Nightfall
Chapter 21

I read Donny the last sequence and we both held our breaths as the satellite beeped and everything flashed to life within it. Donny cheered and I grinned. We were done programming the thing. It had taken us three days. Donny was jumping the walls by then.

He shifted in his seat. “I’ll go tell Aunty!”

I nodded holding onto the satellite. I didn’t want it broken with how fast Donny raced from the room and to the door. It was a tight-knit room with little space, which meant any sudden movements could upset the satellite. I slowly made my way to the door where Andromeda was guarding again. She had disappeared for a few days.

I blushed when she smiled up at me. I liked being taller than someone else for once. I placed my arm around her neck and brought her in for a kiss. She didn’t stop me and I moved in for the kill. I was slower and far more thorough A cough made us separate and we blushed.

“You can celebrate after Matt has shown us the satellite,” said Reynolds chuckling.

I flushed a deeper red and cleared my throat “Y-Yes, S-Sir. R-Right t-this w-way.”

I showed him the working satellite and he nodded. “Good work. Tomorrow we shall fly this satellite to the atmosphere to be with the others.”

“Others?” I questioned curious.

He gave a piercing glance and nodded again. “Walk with me, Matt. I have places to be and I can’t stay idle while saying things.”

I took a spot beside him and we started in a direction I had yet to explore within the anthill. It seemed behind the council quarters almost. We took a right and were back in the hallway and heading toward another part of the anthill labeled Personel only. Reynolds took out an ident card and slashed it through a slot, opening the door.

“What I am about to say stays between us. It’s very sensitive information and could put this whole plan in jeopardy.”

I nodded. I was no stranger to dangerous information. My whole life was riffed in secrets. From what had happened at a farmhouse some scant five years ago to now. It was all a big secret. Jude had made it thus and then the space program. I wasn’t a betrayer and Jude knew that so his secret was kept safe even now.

“Very well. A ring of satellites exists across the Earth. We pinpointed eighteen all over the airspace. We don’t know who put them there, but they are mighty useful. A few months ago, we received a message from the great Beyond about the symbiotes amassing. We need to make contact with this source and investigate. That’s the purpose of the satellite.”

Reynolds walked past a huge entrance and placed another card in the slot. The doors beeped and rose to show ships and Riders of all sorts and there in the center stood my Rider as if it never landed in a tree. It was being checked over by two men in overalls.

“Mick. Mann. I found a pilot.” said Reynolds as he pushed me forwards. I glanced at the two males and nodded a hello. Both were older than me and sported beards. One was blond and blue-eyed the other was dark-haired and green-eyed. Both crossed their arms, left arm first, a quirk not many had.

“N-Nice to meet y-you,” I said stuttering as usual. I was surprised at being introduced as the pilot. To my knowledge, I hadn’t been told anything about being the pilot of this mission. Had I been bumped off command again because I knew too much and needed to be kept on a leash? Reynolds’ smile said everything.

“Mick. Keep an eye on him. His crew members kidnapped your brother,” said Reynolds. “Well, this is where I leave you, Matt. These boys are having a hell of a time finding the Rider’s fueling pods. Maybe you can help them?”

“Inside,” I muttered walking over to the ship before they ruined it. I boarded the ship and went to the back lifting two small fuel pods. They could hold a lot of fuel with their size never changing nor their weight. The new technology was the latest in metal bending, something certain cyborgs could do having an innate bond with the metal inside them. It was reached when the cyborg truly accepted both sides equally. Their zen.

I stood within the Rider imagining simpler times and sighed before hauling the pods out of it and to the blond. Mick. I took them with a gruff huff and Mann screwed a hose on the fuel tank and attached it to the fuel pod.

“F-fill it h-halfway. I-It fills far m-more than your normal Rider,” I said and both nodded simultaneously. At about halfway they cut the hose and I reloaded the fuel pods back on the Rider. I sat in the pilot’s chair for a minute and found my secret stash of feathers and rocks. I collected odd knickknacks from odd places. I took a pale white feather with blue tips and decided Andromeda would look pretty with it.

I was let go of at dinner time but was stared at derisively. “Yes, I know! No one can know.” I said as the brothers as I termed the two passed me by. They nodded and left. I was picked up by Andromeda who smiled.

“Had fun with the twins?” she asked.

“Twins? They don’t look alike.” I said stuttering slightly. She caught this. She always did.

“Do you always stutter?" she asked as we walked to the mess hall.

“O-Only w-when I-i’m anxious or nervous,” I said glancing at her.

She nodded. “Let’s try something. Relax. Do you know the breathing exercise?”

I shook my head.

She smiled. “It’s like this. Breathe in for a count of five and exhale for a count of eight. Copy me.” She inhaled for five seconds and then exhaled loudly for eight seconds. I mimicked the process and closed my eyes. Something within me started to unfurl and calm. I felt more relaxed.

She glanced at me smiling. “Did it help?

I opened my eyes. “A bit. Thank you.”

“Do that every time you start stuttering.”

I kissed her, continuing from where we left off this morning. “I like this method better.”

She grinned. “Funny pants don’t make me bite you.”

“Is that a promise?”

She giggled before leaning in and kissing my earlobe. She caught it between her teeth and she shoved me against the rock wall, where we sank into a crevice, and didn’t appear until much later with smiles over our faces.

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