Chapter 13

She woke at his touch, but his finger on her lips silenced her and he drew her out of bed, indicating that she should put on her Earther clothing. Once she had dressed, Nox followed Shadow into the main room.

"We're getting out of here for a while Nox." Shadow explained softly. "We need to talk and find some answers."

"Yes," Nox agreed, "but where?"

"Not here. Wait."

Silently, they slipped out of the room and left the hotel. It was still early, and quite dark. The streets were empty of people.

"The air on this planet is so beautiful." Nox breathed deeply. "It's not dry, like on Spectra."

"It's a beautiful world," said Blade. "You should have seen the mountains we went to yesterday."

"Did you find the President's grandchildren?" Shadow asked Blade.

"No. Wherever they have been taken, they're well hidden. But where are we going?"

Nox looked around.

"This is the park we were in yesterday," she said.

"Yes," said Shadow. "I thought we'd go to that restaurant. That woman seemed to think she knew who Nox and I were. I thought we'd talk to her, and then compare what we all remember."

"Mark?"

He smiled down at her, putting his arm around her and tucking her into his side.

"Yes, love?"

"I told Zoltar that I wasn't happy when he told you that we weren't allowed to love each other. Or to share Pleasures."

Mark stopped and kissed her.

"Every day you do something that reminds me of just how brave you are, Princess. And why I love you more and more. What did he say?"

"He wasn't happy, but he didn't get angry or anything. He seems more concerned about this missing person."

Blade was looking around.

"I know this place. I'm sure of it. But I don't know how."

"It's a beautiful park," said Nox. "I wish that we had places like this on Spectra."

They exited the park and Shadow looked around.

"Not far now," he said and they swiftly went down an adjacent street.

"How did you find this place?" asked Blade.

"I'm not sure." replied Shadow. "We just seemed to know where to go."

"It's down here," said Nox walking swiftly. "Look!" she pointed to the 'J' outside one of the buildings.

"Are you sure?" asked Blade looking at the boarded over windows and door. "It looks pretty shut to me."

"No! It was open! There were other people there! These boards on the windows weren't here…" Nox stopped, her voice rising with her distress. "I don't understand! We were here, Mark!" She turned to Shadow and he drew her close.

"I don't know, Princess. Something has made them do this. Look, those boards are new."

"So," said Blade laconically. "What do we do now? And your answer had better involve food. I'm starving."

"Food… I…" Nox appeared to be confused. Blade sighed heavily. Clearly Nox wasn't thinking about something this basic, her mind occupied with more complicated thoughts.

"I'll take care of it." he muttered, leading them back to the park and over toward the administrative offices of the Spectran Empire, which were on the other side of the lush green space. Nox followed blindly, and Shadow appeared to be more concerned with taking care of her than where Blade was taking them. Within a few minutes, they had reached their destination.

"This doesn't look like a restaurant." Shadow frowned.

"It's not." Blade shrugged. "But we need transportation. These are Spectran vehicles, so we have the right to commandeer them if we deem it necessary. I figure… that one over there." He gestured to a sporty blue surface transport in the corner of the site. A number of vehicles were parked in this location, and the area was surrounded by a high security fence.

"How do you suggest we get in there?" Shadow asked, annoyed. "If we use our handprints on the access panel, it will record that we were here. And then the Master…"

"I'll just be a little more subtle than that." Blade grinned. He leapt into the air, jumped off the side of a nearby building and dove over the fence, landing in a roll and coming up silently on his feet. He stayed within the darkest corners of the lot, yet Shadow and Nox could see him easily with their enhanced vision.

Slowly but steadily, Blade crept over to his selected vehicle, and fiddled with the door for a moment. It opened easily under his careful touch, and less than a minute later it was heading toward the exit. The gate opened automatically, and Shadow and Nox could see Blade gesturing at them to enter.

"Nox, we have about thirty seconds before the galactic positioning sensor activates." Blade mentioned this casually, as if it wasn't actually a problem.

"Hardly worth my time." Nox grinned, reaching underneath the rear seat and accessing the small device. A series of soft beeps announced that she had been successful at reprogramming it.

"So now we're off for some food?" Shadow questioned, his eyebrow rising in amusement. He leaned back against the rear seat, putting his arm around Nox and pulling her body next to his.

"As quickly as possible." Blade replied. He glanced back at his passengers.

"I suggest you fasten your seatbelts." Jason smirked.

Shadow and Nox had barely had time to do as their driver had suggested before the vehicle took off, shooting down the street and off into the early morning darkness. Nox gasped with pleasure as the vehicle passed through the city and onto the freeway at high speed, each turn and burst of acceleration only causing her smile to widen. A flash of green briefly marred Shadow's eyes, as he realized that it was Blade exciting her in this manner. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but appreciate the way Blade's control of the vehicle threw Nox's body against Shadow's own, setting his desire and possessiveness aflame once more.

Blade wasn't thinking of Nox at all. His mind was completely focused on the thrill of the ride, and the addicting high of power. Being in control of this vehicle, even as it screeched around corners and blazed down the expressway at breathtaking speeds, was a phenomenal rush, and one he didn't ever want to end.

Except that he was too damn hungry to continue.

Regretfully, he flew down an exit ramp, practically spinning in place to execute a 180 degree turn, and decelerating rapidly to bring them to a stop next to a small metal box. Nox and Shadow bounced against the rear seat with the sudden loss of momentum, and it took their eyes a moment to clear.

"Where are we?" Nox asked in a breathy rush.

"Galaxy Burger. How can I help you?" came a bored voice from the box.

"Two bacon and cheese Spaceburgers, large Astrofries, and a Black Hole cola." Jason ordered quickly. He looked back at his passengers, and saw Princess nodding eagerly. "Make that two Black Hole colas, and add two Comet dogs and a Milky Way shake."

"Two bacon and cheese Spaceburgers, two Comet dogs, one Astrofries, two Black Hole colas and a Milky Way shake." the bored voice repeated.

"You got it." Jason grinned. His stomach rumbled in anticipation. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a proper Spaceburger.

"That'll be $37.65." the voice replied. "Come around to the window."

Shadow stared at Blade. He was so comfortable placing this order, and yet Shadow himself was still grappling with where they were. There was a vague familiarity to the place, but it didn't have the same pull for him as the other restaurant had had.

Still, when the Comet dog was thrust into his hands, Shadow couldn't help taking a bite. It was delicious, and something about it tugged at his memory.

"It's too bad he's not here." Mark said, taking a big slurp of cola. "I've never seen anyone except him who can do a dangerous job, finish it, and start eating!"

"Who?" Nox asked, her mouth full of Milky Way Shake.

"It's…" Shadow shook his head, wondering where the thought had gone. "He loves Spaceburgers…" If only he could remember whom he was talking about. There had been a brief glimpse in his mind, and Shadow had almost been able to see the man in question… but now he was gone.

Blade didn't pay attention to Shadow's ramblings. He was too enthralled with the taste of his food. Spectran food was mostly vegetable-based, animals being scare, thanks to insufficient agricultural resources to feed them. Wild animals had long since been hunted to extinction. Spectran culture understood what it had lost, and now animals were revered to the point of near-godhood, to the extent that many machines or vehicles were made in the images of various animals. Needless to say, a sandwich based on a near-divine creature's flesh wasn't exactly a popular meal on Spectra.

It only encouraged Jason to enjoy his Spaceburgers all the more. Each bite of bacon, cheese and beef revived him, making his body sing with delight. He used to eat these all the time…

Blade paused momentarily, his jaw frozen in the act of chewing as the revelation came to him. He… Jason… had eaten Spaceburgers all the time, Before. And that meant…

Jason hadn't been living on Spectra.

It should have been obvious, but to Blade this information was eye-opening. Jason was Spectran, yet Jason hadn't lived on Spectra.

He had lived on Earth.

The information suddenly snapped into place, and it fit so perfectly with the little he knew, that Blade wondered why he hadn't realized it before. He opened his mouth to say something to Shadow about this discovery, when Nox spoke up instead.

"We need to get to Mark's place." she said. Her voice was quiet, but her tone was insistent.

"Do you know where it is?" Blade looked over to Shadow.

"I… I think so." Shadow's brow furrowed in concentration. "I know it's that way." He pointed to the southeast, down the stretch of road that passed by the Galaxy Burger location.

"Then let's go." Blade decided, tossing aside the remains of his meal and starting up the engine. The tires squealed as he backed out of his parking spot and then turned out onto the street.

The road headed out of Center City, and the area became more rural. There were fewer buildings, and more empty land. A few minutes after they had officially left the city limits, Shadow tapped Blade on the shoulder.

"That way." he said simply, pointing to a barely-noticeable turnoff from the main road.

Blade grunted, easing carefully onto the side road, which was covered in potholes and somewhat overgrown. It appeared that no one had been down this way for years, and their vehicle left a trail of flattened grass in its wake. Part of Blade resented having to slow down for this portion of their journey, yet another part of him reveled in the familiarity of this place. It wasn't the same, and yet it was somehow right.

Another minute or so later, they arrived at a locked gate. A small access pad was chained to its latching mechanism.

"We'll have to break it." Nox decided, but Shadow was already opening the rear door of the vehicle. He stepped out onto the grass, making his way over to the gate as the dawn began to stretch across the sky.

"I can do this." he said quietly, more to himself than to the others. He reached for the access pad, and laid his fingers across the keys. He closed his eyes, feeling the pad beneath his hand, unconsciously pressing the numbers as he concentrated.

The pad beeped, and the lock opened.

"I guess this is your place." Blade noted, his eyebrow rising in a questioning manner.

"I guess so." Shadow shrugged, moving back to the vehicle.

It was another minute or so of driving before they came up to a small shack, badly weather-beaten but standing in the midst of weeds so high they nearly covered the entire building. In the early-morning light, they could see another small structure behind it.

"I looks like it's about to fall apart." Blade noted wryly. "Don't you keep up the place anymore?"

"I've been away a long time." Shadow said quietly, his eyes drifting off, looking at something his companions could not see. "And there was no money…" He shook his head, confused. What did he mean, about having no money? They were Spectran Elite. They had everything they wanted.

But clearly that hadn't always been the case.

It was Mark who strode purposefully around to the back of the building, to the one behind it, the other two following helplessly in the pull of his wake. He approached the second building, one side of which was almost completely occupied by a large door. A garage, of some sort?

No. It was a hangar, for an airplane. His airplane.

Mark pressed his palm against a well-hidden handprint access panel, and the hangar door opened.

It was empty.

There was nothing there, but in his mind, he saw it: a single engine Cessna, propeller on its nose, low wing, painted white, with red and blue stripes.

The moment he saw it in his memory, it became fixed there, and his fingers itched to take control of it once more. His plane…

He turned, and saw his companions staring at him in confusion. Reluctantly, he shrugged off the past and focused instead on the present. He walked over to a nearby worktable and pressed on the lower side of its rear corner. A small, previously hidden compartment sprung open, and he reached inside to pull out a single key.

Without speaking, he turned around, striding out of the hangar without bothering to lock the door behind him, moving back to the entrance of the main building.

The key fit perfectly in the lock; not that he had had any doubt about that. With a tug and a rusty squeak, the portal opened.

His eyes opened wide as he beheld what lay within. It was just as he had left it…

"This place is a mess!" Blade declared, following him inside.

"It is a little dusty." Nox admitted. "But I can fix that." She stepped into the small kitchenette, opening the cabinet under the sink in a search for cleaning supplies.

Shadow was standing in the center of the room, a strange expression on his face. Absently he bent down, picking up a book that had been left open and facedown on the low table in front of the seating bench. He glanced at its title: Tigercat Supersonic Jet Flight Manual. He looked at the books scattered around the room. There were other flight manuals as well. And the volumes that weren't flight manuals were about planes. One entire shelf of the nearby storage cabinet was taken up with maps.

"I'm a pilot." he said, his eyes glowing with wonder.

"You're the best damn pilot I know." Blade agreed. "Except for…" He could feel Jason in his head, urging him to remember. "Except for Tiny."

"Tiny loved Spaceburgers…" Shadow said, his eyes locking with Blade in their shared revelation.

"You remember him?" Blade asked quietly.

"About my height, darker hair, stuck out all over the place…."

"And heavy for his size?" Blade finished.

"We both knew him." Shadow nodded. His eyes strayed over to Nox, who was ignoring the conversation as she concentrated on ridding the kitchen counter of five years of dirt and grime.

"Princess, do you know Tiny?" he asked casually.

"Sure, he lives at the Marina." Princess answered, her attention still fixed on her domestic task. "And he's at Jill's all the time. He pays his tab, unlike some people I know…" Her eyes widened and she looked up, staring at Shadow in astonishment.

"We all knew him." Blade was the one who voiced what they were all thinking. "The question is; is there anyone else we all knew?"

"I… I'm pretty sure we all knew each other." Nox offered. Now it was the others' turn to stare at her.

"I know that my feelings for Shadow existed long before we met the Master." Nox said slowly. "And somehow, having you there also feels right, Blade. It's as if I've known you for so long that I instinctively know what you're thinking."

"I feel that too." Blade admitted, but then he turned to Shadow. "Especially with you. When you give me an order, it's like I was half-expecting it already."

"When I give you an order in battle, I usually feel like it's redundant." Shadow confirmed. "But when we're not in battle, you often disagree… and… I expect that." His eyes widened in amazement.

"We knew each other." Nox repeated, but her tone was now full of confidence. "We knew each other, and we fought together."

"We had other names." Blade reminded them.

"I know." Shadow acknowledged. "I was… Mark."

"And I was Princess." Nox agreed.

"And I was Jason." Blade finished. "But who are we now?"

And that was one question for which none of them had an answer.

They spent the remainder of that day, and the following night, alternately talking and resting, comparing what they each recalled of the past. Blade told them how he had expected to see fish outside of the hotel window. Shadow talked about how he had found the restaurant next the park, and his visions of Nox in a pink dress. Nox discussed her emotional attachments to the woman at the restaurant, and the man in their hotel suite.

It was familiar to all of them.

They analyzed the way they had come together on the transport ship to deal with the rebel threat, and their mutual feelings of 'coming home' upon viewing this planet from space. And after all of this, there was one thing of which they were certain: their past was shared.

They had not simply known each other, but they had lived and worked together, similar to the way they lived and worked now, as the Beloved. Not exactly the same…. they had the Master to thank for their initiation into the Pleasures… but they had been a team in more ways than one.

Of course, after some time, hunger had overtaken them again, and they had gone through the cabinets and drawers of the small building, searching for food. What they had found instead had been the ultimate confirmation of everything they had suspected.

It was a picture of them.

They were all wearing shirts, similar to the Earther clothes Nox had purchased for them. And there were two others as well. The boy had been instantly recognized as the man from their hotel room, and the other had been identified as the mysterious 'Tiny'.

In the picture, they were relaxed, and they looked incredibly young… yet at the same time there was a confidence, a maturity in their eyes that would not normally be expected with children. They had been fighters, even then.

That night they slept in each other's arms, sprawled across the seating bench and the floor. The comfort they obtained from physical closeness to each other only strengthened their bond, and together, they absorbed the reality of their shared past.

And the following morning, when they awoke, they were Mark, Jason, and Princess.

These three people were not the same Beloved they had been less than forty-eight hours before. Yet still they found themselves bound to their Master.

They wanted to stay where they were, to unravel the mystery that still shrouded their shared past. But they were unable to make much progress without assistance.

And there was only one person who could help them.