Can’t Deny It
Titan
Blaze is still in a daze when the drone’s female AI voice tells us to follow it to safety.
“Blaze? Blaze! You have to help. I’m going to carry you, but you have to do your part.”
The light is fading fast, but in the dim gray of twilight, I can see her trying to focus on me.
“Blaze?”
“Yes.” She nods, her head bobbling from side to side as much as it’s moving up and down.
“You’re going to get on my back.”
With a lot of help from me, she’s straddling my waist from behind, her arms crooked around my neck.
“Hold the sword in one hand and the bat in the other. Can you do that?”
“Mmm.”
“Say yes,” I urge, trying to bring her brain back online.
“Yes, Titan.”
“That’s my girl. Good.”
I hand the weapons to her. “Whatever you do, don’t cut my head off or you’ll lose your ride.”
“Very funny, asshole.”
“There’s my Blaze,” I say, surprisingly happy to hear her snide comment. It means she’s back among the living.
As I pick my way up the embankment, following the drones, I see Red in the gloam.
“Climb on,” I tell him, resigned.
He pauses a moment, then climbs up my leg and torso. Since I don’t feel his tiny claws digging into my plating, I assume he’s hitched a ride with Blaze. I don’t hear her complaining, though.
“Get a move on,” Jahzara Zedd goads. She’s in her dressing room, putting on her makeup and looking into the mirror to speak to the camera behind her. “We need you cleaned, medically treated, and ready for showtime in ninety minutes. Our drones found a nice cave for you, and we’ve already charged your accounts a tidy sum to clean the disgusting place. Do you know how hard it is to scrape a century’s worth of bat guano off rocky floors?”
She purses her lips to get her lipstick on just right as I struggle to keep pace with the drones.
“Just to remind you, Slayer promised the entire galaxy she would…” she consults her notes, “‘do a striptease and if you want, I’ll ride the big guy tonight. Let me know if you want me shot from the front or the back’.”
The words are completely devoid of feeling and sound ludicrous coming out of Zedd’s mouth.
“And let me remind you of the rest of the deal,” Blaze says with all of her cocky attitude back on board, “When I get ten thousand credits and the laser rifle is in my hand, you’ll get your show.”
“Just to be clear,” Zedd says, all pretense of compassion forgotten, “I bet against you two from the start. When you killed those three Halckons earlier today, I doubled my bet. As soon as I terminate this comm, I’m going to double it again.”
The screen goes black, which doesn’t mean they’re not listening or filming. It just means they want us to let our guards down.
Blaze
The suns have set, but they equipped the drones with lights that illuminate our path. I guess they wouldn’t want any mishaps for us now.
Titan is hustling, trying to keep up with the drones. The ride is bumpy. The weapons, especially the spiky bat, are heavy and I have to pay attention not to hurt Titan with them since they’re close to his thighs and almost slice him with every step.
