She sees the light ahead of them before any of her crew, a gathering near the ceiling of the Neath and then an arc downwards into the black waters of the zee. She throws her arm before her eyes, and is still left blinking spots out of her gaze.
"What was that?" a crewmember calls out in alarm.
"I don't know," she replies, "but we're checking it out."
There's murmurs, but her crew do as commanded.
"We all have our roles in this chain," he says, mildly.
"That's no excuse!" Lillian says, voice not quite shouting.
"Did you come here just to yell at me for being a devil, then?" he asks, leaning forwards.
"No - we - argh!" Lian huffs, takes a deep breath, then: "I wanted to know more. Why you were in the High Wilderness - the reapers for one system aren't supposed to interact with others. What's going on, there?"
He smiles. "Ah, now we get to the real questions."
"I'm not in the mood for you to dance around my questions," Lillian says, voice increasingly sharp.
The devil grins just enough to show teeth. "Ah, but the dance is the best part, my dear."
The air around Lillian becomes heavy and foreboding, a sense of doom creeping across the space, like the moment before a lightning strike, or the heavy gaze of a predator. The devil holds up his hands.
"Ah, none of that," he says, lightly. "I was on an official mission, if you must know. Details beyond that are classified. Though my liaison with your mother was a rather pleasant aside - not planned in the slightest."
View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
