Chapter 385: Earth Hangover

The trip back from Rusthaven isn’t pleasant at all.

Not because anyone is following us again, but because now we know exactly what kind of thing to look for. Rhayne watches reflections, side accesses, people who get off at the same stop, and faces that reappear after a transit change. I do the same out of habit, while I try to reorganize the little time we have left.

We change lines twice before heading to District 4. At one station we exit through the platform opposite the obvious one and wait a few minutes before taking another transit. Nobody follows. Neither of the two agents we left behind reappears. I also have no reason to believe the woman managed to pick the tracking back up before the tranquilizer took effect.

When we finally get close to home, Rhayne still insists on walking an extra block and checking the street through a dark window.

"Nothing," she says.

"I didn’t see anything either."

That doesn’t mean Rahul stopped knowing where I live. It only means nobody decided to continue the pursuit right then. And that was what mattered: buying time before they came to my house.

For now, it’ll do.

We go up.

My mother opens the door before I can even get the key out of my pocket.

She looks at me, then at Rhayne, then at the bags we’re still carrying.

"You two took a while."

"The outing got a little more complicated than I expected."

Her expression changes immediately.

"What happened?"

I come in and close the door behind us.

"Don’t panic. It’s under control."

My mother keeps looking at me, and I know that face.

"Den."

"There were people following us in Rusthaven."

She looks at Rhayne.

"Are you two all right?"

"We are," Rhayne answers before I can.

"They wanted to talk to me. They just picked a terrible method."

"Who?"

"People connected to someone I know in Thirstfall."

That explanation doesn’t satisfy her, but it keeps Rahul Sharma out of my mother’s kitchen unnecessarily.

Ingrid folds her arms.

"And did you handle it?"

"The immediate part, yes."

She waits.

I’m not going to tell her I left a Rank B woman unconscious in an alley with her own tranquilizer.

"What changes now is the folder."

My mother looks toward the bedroom. She put the documents exactly where I asked.

"I don’t want you going out with that yet."

"So the secret mission is canceled?"

"Postponed."

That takes some of the tension out of her face.

"For how long?"

"Three days."

"Wait. If you were followed, you don’t want me going out either, right?"

"If you can avoid it, yes. We have food, water, and everything Lili needs. If something runs out, order delivery. Just confirm who’s coming before you open. Check through the window."

She watches me more seriously.

"Do they know where we live?"

There’s no point lying.

"They do."

My mother’s smile goes.

I come a little closer.

"But if they wanted to do something to you, they wouldn’t have spent the whole day trying to approach me in a public place. They wanted a conversation, Mom. Even so, I’d rather not leave any margin until I talk to whoever sent those people."

"Are you going to talk to him when you go back?"

"As soon as I arrive."

She takes a breath and accepts it.

"Three days."

"Three days. After that, I’ll probably have it sorted."

"Probably?"

"That’s the most honesty I can offer."

My mother shakes her head, but she doesn’t push.

I check the counter.

The drop brings me back to the more urgent part.

[01:00:41]

"One hour."

Rhayne checks hers.

"Fifty-four minutes."

I look at her.

"You dropped below me."

"Apparently Void Monarch takes a lot."

"It does. We’ll have to be careful next time, okay?"

The skill ate enough time during the chase to flip the order. Rhayne used to have almost an hour of margin. Now she’s going back first.

My mother listens without fully understanding the numbers, but she knows enough about Diving to see what it means.

"So you’re going now."

"First I need to make a call."

I take out the phone and look up the public number for Masters Series Corp.

The call goes through two recordings before reaching a human operator.

"Masters Series, executive division. How can I help you?"

"I need to leave an instruction for when Garen Azurea returns to Earth."

There’s a small pause on the other end.

"May I ask who’s calling? People don’t simply call here and leave messages for the president."

"Alden Sands."

Another pause.

Shorter.

I used my father’s name again. A name that seems to have picked up some weight in that building.

"One moment, Mr. Sands."

I hear music for a few seconds before another voice takes over. Male. Older.

"Mr. Sands?"

"Yes."

"I’m told you want to leave an instruction for President Azurea."

"I want a message sent to a specific number as soon as he returns to Earth."

"What message?"

"None. Just let that number know he’s back."

The man takes a moment.

"Only that?"

"Only that. It’s extremely important for him and for me."

I give my mother’s number without saying it’s hers, and he repeats it back to confirm.

"May I register the account holder?"

"No need. Just use the number."

"Understood. And should I tell the president who requested it?"

"You can give him my name. He’ll understand."

"We’ll do that."

I hang up.

My mother is near the table.

"So now I wait. ’Mr. Alden.’"

"Don’t start, Mom." I laugh. "If you get the message before the three days are up, do nothing. Don’t answer, don’t call back, don’t leave here with the folder."

She repeats it back, the way she did before.

"I wait out the three days. If nothing changes after three days, we go with the original plan."

"Exactly."

"I confirm Garen is on Earth."

"Yes."

"Masters Series, Lili with me, the right passphrase, and the folder only in his hand."

"Perfect."

She smiles faintly.

"I still remember."

"I never doubted it. You’re a Sands."

I go over to Lili’s stroller.

My sister is awake, kicking at the air while holding one of her own hands. When I lean in, she recognizes my face and makes a sound only she understands.

I kiss her forehead.

Then I hug my mother.

She holds my back longer than I expected.

"Take care of yourself."

"Always."

"Liar."

"I make an effort."

She lets me go and looks at Rhayne.

"Take care of him."

Rhayne gives a small smile.

"I try."

"Everyone tries," I say.

They both ignore me.

We reach the District 4 clinic with a little over half an hour left.

I could have picked a larger center, but there was no sense crossing another part of the city when this one does exactly what we need. Even so, we take a short loop around the street before going in. Rhayne watches anyone standing too close. I check parked vehicles, people inside cafés, and anyone who looks interested in the gate.

Nothing.

We go in.

The reception is busy, but not enough to jam the process. I present my registration and explain that Rhayne needs to transfer her record from District 3 to this unit.

The attendant pulls up her data on the terminal.

"Rhayne Vesper?"

"Yes."

"Your registration is linked to the Esmeralda Quarter."

"Exactly. I want to change it."

"You want a transfer to District 4? Or a temporary diving arrangement?"

Rhayne looks at me for a fraction of a second before answering.

"I want a permanent transfer."

The attendant selects a few options.

"Portability costs two hundred GNC and includes synchronization of the clinical history, biometrics, and tank authorization at this center."

Rhayne is already opening her mouth.

I touch my chip first.

[200 GNC — APPROVED]

She looks at me.

"Dryden!"

"We have about twenty minutes."

The attendant pretends not to hear.

A few minutes later, the registration is complete. A staff member takes us to the tank area. They put Rhayne in a tank beside mine.

The glass separates the two spaces, but we can still see each other.

She goes in first.

She’s calmer than when I found her in that tank in District 3. Not happy. Nobody should enjoy lying down inside a machine knowing they’re about to abandon their own body for weeks or months.

But now there’s context. There’s choice. There’s someone beside her.

Rhayne fits the respirator and looks at me through the glass, and then she raises a hand.

I answer, raising mine.

The distance between our fingers is the thickness of two transparent walls and a metal frame.

Her counter runs out first.

The light in the tank changes.

For a few seconds, Rhayne keeps looking at me.

Then her eyes close.

Her body relaxes into the gel.

Watching someone go into Diving is disturbing and peaceful at the same time.

I check my own time.

A little under six minutes.

The difference seems small on Earth.

On the other side it’ll be almost eighteen.

I close my eyes when the tank system finishes adjusting the respirator.

The Thirst is already terrible.

There’s a constant burn in my throat that no water solves. My tongue feels too big for my mouth, and my whole body carries that sense of running a few minutes behind a need that’s impossible to satisfy.

I know this but I still never like it.

The counter hits zero and the world comes apart. The first sensation is relief, and I feel it before I even open my eyes.

It’s the OXI.

Not as a number but as presence.

My body recognizes the energy of Thirstfall before my mind finishes rebuilding space, weight, and direction. The burn in my throat disappears almost instantly, and that impossible thirst loses its force as though someone opened a valve inside my chest.

I breathe in.

The air feels heavier.

More complete.

When I open my eyes, Azure Prime is already around me.

The ocean sky covers the city with that impossible depth no terrestrial structure can reproduce. Light crosses the blue above and falls through the buildings while Divers move in and out of the nearby routes.

Rhayne is sitting near the arrival point.

When she sees me, she stands.

"Seventeen minutes."

I look at her.

"You waited and counted?"

"I was curious."

I run the math.

Five minutes and change on Earth.

Three to one.

"That checks out."

Rhayne runs a hand across her throat.

"Den."

"Hm?"

"I feel different."

She takes another deep breath.

I know exactly what that feels like.

"Earth hangover."

She frowns.

"Is that a thing?"

"Not officially. It’s what I call it."

Rhayne looks at her own hands, then around her.

"It’s like my body relaxed."

"Because it did. On your first Diving, it doesn’t know yet what it’s like to live full of OXI. After you spend a cycle here, go back to Earth, and start feeling Black Thirst in the last hours, the second return changes."

She touches her throat again.

"The burning is gone."

"So is the Thirst."

Rhayne swallows, almost testing it.

Her expression changes.

"It really is gone."

"It’s one of the stranger parts. Thirstfall tries to kill us fifty different ways, but when you come back here after feeling Earth pulling you home, it feels like relief."

She breathes in slowly.

"I didn’t realize how much it was bothering me until it stopped."

"Most people don’t, the first time."

Rhayne spends a few seconds just feeling it.

I don’t need to interrupt.

I remember the first time I went through this. The body almost thanks you for being back in the place that will probably end up killing it.

A pretty piece of irony.

A terrible sign.

I pick up my things and sort out what comes next.

Rahul and then Garen.

"I’m going to talk to Rahul."

Rhayne answers immediately.

"I’m coming with you."

"No."

Her reaction is instant.

"Dryden!"

"You call my name pretty often these days... by the way, you need to train."

"Rahul sent three people to follow us on Earth."

"And that’s exactly why I’m going to talk to him."

"Then I should be there."

"No."

She opens her mouth again.

"Rhayne, you’ve been gone for days and you’re still below Rank C. You need to get there as fast as possible."

"That can wait a few hours."

"It shouldn’t."

She stares at me.

I don’t want to turn this into an order, because that isn’t what we are.

So I explain.

"The Deep Asylum mission is close. Things are starting to move fast, and Rank C changes a lot more than a number in the system. Reserve, endurance, class evolution, all of it. You’ll be far more useful to yourself, to me, and to everyone else training right now than sitting in a room listening to Rahul talk."

Rhayne is still uncomfortable.

"And if he tries something?"

"I run."

She keeps looking at me.

"Den."

"I try to run."

That pulls out a minimal smile.

Good.

"Go train," I say. "When I’m done with him and with Garen, I’ll come find you."

She thinks about it for a few seconds before accepting.

"Fine."

I take a step to go.

"Den."

I look back.

"Be careful."

"Always."

She doesn’t need to call me a liar.

Her face already does it.

The Oathring district still carries Rahul’s name even when there’s no event running.

The arena is quieter, but the commerce around it still works. Divers go in and out of the buildings tied to the Patala Syndicate, vendors break down structures used during the last events, and the tower to the south stays above everything as an architectural reminder of who controls that part of the city.

I walk to it.

This time nobody tries to stop me.

Nobody looks happy to see me either.

A guard recognizes me before I say anything. He looks at my face, then at the Crest pinned to my clothes, then back at me.

"Sands."

"Is he in?"

The man knows who I’m asking about.

"He is."

"Good."

I don’t request an audience.

I go in.

The reception staff track my passage with the same warmth reserved for an infection that hasn’t shown serious symptoms yet.

Maybe it’s the Oathring.

Maybe Rahul told them something.

Maybe they’ve just learned that arguing with me increases the amount of paperwork they have to fill out afterward.

I take the elevator.

When the doors open on the top floor, another man is already waiting.

"Mr. Sharma is busy."

"So am I."

"He didn’t schedule a meeting with you."

"I didn’t schedule one with him either."

The man doesn’t find that funny.

Even so, he clears the way after a few seconds.

Reputation has administrative uses.

I go in.

Rahul is behind a wide desk, reading something. A staff rests near his chair, and two people are further back, working in silence. When he sees me, he doesn’t get up.

He finishes the line.

Turns the page.

Only then does he speak.

"There’s a curious disease among young people who receive attention early."

I close the door behind me.

"Is there a treatment?"

Rahul looks up.

"They start believing doors exist to open the moment they arrive."

"It worked."

One of the people at the back drops their eyes to hide a reaction.

Rahul notices.

"You didn’t book an audience."

"Take it off the debt."

He leans back in his chair.

"Which one?"

Fair.

I come closer to the desk.

"The new one."

"You seem to produce a great many."

"This one came from you."

Now I have his full attention.

"Explain."

"Three people following me on Earth."

Rahul doesn’t react right away.

"I sent people to make contact with you."

"They interpreted ’make contact’ creatively."

His eyes narrow slightly.

"Where are they?"

"Two of them I lost."

"And the third?"

I rest a hand on the edge of the desk.

"The girl I took care of."

Rahul goes still.

"Took care of."

"She’ll be fine."

He doesn’t look reassured.

"Dryden."

"She’s also going to sleep for quite a while."

The silence that enters the room isn’t normal.

Rahul leans forward.

"You did what?"

The energy appears before I can answer.

It starts small in his palm, a concentration of OXI so dense that the air around it seems to lose shape. The papers on the desk tremble. A metal object near the staff vibrates against the wood. The pressure crosses the room and makes the two people at the back stop working.

Rahul stands.

The energy grows between his fingers.

His face has lost every trace of the amusement that usually comes with our conversations.

"You. Did. What."