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Chapter 71: She Can't Abandon Ship
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2021-02-23 22:22:20“Take the children and go to the basement,” he commanded Ellis. He was already punching buttons on the communicator.
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not,” Logan retorted. “It is not safe. Please… I won’t be able to keep my mind on the fight unless I know you are safe. Nin?” he glanced up.
“The Emperor is correct,” Nin spoke, oddly calm. “You must stay here where we can protect the children.”
Yes, Ellis sank. She had to protect the children.
Logan was speaking frantically into the communicator. “We’re under attack. Launch everything. It if flies, it needs to be in the air.”
Another explosion. This time, it was in the opposite direction.
Laurel ran to the window. “It’s the space port!”
Leo and Dorian ran through the connecting closet into their apartment. Ellis could see them head directly and pe
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Understanding and shock dawned in Laurel’s eyes. “Ellis…” she whispered.Ellis tried to smile.“What about you?” Tears streaked Laurel’s face.“There’s another pod on the other wall,” Ellis lied. “Just go.” She suddenly understood what Logan had felt when he demanded she go to the underground city.She shoved Laurel toward the pod and heaved her up inside of it. Laurel began to fasten the restraints as Ellis scooped the babies up, tarp and all, kissing each one before she dropped them in Ellis's lap and covered them with a pillow. Then she pulled the hood down and snapped it shut. She stepped back, giving Laurel a little wave, hoping Laurel couldn't see the tears in her eyes, and hit the launch button with the palm of her hand. The pod shot up the track so fast that it seemed to simply disappear.The pod was designed to fly on autopilot to the space port in orbit above Zothea.
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She gave a sideward glance at Ellis and then walked away behind the creature. Ellis knew that Nin would fare better if she didn’t need to protect Ellis. She could finish off these things and then come back to her side.Ellis crouched down beside Leo, trying to shake him awake. Despite multiple times, he could only open his glazed eyes and babble.“Ellis,” he whispered. “You have to go.”“I can’t leave you here!” she said. She glanced up and saw the reflection of the flames was closer.“You have to! Logan—”Ellis shook her head and said nothing."Glad I... didn't win you," Leo said. "Empire… needed you ... more."“Please try…” she whispered.“Done for…” he said, closing his eyes. “to be safe.”Ellis nodded. “I promise. I will be safe.”“Thank…”She waited,
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Ellis flipped over and jumped to her feet, but sank again when all her strength went out of her limbs at the sight in front of her.The city was in ruin, a tangled mass of blackened rubble. She pushed herself to her feet and turned in a circle, no idea where she was.There were no landmarks she recognized. She could even tell where the streets had been. She should be able to see the temple: the tunned had seemed endless but it wasn’t that far.Her mind flashed to Micheal and Isabella and she gasped. What had happened to them?What kind of weapon had done this? Zothean aircrafts were armed with ammunition to blow up asteroids and protect their ships but this was something different.Zotheans didn’t have nuclear weapons. But she couldn’t think of anything else that could cause such destruction. Was she absorbing radiation and being cooked inside out? She hoped she didn’t find out.She shivered in the icy wind, her cloth
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“Lower me,” Ellis commanded, handing the child she held to another woman and laid her blanket aside. “Hold on to my ankles.”“No, Ellis,” Dorian protested.“I’m the only one small enough to fit through.”“Ellis, Logan will kill me if I allow you to risk yourself.”“It’s not dangerous,” she argued. “I’ll be fine.”His tail swayed in indecision.“I’m the Empress. Now, do it!” She laid down and wiggled through the hole before he could argue further.Dorian grabbed one of her ankles and another man took the other and they slowly lowered Ellis toward the terrified woman.Ellis’s hair hung around her face, blinding her.She gathered it the best she could and tied it in a knot behind her neck, stuffing the tail of it down the back of her tunic.She stretched out her arms… almost there. &ldq
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Technology had advanced, but Ellis and Cristine still waited for the day when they could travel to their timelines and see their parents for one last time. To ensure them that they weren’t in a hopeless state, dead or have run away from home.But the technology never allowed it. There were basic rules of the planet that couldn’t be breached.So, they plotted.Cristine had used all her free time to learn how to operate Zothean ships. She was adept at aeronautics and engineering and negotiation, so Ellis and Logan had leaned heavily on her in their negotiations. It could be said that the Empire was in a time of peace under their rule.One day, Cristine came up with the idea.“These jumpers travel to the universes all the time without breaking the fragment of the universe. The only rule is to not meet yourself or members of your own family after you have been pronounced dead, right?” she asked.Ellis nodded. “Yes,
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He hadn't seen her again until it was over until the city was in ruins and the palace itself was leveled to the ground. The underground city had been hit; Mitch must have known that Logan would try to send his family there. As he made his way to the ruins of the temple, he hoped and prayed that Ellis had disregarded his directions.So many had perished. So much had been lost.The Goddess lay back and propped her head on her hands as she looked up at the stars. "Perhaps someday, I'll show you Ellis's memories of it. She never told you the entire story of what she went through that day. I'll just say that she made me proud again for being so brave and resourceful."His mind was drawn back to the moment he had found Ellis in the rubble of the temple, his relief at finding her safe so deep and intense that he couldn't even form a proper prayer of gratitude.He had wanted to give her a shake when she told him of sending Laurel and the babies away in the escape
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Isabella drove out the Council members and the cameras, her manner so brisk and officious that no one dared question her, and shut the door firmly. She sat down beside Logan and drew him into her arms, just as she had done when he was a little boy and hurting from his parents' neglect. He was too large now to snuggle into her as he once had done, so he laid his head on top of hers and wrapped his tail around her arm."It can't have been him," he said. "It can't."She pulled back to look up into his face. Her eyes were soft with compassion. She said nothing. She didn't have to.Logan buried his hands in his hair and tugged. The pain was the only thing that felt real. But Isabella gently reached up and tugged his hands away. He wanted to scream, to attack something with his claws and shred it to bits. The pain was swelling within him to the point where he thought he might burst if he couldn't let it out in some way.Isabella pulled him back into her arms an
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Drake was already gone when Izzy and Ellis came back to the dining room and her heart ached that she wouldn't be able to say goodbye to him, but maybe Micheal and Isabella had decided that Izzy would only get more upset. She gnawed on her tail as they passed through the room to where the king was waiting for her in the hallway outside. He had been seated on a bench and he stood politely when she joined him. Another of his kind stood behind him, his skin as green as the forest leaves."This is my bodyguard," he offered. The bodyguard in question ignored Izzy, but sized up her female bodyguard and apparently wasn't impressed with what he saw."Follow me," Izzy directed. The king walked down the hall beside her and Izzy noticed that she was at least a foot taller than he was.She arrived at her nest room to find that all of Drake's things had been cleaned out already and she felt a piercing ache in her heart. She sat down on a cushion beside her table, despondent.
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Logan put out an announcement that tonight would be a state dinner and so the temple dining room was packed with people, all of them speculating as to the cause. He and the empress rarely had them and when they did it was usually for a special announcement. The last had been to announce the empress was expecting Prince Edward and the one before that, to announce that Nessie was being appointed to the emperor's Council.Izzy ate mechanically. She wasn't hungry, but Aunt Cristine was right: she had to make sure the baby got what it needed. Drake was alight with excitement and impatient for the meal to end. The entire extended family was seated around the table, all of them wearing their finery. Her mother wore the glow stone tunic she'd worn to her own mating ceremony and Aunt Laurel was dressed in a purple tunic so bright that it hurt the eyes to look at it. Leo kept flirtatiously tickling Cristine's neck with his tail and then looking away innocently whenever she looked up fr
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"I saw a doctor less than an hour ago." Izzy unwound her tail from her leg with effort and gnawed on the end of it anxiously.Her father stood and without a word, headed for the door."Daddy, wait, please!" Nessie pleaded. "I'm so sorry! Talk to me.""I can't." Logan's eyes were on the door and his tail lashed in either agitation or anger; she couldn't tell which."Please," Izzy pleaded. "I need to know what you're thinking. Do—do you still love me?""Of course, I do," Logan said tightly. He twisted the doorknob."Don't leave," Izzy begged."Sweetheart, your father just needs a little time," Ellis interjected. "Let him go, and we'll all talk over this later."Goddess, didn't her mother understand that her anxiety was increasing exponentially every moment? She wouldn't survive a wait of a few hours. "Daddy… please.""You want to know what I'm thinking?" Logan turned from the door and marched back to stand in
