

Alexia suddenly looked up, directly at them, her eyes glowing with the Zero System’s golden light. They tensed, but she moved on with what she was doing. She couldn’t see them.

She’d revealed the figure laying on the table. It was unmistakably a five-year-old Calder Slandovich.

The teenaged Calder started to hyperventilate. He clutched his forehead with a gasp of pain. “They’re operating on me. Giving me my enhanced sight.” His eyes watered. “It hurts…” he whispered, his voice suddenly small.

“Calder,” Meela whispered.

“They’re cutting… into my skull,” he said, gasping, his trembling hands grasping at his head. “Oh God, I can feel it…”

“Calder,” Meela said more loudly. “It’s not real. It’s the Zero System giving you these feelings. You’re safe.”

Calder staggered, tears running down his face. “No, no, no… please… stop…”

Meela stepped up to him and gently pulled his hands from his head. Arys moved to his other side and took his other hand.

Heero stepped in front of him. “Look at me,” he said softly, but commandingly.

Calder blearily focused on him. Heero stepped closer and took Arys’ and Meela’s other hands. “We’re with you,” he said. “But we need you, Gundam pilot. We need you with us.”

Calder took a shuddering breath. He looked left at Meela and right at Arys. He nodded. “I’m with you,” he said.

The room swirled around them, dissolving in a blur of color. Light and dark, dark and light. Images washed over them.

Heero, running over green grass, enjoying the feeling of speed. He rolled down a hill and collapsed on the ground, laughing. A face appeared over his. “Hi there! Are you lost?”

Heero sat up, serious again. “I’ve been lost since the day I was born.”

“That’s so sad…” The little girl and her dog dissolved in a fiery explosion as a mobile suit toppled into an apartment building. Heero walked through the ruins, carrying the limp dog in his arms.

We’re all with you, Heero, they thought as one.

The images swirled around them again. A voice came out of the swirling mass of colors.

“Arys Walker. It’s time. Wake up.”

Calder felt Arys’ hand tighten its grip and he squeezed back. They all watched as fifteen year old Arys rose from the bed and stared at the simulator she’d supposedly been imprisoned in for five years. Then later, the Zero System revealing the painful truth. They watched as the magnificent Silverwind rose up before the transport that carried her parents, and Arys, helpless to know, obliterated it.

We’re all here for you, Arys, came the thought from all of them, and from none of them.

The images faded and the tornado of colors engulfed them again, faster this time, more intense.

Meela sat in a chair, strapped down, a helmet covering her head and face. She convulsed violently, crying out for the images to stop, to end, please…

“Please, make it stop…” she sobbed.

We’re here with you, Meela, the all said. Calder squeezed her hand. I’m here for you, Nyah…

It all stopped. Time stopped. They were suspended in space, seeing everything at once, the inside and outside simultaneously. The battle that raged around them was frozen in time. And Alexia was with them. She looked wildly around, her eyes still blazing.

“What’s going on?” she demanded of them. “What are you doing?”

“We’re not doing anything,” Calder said softly. “The Zero System is showing you yourself.”

She laughed, but suddenly looked uncertain. “What do you mean?”

“The Zero System binds us together,” Calder said. “It will show you your past, nothing less than the most traumatic event in it. We overcame it. And now its your turn.”

The space around them twisted and melted and suddenly they were standing in a park on Earth. The sun was setting, casting the sky in brilliant pink and sending long shadows over the two small girls at play. Alexia stood apart from them, watching in fascination.

The girls went over to an old fashioned brick well with a wooden roof that supported a rope pulley. One of the girls was older and seemed to be trying to convince the younger one to climb into the well. Alexia smiled suddenly. “Oh yes,” she said to herself. “The rope was caught on the side of the well. We couldn’t get to the bucket.” She moved closer and the Gundam pilots followed.

The smaller girl finally agreed and sat on the well’s edge, leaning down into it, held by the older girl. Alexia’s face went ridged. “Wait, no Gabrielle, don’t lean so far…” she whispered.

The girl who was holding her suddenly lost her grip on the wooden frame. The little girl screamed and slid farther in, nearly dragging the older girl with her. The little girl was crying out in rapid Russian, but they all understood.

“Alexia, pull me up!”

“I’m slipping,” the older girl said.

“Alexia!” the little girl sobbed.

The older girl’s other hand scrabbled for purchase on the brick wall as she slid further in. “Gabrielle, I can‘t hold you!”

“Alexia!”

She let go and the little girl’s scream echoed and faded. Seven year old Alexia Slandovich ran away, sobbing as the image started to fade away.

“No!” The adult Alexia ran for the well, even as it dissolved away from her. “I could have pulled her up! I should have!” She was speaking in Russian now.

“Mom, come back with us,” Calder said.

She looked wildly around, as if seeing them for the first time. “Calder, help me, we can save her!”

“You can’t save her. It’s done, she’s gone.”

The world around them continued to be swept away around them. As they watched, Alexia herself started to swirl and dissolve. She looked at her hands and they were swept up in the tornado of light and darkness. “What’s happening?” she asked them pleadingly.

“You’ve gone where we can’t follow,” Calder said. “The Zero System has you.”

“What? No, that can’t be!” Her eyes glowed fiercely and she tried to move towards them. “Help me!”

A golden-yellow light filled the world and the Gundam pilots felt themselves being pulled into the vortex. They gripped each others hands.

Hold on to each other. Hold on to yourself.

“Help me!” Alexia cried as she was engulfed in the storm.

“Good bye, Mom,” Calder whispered.

The world reverberated with Alexia’s scream and finally collapsed.

Calder opened his eyes, gasping. The golden glow faded from his vision and he realized his heart was hammering. He was back in Wraith’s cockpit. He’d never left. His sensor record showed that the Zero System had been active for less than a second and had shut down of its own accord.

Looking at the space around him, he saw that all the dolls had stopped moving, their optics dim. Alexia’s Gundam was limp, its saber deactivated. He opened a channel to Meela.

“Can you sense her?”

Meela’s green eyes appeared on his screen. “No. She’s not here.”

Calder tried hailing, but he knew it was useless. Duo’s voice came over the comm. “What happened?”

“Alexia’s dead,” Calder said emotionlessly. “The Zero System overwhelmed her.”

The other pilots joined them. “The remaining Forgotten troops have surrendered,” Heero said.

“I don’t understand,” Quatre said. “How did she die?”

Calder didn’t answer. He moved Wraith up to Alexia’s Gundam and opened his cockpit. He pushed himself across to the gap and found an exterior override panel. He opened the cockpit and looked inside. The interior was dark and Alexia sat limp in the seat, her helmeted head drooping to the side. Calder released her harness and pulled her limp body out. He pushed back over to Wraith and gently set her body behind his seat. He sealed his cockpit again and took off her helmet. Her expression was almost perplexed, like she was deep in thought, her eyes half opened. He felt for a pulse, though he didn’t expect to find one. He was right. He closed her eyes and climbed into his seat.

“We should check on the Peacemillion,” he said.

“Trowa and Noin are on it,” Quatre said.

Calder glanced up in surprise. “Noin?”

“She stopped the freighters,” Quatre said. “They’re under a Preventer escort now.”

Calder had nearly forgotten about the freighters. He suddenly remembered the pilot who’d saved his life. He quickly scanned the debris field and found the drifting Gemini. He opened a channel and recognized the face that appeared on his screen. She smiled at him.

“Is it done?” Dominique asked with a tired smile.

Calder nodded. “Yeah, it’s done.” He paused. “You saved my life.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, I did, didn’t I? I guess you own me, huh?”

He smiled. “Want a lift back to base?”

She laughed. “That’d be a good place to start.” She brushed her hair out of her brown eyes and smiled at him.

“Yeah,” Calder said, losing himself in her eyes. “A very good start.”

Note: There’s some material from Starling’s story Circle of the Earth in this chapter as well as some from Endless Waltz, and from Twisted Threads.