The bombs went off within hours of each other. The term “smart bomb” doesn’t even begin to cover it. Genesis Systems, a subsidiary of Tehuti Industries, was impressively prepared for the Armageddon engineered by its parent company. In addition to creating bombs that could pick and choose who to incinerate, Tehuti had also created the Genesis cruiser, the largest aircraft in the history of mankind. The last Commander of NASA, Marcus Noah, was chosen to as captain. The survivors were hand chosen by the Tehuti’s CEO, whom the world only knew as Father Mel. They were loaded onto the Genesis in pairs and put into cryo-sleep. Their last memories before going into mental stasis were of the world burning, full of the smoldering ashes of the billions of un-chosen.
For four-hundred years, the Genesis survivors were trapped in a dream world of perpetual terror. Among the survivors was a squadron of aviators. Lady Raven was not the most talented pilot, not the strongest fighter nor the most experience. It was Lady Raven, however, that Commander Noah chose to awaken from cryo-sleep. Mesophere visibility had increased 75%. Now the ship’s systems were detecting positive changes in the atmosphere of the Earth’s surface. Commander Noah wanted Lady Raven to descend to the surface and assess “the source of activity.” If the Commander could have kept Lord Raven asleep and oblivious, he would have. The Genesis survivors, however, where mated by links in their biosignatures that behaved in strange ways. They slept and woke in unison; the hearts of mated pairs beat as one.
Neither Raven fully trusted Commander Noah, really, because they did not know him. But, as Lord Owl had pointed out to the other aviators, when the world is exploding and the door to the getaway car is open, you don’t question the driver– you hop in.
Lord Raven hardly had any room in his heart for the fury he felt at Commander Noah. Losing his wife on the poisoned surface of the Earth was one thing, but insulting his intelligence was quite another. The Ravens were the Lord and Lady of secrets. They had been born above secret, and this Commander had no idea who he was dealing with. Or maybe he did have some idea at least. Either way, he could not have hoped to hide from Lord Raven the fact that he’d lost contact with Lady Raven a week ago.
“Any word from my wife?” Lord Raven would ask Commander Noah casually, once a day.
“We are scouring the planet’s atmosphere for Lady Raven’s beacon,” the Commander he would say, or “We expect to triangulate her position at any moment.”
The great Commander Noah could not look Lord Raven in the eye and state the obvious. The Commander pitted Lady Raven against Father Mel’s technology, for which he himself was no match. Lord Raven was not only concerned, mildly, for Lady Raven, but he was also mindful of the other Genesis survivors: asleep in a ship piloted by a pompous nincompoop who sometimes smelled of the sauce.
Nothing on Earth, or in the Heavens above, came as a surprise to Father Mel. When he saw the scout leave the Genesis, he knew that Noah had sent one of his own back to him. If he were smart, it could only be Lady Owl or Lady Raven. Each Aviator owned a flight suit specifically outfitted to their biosignature and engineered to enhance their individual talents. The visibility of the biosignature meant that it was probably Lady Raven; Lady Owl’s enhancements made her capable of flying undetected by anyone, even Father Mel himself. It was the way the Flyer skirted the zeolite membrane – with a preternatural awareness of its qualities and its contours– that confirmed her identity even before the biosig sensors revealed her genetic makeup as a Raven. Just as Father Mel had hoped, he did not have to manually open a “door” through the membrane; Lady Raven found her own way through. He smiled as the members of the Board, watching Lady Raven’s progress through the sanctuary toward the Boardroom, murmured their approval. They had found their medium.
Lady Dove never fully trusted Ravens. She did not dislike them; in fact, she respected their proven performance in battle. She was simply uncomfortable with ambiguous people, like people didn’t openly stand for anything, or people who stood for too many things at once. She had never been able to decide which one Lady Raven was, but she, for one, was not surprised to hear that the Raven had failed to return from Father Mel’s grasp. She was, however, a bit surprised that Commander Noah had chosen Lady Raven, out of all the aviators, for the very first mission in the New Era. Not Lady Eagle, the mightiest warrior, nor Lady Falcon, the best soldier. Not Lady Hawk, Lady Condor, or Lady Swift. Even Lady Falcon, Lady Owl and Lady Lappet –the doe-eyed assassin-had lain asleep in their chambers. Of course, had Lady Pteryx survived the Last Battle, she would have put an end to Father Mel’s foolishness all at once. She was legend.
Lady Dove was not one for gossip, but people did talk. The Ravens had a reputation, and in Lady Dove’s opinion, they liked it.
Lady Raven watched Father Mel as he watched Lady Dove’s biosignature from his Boardroom.
“What were Commander Noah’s specific orders to you?” Father Mel asked, his eyes never leaving Lady Dove.
“He didn’t so much give a clear order as he babbled on about duty and destiny and rebirth. He wanted to know where my loyalties lie, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask.”
“Do you even have loyalties?”
“You mean do I know whose side I’m on?” Lady Raven clarified, ignoring the insult. “The way I see it, there are no sides to be on. This whole thing is more sphere than coin, or it used to be, anyway.”
“You were always very smart. Existence is a sphere, but within that sphere, binaries do exist and maintain themselves within that sphere. Young lady, there are -indeed-sides. They bleed into one another at a very precious, but precise boundary.”
“Like your patented zeolite fence?”
“Like my…patented zeolite fence which keeps the breathable air on one side and the nasty air on the side. Each part must remain distinct and whole in order to do its part properly.”
“Day has to be day, and night has to be night?”
“Precisely, though I understand that you Night Flyers are particularly fond of the spaces in between.”
Lady Raven watched Lady Dove’s bumbling with a bright, sideways stare. Before the Great Destruction and the Last Battle, the Aviators were contracted by Tehuti Industries. The Veil, a zeolite fence, was a nanoporous material that could separate clean atompshere from that which was corrupt. The same man who destroyed Earth’s atmosphere also owned the only technology that could repair it. The Night Flyers had helped him construct the first generation of domes made of the zeolite membrane. For this, the Night Flyers and all the Aviators, except Lord and Lady Pteryx and Lord and Lady Dactyl, had been offered safe passage aboard the Genesis. As terrible a predicament as it was, being offered life when millions were condemned to death, no one turned it down.
This created an interested conundrum for the Aviators, and the Night Flyers in particular. They were immediately viewed with suspicion aboard the Genesis by the other survivors, though they were as much at the mercy of Father Mel’s whims as anyone.
“I don’t suspect I have anything to worry about from Lady Dove. She is much more beautiful than intelligent.”
“And she is much more obedient than she is brave. She will return to the Commander with evidence of your whereabouts by any means necessary.”
Father Mel frowned at Lady Raven. “Obedience is a virtue.”
Lady Raven cocked her head. “Oh. Well, then I guess both you and Commander Noah picked wrong, didn’t you?”
In under an hour of skimming the Earth’s surface, Lady Dove found what she was looking for. Lady Dove had never been one for shiny gadgets and things, not like Lady Raven. She could, however, recognize Father Mel’s handiwork. It was small, fitting easily in her slender palm. It was obviously put there for her to find on purpose, which was slightly troubling. However, it wasn’t her job to worry about it. She did take a moment to look around the planet that the Genesis survivors used to call home. There were no buildings around, no structures, no ruins. It was almost, at least visually, as if the human race had never existed. She looked down at the prismic gadget in her hand. She let it sink in for a moment that it all fell to her to return to the Genesis and tell Commander Noah that– sooner than they thought– they could return to a world as good a new.
Inside the headquarters of Tehuti Industries, Lady Raven shook her head at Father Mel.
“It’s as easy as that? You just leave a zeolite projector out for her to find. She goes back to the Commander a hero. The world begins anew while I go down in pre-history as deserter.”
“You were never one to care about how history, or prehistory, saw you.”
“I care about my freedom. I don’t want it trampled beneath the moniker of traitor.”
“I do not envy the man who would even try to trample on your freedom, Lady Raven.”
A flurry of whispers from the Board ruffled her feathers, but she hid it well.
Lady Dove was pleased to see that the other aviators were awake to welcome her back aboard the Genesis.
“Well done, Little Dove,” said the magnanimous Lady Eagle. Perhaps she didn’t mean to come across as condescending, but Lady Dove could tell that Lady Eagle, as well as Lady Hawk and Lady Falcon, saw her reconnaissance mission in a patronizing light.
With great dignity, Lady Dove presented the prism-y-thing to Commander Noah. The aviators were congratulatory– and polite enough not to mention the presumed failure of Lady Raven. At least no one said anything out loud. There was, of course, the infamous gaze of Lady Owl. She knew no other way to look at people except straight through to the heart. It unnerved Lady Dove how, after one long stare, Lady Owl pulled her neck back in satisfaction as if she had silently gathered all the answers she needed.
“This calls for a celebration!” bellowed the Commander. After 400 years in self-sustaining stasis, the environment would be completely clear in about 70 more years. They residents of Genesis could finally see and pinpoint a day when they could return to the surface of the Earth! Lord Dove could barely contain his pride. Lord Raven, however was on his mind. The Raven had the good grace remain out of sight as the aviators welcomed back Lady Dove, but something about his presence hovered in the air.
The Commander, too, couldn’t help but be curious about Lord Raven’s state. Lord Raven was not known for his anger, but it remained to be seen whether Lord Raven would hold the Commander directly responsible for Lady Raven’s disappearance.
Naturally, the Commander wanted the technology in the communicator identified right away. Lord Owl was familiar with the components, and the general function. Lord Bonobo excelled at tools and gadgets above all, but Lord Raven and Lord Raven alone could decipher Father Mel’s designs. As for Lord Raven, he understood clearly exactly what he had to do. He would not let anyone — not even Lord Owl — see how heavy it made his heart. Lord Owl, of course, came to see him as soon as manners permitted.
“We can speak freely here,” Lord Raven told Lord Owl. “I have disabled and replaced all the audiovisual and biosignature sensors in this sector, among others.”
“You’re worried about Father Mel’s intentions with Lady Raven,” Lord Owl said bluntly. He had this way of pulling your guts out and spreading them out on the table, but his gentle tone of voice made it seem so impossibly polite.
“And you’re wondering if I will withhold my consult and leave you at a loss concerning the zeolite device.”
“Forget the device, just for a moment. You know that I’ll go with you. If we both need to go to Father Mel and demand Lady Raven’s safe return, Lady Owl will navigate.”
“I’m touched, Lord Owl, but Lady Raven is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”
“Of course she is, but there are other issues here that should be addressed. Father Mel is a high priest unparalleled, and with that comes certain powers and liberties, but as I understand – and I understand a great many things-even he is bound by the law, bound by decency.”
“He can’t be keeping her by physical force.”
“Obviously. He has imprisoned her within some sort of psychological dilemma. He can’t be allowed to keep her in a moral cage anymore than a physical one.”
“And if I went to retrieve her, he could hypothetically ensnare me in the same manner.”
“I do not think he would attempt to entrap me in such a manner.”
“No, I don’t think he would,” Lord Raven agreed with a smile. “But even you, Lord Owl, are not without ambiguity. Father Mel will seek it out and sink his teeth into it. Only a few can deal with him without fear of his quandary-at-the- cross-roads routine, and among the aviators, there is only one pair.”
Lord Owl pulled his neck back in surprise once he realized Lord Raven’s plan.
“Boy… have you been talking to Lord Dodo?”
Lord Raven cocked his head at Lord Owl, and looked at him with a bright, sideways glance.
“You always see right through me, Lord Owl. You know how bad I want her back aboard the Genesis, safe in my arms.
“Even a genius can make mistakes, son, especially when his Love is on the line. Are you sure about this?”
Lord Raven gave Lord Owl a bright, sideways look.
“You think really think I’m a genius?”
“Raven!”
“He’s given me no other viable choice. Commander Noah, and Father Mel. They are, supposedly adversaries, but together they have managed to push my back against the wall.”
“Ain’t that something?” Lord Owl shifted his head from side to side. “Back in the day, people knew better than to try and trap a Night Flyer. Everything’s changed now.”
“Hm. If one thing is constant, it’s that no man, and no unseen, has built the system that can keep a Raven out of anything.”
When her heart skipped a beat, Lady Raven realized that Lord Raven planned to take action. It was expected, a risk she had decided to take. As unnatural as it felt to be separated, Lord knew that nothing could keep two Ravens apart for very long. She was curious as to what he had decided to do, though knowing him, she had a vague idea.
Father Mel was staring at her intently. He did not have the piercing gaze of the Owls, but he did of course understand fully how the biolink between mates operated. He’d had a hand in inventing it, along with every other technology vital to the Genesis survivors.
“I take it from your expression that your mate is growing restless.”
Lady Raven turned her head and gave Father Mel a long, slow sideways glance. Pompous and glowing with immortality, she could see his satisfaction as the his nanodrones slowly and steadily rearranged the atmosphere, molecule by molecule, atom by atom.
“So, what happened to ‘Mother Mel’?”
“You know very well that I was not born of woman.”
“What I know very well is that everyone calls you ‘Father.’ Without a Mother there can be no ‘Father’.”
“Those are the laws of human life.”
“Which are patterned after the laws of the Cosmos. I’ll pretend to be Lady Owl for a while and reach a silent conclusion without throwing it in your face.”
“You’re good at impressions,” Father Mel. “Fortunately for me, you don’t have Lady Owl’s formidable gaze.”
“Fortunately for me, too. I have no idea how the Owls live with each other. Even the Eagles can stare at each other with this terrifying passion, but the Owls?”
Lady Raven heard more laughs around her, beyond the whispers of the Board. The other surface survivors were creeping from their respective zeolite domes to get a look at her. Individually, Lady Raven had nothing to fear from any of them. However, the idea of being utterly surrounded was disconcerting. She was saved from the awful idea of being torn from Lord Raven forever by awesome curiosity. Why were they so curious to come and see her? Indeed, why was Father Mel so insistent that the unseen have restricted access to the human side of the membrane? She’d originally thought that it was a power trip. Their obsession with humanity had help start the wars in the first place. No matter what Father Mel said, the Unseen needed serious policing. It was Lady Raven’s own pangs of longing for Lord Raven’s comfort that revealed to her the true motivations of Father Mel and his ghosts.
Even as Lady Raven’s realization gave her a sudden advantage, she was overcome with pity for the surface survivors. Humans and Unseen were so interdependent upon one another. It would be hard for either to survive separately.
Even as Lord Raven stood above the slowly awaking form, the last of aviators that the Commander had not dared to stir, he was overcome with pity for the Commander. The Commander had made the best decisions possible with the limited knowledge available to him.
“This still seems a bit rash, Lord Raven,” Lord Owl said to him. “Are you moving forward because you fear that Lady Raven is suffering some unknown anguish?”
“I’m doing this for the same reason that you are watching me do this without trying to stop me. Commander Noah is noble enough, but he has no idea what’s really going on here. Without anyone to provide a check to Father Mel’s desires, we will all step off the Genesis right into a world designed specifically to his advantage.”
“Have you forgotten that this is Father Mel we’re talking about? Do you really mean to gain an actual advantage against the man who created the Veil?”
“Of course not, but I don’t see the harm in evening things out just a little bit, do you?”
“I still think you’re crazy,” Lord Owl said as he watched a pair of eyes, partially useless, slowly open. “Though I agree that it was insulting for the Commander to awaken every aviator except one, even more insulting that confining them to…well, what would be maximum-security without the likes of you on board.”
“And that’s just it, Lord Owl. The Commander has never even met Father Mel. He could have been my Lady to her death or a lifetime of imprisonment. Even if he did weigh the risk, I don’t think he sees a Raven as any great loss to the Genesis,” Lord Raven said, as he steered the stolen flight suit through the corridor remotely.
“I disagree Brotha Raven,” Lord Owl said with his round eyes boring into Lord Raven. “He chose a Raven to find Father Mel’s sanctuary for a reason.”
“Perhaps because for the 400 years we’ve been aboard the Genesis, it’s been killing him, not really knowing if we were loyal to Tehuti Industries over the Genesis survivors. He has never really known if he could trust us.”
“You can’t blame him for not trusting you-not when you understand this ship’s systems so much better than he does and can bend any of its devices to your whims.” Lord Owl and Lord Raven watched as the last of the water drained from the cryostasis chamber. The awakening figure inside possessed a beauty that only a fellow Night Flyer could appreciate. The ships systems registered not even the whisper of a response, Lord Raven had encoded her vital readings.
“Would you really expect him to trust someone who could undermine him so easily?”
“Of course not,” Lady Bat murmured reaching up to ring out her hair. “The Commander doesn’t trust Bats or Ravens, and in that way at least, his instincts are dead on.”
“Sister Bat, Brother Bat! Welcome back to the world of the living,” Lord Raven said, handing Lord Bat a towel.
“Thank you,” said Lord Bat. “And you can wipe those worried looks off your faces. You know that the Night Flyers have an eternal understanding.”
“Though this plan of yours is mighty bold, Brother Raven,” said Lady Bat. “Of course, given the circumstances, I can’t see how either the Commander or Father Mel gave you any choice.”
“When will they learn to keep us out of their squabbles,” Lord Bat complained. “Or at the very least make them more interesting.” By the time Lord and Lady Bat were dressed, their flight suits had arrived.
“Forgive me if I seem to be rushing you.”
“Of course, time is off the essence. We heard everything in stasis, as you well know,” Lord Bat said.
“And we Bats keep secrets even better than Ravens,” Lady Bat said with a wink.
Lord Owl hooted in disagreement. He swung his from side to side, “Commander Noah would soil himself if he knew you two were awake.”
Lady Bat slowly turned her gaze to the corridor, “Sister Owl approaches.”
While Lord Raven could easily hide Lady Bat’s biosignature from Genesis‘ sensors, it was not necessary to do so for Lady Owl. It took Lady Bat and Lady Owl no time to locate Father Mel’s sanctuary. It was the Night Aviator training ground. Lady Owl hung back silently for support, while Lady Bat swooped in directly with her signature zig-zaggy flare.
“Welcome home, Lady Bat. I presume that you are not alone,” Father Mel said as Lady Bat left her flight suit next to Lady Raven’s. She strode down the length of the room, past the scandalized whispers of the Board.
“I did come with back-up but don’t hold your breath trying to find her. What’s happening here? Are you really holding Sister Raven against her will? If you are, that’s crazy and I know crazy: I’m a Bat.”
“Thank you, Sister Bat, for coming to see about me. When I arrived her, Father Mel and his Board made me an indecent proposal.”
“Indecent?!” Father Mel bellowed. ” I offered you the honor of being arbitrator of passage through the zeolite membrane. How was I indecent?”
“The membrane has undergone some modifications,” Lady Raven explained to her fellow Night Flyer. “It is selectively permeable.”
“Mild improvement from those bombs that were selectively murderous, don’t you think?” This is why no one on the Board, or aboard Genesis for that matter, was very fond of Lady Bat outside of the Night Flyers. Lady Bat just didn’t know how to give a damn about what came out her mouth.
Even Father Mel had grown twitchy in her presence.
“Well, now that you bring that up,” Lady Raven said smoothly. “I think it speaks to the underlying pattern here that I find so disturbing. Father Mel is doing an awful lot of selecting, and I think that it needs to stop. Here. Now.”
The whispers of the Board died to a deadly silence as Father Mel started to shake with rage.
“Who do you girls think you are? Did you forget that I made you, I trained you, I selected you for salvation and you think to repay my mercy with insolence?!”
“You said yourself that this was all about balance. I stand by my position. I demand, sir, that the zeolite membrane be adjusted for equal permeability. It is only fair that the humans and Unseen have equal access to one another, if any at all.”
“You and this misguided concept of FAIR!!!”
“Consider this, Sister Raven,” Lady Bat spoke up. If the Unseen were the kind to draw breath, they would have held it now. “All is fair in Love and War. This is about Love and War, isn’t it, Father Mel?”
“Now what in the hell are you talking about?”
“Immortality is nothing without mortality. The Unseen have no meaning without us. They depend on human beings for a reason to exist, and that is a twisted, sicko, perverted sort of Love.”
Lady Raven couldn’t help but shiver now and again at the need she felt from Unseen who were even now still approaching Father Mel’s sanctuary from miles and miles around. They were desperate.
“Sister Bat, I think you are right. But have a crippling need for someone does not give you the right to impose controls on that person as if they exist for your sake alone. I will not participate in this.”
“I will,” said Lady Bat. Lady Raven was a bit stunned, but Father Mel sat still in his chair and emanated a calculating silence. Lady Bat continued, “I cannot lead humans to you the way that Lady Raven could. Despite the damage you’ve done to her reputation, they will still follow her when she brings them to you. Only the real nutcases would follow the likes of me. I’m too dangerous.”
“You’re not dangerous. It was ridiculous for Commander to lock you up the way he did.”
“It happens,” Lady Bat shrugged. “Father Mel, I will serve as the ferry to and from the world of the Unseen. I will always know you’re exact whereabouts, I will never have a problem finding you or any of your cohorts.”
“It is tempting,” Father Mel said after a moment. “At least with you I don’t have to worry about your scruples and what not.”
“Exactly. Lady Raven likes shiny things, but I’m the only Aviator who can be bought.”
“Cheap shot, Sister Bat,” said the Raven.
“Then it is done,” said Father Mel. Father Mel still had the advantage, but, with a proper bribe, humans could convince Lord and Lady Bat to even things out a little bit.
Father Mel had one thing left to say to Lady Raven. “Pity, your new reputation for failure. You are the only equalizer, the only one who can show them how to find us the way that we find them. And yet, they will not trust you in this task because you are now a traitor.”
Lady Raven smiled as the crowd of Unseen outside the dome was still gathering. “Don’t worry about my reputation Father Mel. The Genesis survivors will need my help again, sooner than later. In fact, so will you.”
Once inside her flight suit, Lady Raven could hear the soothing voice of Lady Owl. She reassured her friend of her safety when, as she lifted off the ground, she could feel some of the Unseen try to follow her.
“They are quite frisky, aren’t they?” Lady Owl said. She turned down her cloaking level for a few moments so that some of the souls would gravitate towards her giving Lady Raven a little room. Sure enough, the ones reaching for Lady Owl stopped just short of the zeolite membrane they could not cross.
Lady Raven found her way through and Lady Owl recloaked herself. They turned and looked at the souls, mere concentrations of energy so hungry with longing, desperate for contact with the living. That hunger was the reason for the Veil’s existence.
“What will we tell the Commander?” Lady Owl asks.
“I won’t be telling him anything,” Lady Raven said. “I only came up to this altitude say goodbye. I have to stay here until the Genesis is ready to return to the surface.”
“Wha-wha-what? We went through all of this to bring you and Brother Raven back together.”
“Nothing can keep Ravens apart for long, Sister Owl. The truth is that Lord and Lady Bat will need some help. I couldn’t possibly leave Father Mel down here to his own devices for seventy-years. Do you know what sort of hare-brained schemes he could concoct in seventy years. The Genesis would land and all the survivors would walk right into unmediated absurdity.”
“Might I ask what you think you’re going to do down here by yourself. The air is not even breathable, Sister!”
“It is behind the zeolite membrane; that’s what it’s for after all. I can move in and out of the membrane at will. I’ll build a couple nests, some safe places.”
“I won’t stand for this!”
“Sister!” Lady Raven screamed as they hovered in the mesosphere. “In all your wisdom, you know one of us has to do this. Lord and Lady Bat can monitor Father Mel all they want, but they won’t understand what they’re seeing, I mean, hearing.”
“But Little Raven, you’ll be all alone…”
“Not hardly,” Lady Raven said, looking sideways at the souls gathered behind the membrane. There are plenty of ghosts down here making big plans to stir up big trouble when Genesis lands. I’m just going to gather some information, what I do best.”
“And what about Brother Raven?”
“Has his own work cut out for him aboard Genesis. Commander Noah is in over his head with Father Mel. Lord Raven and I both know what we have to do and we Ravens work best in tandem.”
Lady Owl’s round eyes filled with tears. “I can leave the Genesis without the Commander’s awareness, so I’ll come every night, every day. I’ll come whenever you need me, for anything. If they start any shit down here, I’ll bring the Harpies and Hawks and the Falcons and the-.”
“Sister!”
“There are predators down here!”
“Relax. I’m tasty, but I’m also clever. Give Brother Owl my love, and try not to be bothered if they call me a ‘deserter’.”
Stunned, without a word, Lady Owl returned to the Genesis alone. Lord Raven took Lady Owl’s teary announcement with his characteristic half-smile. He held in his hand the device that Lord Owl had brought him to analyze, a mere prop that Father Mel had dangled in the face of Commander Noah. Only the Night Flyers understood that it was little more than Father Mel’s idea of a joke. Lord Raven watched Lord Dove walk around with his chest puffed out, so proud of his wife the hero. When had a Dove known the sacrifice of a Raven?
Eventually the Aviators, two by two, were returned to sleep stasis. Lord Raven and the Owls milled around under the ridiculous pretense of dissecting Father Mel’s elementary technology, all the while maintain the false vitals of the Bats in the system. Commander Noah watch Lord Raven and Lord Raven watch Commander Noah. As far as the Commander knew, the Genesis was exactly as it was upon embarkation, missing only Lady Raven. Decency required Commander Noah to at least offer Lord Raven an official investigation into Lady Raven’s disappearance, but he did not. He knew it was not necessary. The way the patented biosignature links between mates worked was if the heart of Lord Raven was still beating, so to, was the heart of his Lady.
The Raven was not an Eagle, not a Falcon. He could not protect his Lady with brute force, but his brain was sharper and stronger than Lady Harpy’s talons. If any harm whatsoever came to Lady Raven on the surface, Lord Raven would unravel Father Mel’s precious, precious Veil thread by thread by thread.