GET IN, LOSER

Slipstream was a dream at the bottom of a lake. It was a falling star. It was a blue haze of sleek machinery. The signature X-shaped wings rested sacrilegiously on the floor, expectant, straining for the sky. Kae let her gaze trail across the chassis, taking in every detail.

“It’s an actual Flare Series X,” Kae said, mouth open.

“Well,” Des chuckled. “Only—”

Only it wasn’t. Anyone could see that. It had been altered by a professional. The wings curved gracefully behind the body instead of jutting in an actual X. And it was bigger than the models she'd seen in pictures. There were other details, Kae noticed as she walked around the ship, each stranger than the last.

“Altered,” she completed. “The chassis was modified and the Series X doesn’t have an invisibility cloak, as far as I know. And those are weapons there. And—” Kae stopped. She finally understood why the ship seemed bigger than what expected. “Did you add a trailer to a real-life Flare?”

“It’s not a trailer.” There was annoyance in Des’ voice. “It’s a live-in space, complete with bathroom, bed, dining table and kitchenette, and it was a gift.”

“So a trailer. A trailer-gift.”

“Right. Good luck with the Wave, then.”

“No!”

Kae followed after Des, arguing. They could already barely hear each other over the din of the Wave, though Kae was suddenly in no rush. If they were riding out of here in a Series X the Wave would be eating their dust the entire way.

But she also wouldn’t let Des’ crimes go unpunished.

“…I’m just saying,” Kae said. “It’s brutish. I have a couple of friends who would murder you and eat your insides for this. I mean, they would go to town…”

“Fine! Ask you friends for a ride then. Tell them I said hi.”

Des approached the side of the ship. There was no door there that Kae could see, no door anywhere, in fact. But as she watched the Guardian walk purposefully, a door formed. Nothing slid anywhere, hissed open or cracked. Instead, the wall bulged in, Des passed inside, and the wall closed again.

Slipstream had swallowed Des. Or absorbed her, rather. Kae had never seen anything like it. She’d heard of it, yes, but between that and seeing it before her eyes was an entire world… Her thoughts trailed off when she saw Des appear on the cockpit, which was rounded like an eye, and realized she was still outside and that the ground below her was noticeably shaking.

“Hum…”

Kae tried waving, but Des wasn’t looking. She was busy settling in, having a drink of water.

“Des!” Kae yelled. “I was kidding!”

The Guardian closed her eyes. Kae saw her have a nice, long, centering breath.

“Please!”

Des opened her eyes, focused them on Kae. Her hand rose next to her face, bent at a 90-degree angle: What?

“I’m sorry! It looks great!” Kae yelled.

Des inspected her fingernails.

“It’s lovely! Really! Can’t wait to see the inside!”

Des’ lips moved. Something-ootish.

“No, it’s not brutish!” Kae yelled. “Please?”

The Guardian shook her head and rolled her eyes. Then she made a head gesture, quick and clear: hop in.

In other circumstances, Kae would have approached the ship academically and paid careful attention to the movement of the door as it opened. But right now didn’t seem the time for care or academia. Kae ran, the ship opened a mouth to swallow her, and she was glad to let it.

“Oof!” Kae landed in the polished floor and rolled to a stop against a wall. The mouth closed, turning from an orifice to a completely sealed, seamless wall.

Biomech, Kae thought. She was beginning to question all of her previous assumptions. The ship wasn’t so much an X-Flare as it a chimera that bore a loose aesthetic resemblance to the famous cruiser series. That was where the similarities more or less ended. Even the inside was diffferent. It didn't comunicate futuristic smoothness and levels of speed hitherto unheard of. It spoke of comfort. Of home.

“Seatbelt!” Des called from the front.

Kae hurried. The ship itself was shaking from the Wave’s proximity, the cockpit access trembling with every step she took.

The cockpit itself was small, compact, but had enough space for two, even if one of those two was Des. The woman had managed to fit her entire powerful physique behind the wheel, and left the navigator seat vacant for Kae to squeeze into.

“Belt!” Des snapped.

Before Kae could yell back that she was searching, and could Des please get off her back, one materialized from the comfortable seat and wrapped around her chest.

“How?" she asked.

Des smiled at her from behind her sunglasses but didn’t deign to answer. Then she placed her palm in the ignition.

Slipstream came to life. The dashboard illuminated, a low thrum grew around them, and a slick interface materialized over the curved glass. It pointed out several interesting items in their surroundings, like the historical obelisk, the clear skies, perfect for take-off, and the all-consuming Wave that was just appearing over the crest of the nearest building. Every outline and air-drawn line was a living, vibrant cerulean. Even the INCOMING DANGER signs looked peaceful.

Well. More peaceful than most.

“Alright,” Des said. The space was cramped enough, or Des large enough, that their arms touched when the woman made brusque movements. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Something you want me to do, or…?”

“Yeah. Sit back, relax, and don’t get in the way.”

The ship lifted off the ground. The thrum pulsed once, a vibration that made Kae’s skin prickle and goose-up. There was a nervousness in her, something electric in the air. Closeness to death? Closeness in general?

Woomph.

Her stomach was sucked in against the seat as the earth moved away from them at speed. Kae’s breath caught her in her chest, her hands searched for something to hold onto. They were airborne, but it didn’t feel like take-off. It felt like flying.

“Holy—"

“Don’t look,” Des said.

Des drove them in a wide semicircle that skirted the edge of the Wave. Kae couldn’t help it. She never could, whenever she got the chance. She looked.

The Wave was engulfing buildings, water, pavement, trees, the air itself. She saw the bridge where that wonderful party had been taking place be completely consumed. Objects did not turn to rubble or dust; they were not carried away by an overwhelming force. It was like they stopped exiting altogether. Like a giant eraser came down to wipe away a careless mistake and left no trace of it behind.

And in the Wave, there was everything that could ever be, and now would never come to happen. Kae looked away after a few moments, when it became too much.

They shot away from the city.

As the Wave lagged behind, and the city of Eletes stopped existing, Des aimed West, farther into the Brinnian Peninsula and not towards Atlantis exactly. That’s where everyone was going, which often meant most people would rather be somewhere else. But where else was there? The Wave was a perfect circle. The center was Atlantis. It would be the last place to be consumed. The runners and the hopeful converged there, which left you with a whole empty Empire to play in, if you didn’t mind staying on the move.

But where would you move next?

Kae posed Des that same question. In profile, the Guardian’s blue eyes shone against the dark lenses of her glasses. Kae saw them twitch to a pop-up on the display.

“Look there,” Des said. “They made it out in the end.”

Kae did as told. Down below, cruising down an empty highway, was He Who Manipulates Shadows’ family landship, flag streaming in the wind. The man himself rode on top of the vehicle, anchored by tendrils of darkness lashed down to the roof. Even over the combined noise of ship and Wave, Kae thought she heard the echoes of a mad laugh.

“What did you do to him?” she asked.

“You mean beyond renewing his will to live?” Des propped an elbow on an armrest and piloted one-handed. “Not much.”

Kae stared.

“Who are you?” she asked finally. “The old man said you were a one-worder. He was crazy, right? You can't be. Are you?”

Des shook her head.

“Nope.”

“Oh, come on!” Kae said. “Are you or not?”

“I said I’m not!”

“Yeah, but you said it all ‘of course I am but I don’t want to admit it’. But you can’t be, so you’re not. Right?”

Des sighed as she turned to look at her.

“Kae, I swear on my ship: there isn’t a spell living in my mind. Happy?”

Kae watched her intently. Des looked the picture of innocence behind those dark glasses, which of course only made her seem more suspicious.

“Did there use to be?” Kae asked suspiciously.

“Hah. Let’s focus instead on where I can drop you off, shall we?”

“Are you a Guardian?”

Des hesitated. Before she could answer, a warning flashed on the display. A big, blue, peaceful-ish arrow pointed in a general downward direction.

“What—”

Something flew by the cockpit from bellow, missing them by a short distance, and exploded somewhere above them with a pop. They exchanged a glance, then Kae pressed her face against the window.

He Who Manipulates Shadows was holding a long metal tube on his shoulder. His laughter had turned to cackling. Kae wasn’t sure she’d ever heard someone cackle before. It seemed like the sort of thing that only happened in stories.

“The pirates have a rocket launcher,” she told Des.

The Guardian shrugged. Her resting hand waved that particular worry away.

“The threat warning system will take care of that. Plus, I’ve seen them use those blasters. They couldn’t hit the Wave if they aimed—”

“Hum, the old man is doing something.” She pressed her face further against the glass. “I think that’s a spear made of darkness. Quite a big spear, actually, I—”

“Relaaax,” Des said. We’re way beyond his reach. Last time I saw Shadows all he could manage were darkness swords. We even called him He Who Makes Swords Out of Darkness for a while. Granted, he—”

Boom.

A length of darkness as wide as a person and considerably sharper shot past them, trailing ship-parts. Slipstream rocked. They both jumped, Kae yelped, and Des gripped the controls with both hands. Warnings popped up on the display. Not red, not yet, but the blue was definitely infringing on orange territory.

“Couple questions,” Kae said sedately, trying to ignore the suddenly shaking cockpit. “How long ago was that and do you think he’s been practicing?”