Collided

Chapter 26

It was ten minutes after Alyssa had been put to sleep, and Blaze retreated to his quarters on the night Alyssa realized her babies were dead. Boman was in the maternity section of the medical bay with Calypso and Desmond. Ada had retired to her office, which also contained her living space.

"You're lucky Blaze contained her back there, Desmond," Boman said. "I would have let her kill you."

"Don't talk to him like that, Boman," Calypso defended.

"Know your place, Calypso. He should be grateful all I'm doing is talking." Boman raised his head to look at the ceiling, his shoulders tensing like he was contemplating swift, violent action. "How could you both be so careless?"

Desmond recoiled but regained himself momentarily. "She could only try." He shrugged with a show of confidence on his face—one he had lacked when Alyssa threw herself at him.

"Clearly, you do not know the wrath of a human mother."

"You'll do something about that, won't you, Boman?" Calypso questioned. 

Boman turned long enough to fix her an amused yet disgusted stare.

"I'd watch my back from her or me if I were either of you."

Boman walked up to an incubator in the center of the room and fondly placed his hand on the glass, looking in at the identical babies fast asleep within. They were beautiful.

"Don't pretend Desmond didn't do you a favor," Calypso sneered. "Thanks to that little accident, you now have your children safely away from their overprotective mother, and she is blissfully unaware, thinking both her children are dead."

Boman scoffed quietly. The way Calypso spoke, one would think she had never been a mother herself. But then again, she had always been a little different, which had once drawn Boman to her.

"Alyssa is a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things," Boman said flatly. "If she had posed a hindrance after the birth of my children, I could have had her removed from the equation with a snap of a finger. Have you forgotten what the end game is for the whole lot of them? They serve a purpose, and when that purpose is over or no longer a necessity, so will their existence."

"You say that now, but I see the way you look at her, Boman," Calypso said. "I hope when the time comes, you'll still have your spine intact."

Boman gave her a death glare, and she retracted. He was a feared leader. Looking back at the long line of past leaders, it was clear that he had to be, and even before he had stepped up to the position, he was already a terrifying entity. Of all the Helians across the ships and even back home, Calypso was the only one who would have the audacity to speak to him with such blatant disrespect. Worse still, she was the only person who he permitted to do so with no more consequences than a slap on the wrist. She knew how to get under his skin better than even the feisty Alyssa could. She had had a lot of practice doing so.

"Get out," he hissed.

He listened to the sound of retreating footsteps, and only when he could no longer hear them did he let out a calming sigh.

One of these days, he would wring her neck like a towel and take pleasure in watching her eyes bulge.

Unknown to him, and even to the two people who just left, there had been someone watching and listening in on their conversation. He had ducked away when Desmond and Calypso approached, and only when he had seen the last of their shadows disappear down the hall did Blaze slink away to his quarters.

*****

"I do not understand. What are you saying, Blaze?" Alyssa said.

Those were the first words she uttered after he narrated everything to her, and that was after she stared at him in stunned silence for a whole minute.

"You know what I'm saying, Alyssa."

"No! No, no! No! Say it, Blaze. I do not know what you're saying, so say what you're bloody saying!"

"Your children. I believe they're alive and hidden away from you," Blaze said.

"Stop, I beg you, if this is some cruel joke—"

"This is no joke, Alyssa. You were injured in the fall, and the only way to ensure that both you and the babies survived was to take them out."

"Why didn't Boman tell me they were alive?" Alyssa questioned. "I'm their mother! I deserve to know!"

"And there's exactly why he did it. Because you're their mother, Alyssa."

"You're lying. He wouldn't do that to me," Alyssa argued stubbornly.

"Wouldn't he?" Blaze asked. "Are you still so naive even after everything you know?"

"I saw the hurt look in his eyes. It was real!"

"A hurt look? Was it? Have you seen him actually grieve?"

"I don't...I don't need to," Alyssa muttered.

"You're grief of their loss is blinding you."

She was having an anxiety attack. She did not want to let herself have hope that her twins were, in fact, alive and her mourning had been for nothing.

Blaze grabbed her face and forced her to lock gazes with him.

"Your children are alive, Alyssa," he said.

"My children are alive..."

"Yes. Now, what are we going to do about it?"

"We?"

"Yes. We. Us. You and I."

*****

"I don't understand what you two want from me."

It was still lunchtime, and most of the ship's occupants were still at the dining hall, but Calypso had dragged Tinker out and brought her to what appeared to be Calypso's quarters, and Desmond, her loyal lapdog, had brought up the rear.

Currently, Tinker was sitting on the bed as directed by Calypso, who now stood over her, looking down at her with eyes that appeared full of thoughts they were unwilling to share. Desmond was leaning against the door picking at his nails.

This had become a routine ever since their little chat after they had woken her up from the induced hibernation ahead of the rest. They told her she would be useful as a friend to Alyssa but were not too clear on how. Now that she and Alyssa were no longer friends thanks to her being a part of the accident that led to her miscarriage, she could not understand what they still wanted from her.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder the same thing," Desmond said.

"Desmond," Calypso warned.

"I mean, look at her. She's as useless as the rest of them. Only good for reproduction and nothing else. And now she's lost whatever affiliation she had with Alyssa."

"Remind me. Whose fault was that?" Calypso said. There was a dangerous edge to her tone, and thanks to it, Desmond fell mute. "That's what I thought."

She walked to the corner and pulled a chair to herself, and sat in front of Tinker.

"My interest lies in Boman. Boman has not had a weakness in all the years I've known him. Until now. That one weakness is his feelings for Alyssa, whatever they may be. I know him, even if he won't admit it. Although I thought it would take longer. You out of the equation for some time made that process much easier in a way and kept our plan secure. The less Boman suspects, the better." She grinned. "We will exploit his weakness for reasons best known to me. I cannot directly have much to do with Alyssa herself for obvious reasons, so that's now where you come in."

"How? She must hate me now, so a fat load of good I'll be doing!" Tinker spat. 

"I have a plan. Now my question is, Do you want to ensure your survival and that of your friend, do you not?" Calypso asked.

"Yes. I do."

"Good. Then we go on as we have since the day we made our pact. Now let's talk about repairing your broken friendship, shall we?"