The penultimate posting of GPR 3 webversion.

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– V –

When I first arrived at the habitat, I’d looked up at the sky and noticed the faint webbing running through it.

I hadn’t thought much of it since then.

I had other things on my mind such attempting to save my former sister while surviving one gun battle after another.

However, now that I was only a stone’s throw away from the habitat’s red sky, I looked up at that webbing and discovered that it wasn’t webbing at all. If the Argus System was to be believed – and I had no reason to doubt it – they were rafters that crisscrossed the habitat’s ceiling. The good news was that they were hollow because they were constructed out of thousands of trusses. That meant that I could look at those rafters as being incredibly long catwalks that traversed the entire length and breadth of the habitat.

Therefore, I could make use of them to chase after the Promenade.

The only problem was finding a way up to the habitat’s ceiling.

From a distance, the tower had reminded me of a thin tree with spindly branches. It so happened, that those branches stemmed from the tower’s roof and merged with a handful of the habitat’s rafters – one of which ran directly over the drifting Promenade.

Now I had a plan, but not knowing what to expect when I arrived at the Promenade, I had hasty preparations to make.

That’s when I discovered that my good fortune had a downside.

The Punisher’s right magazine had been depleted of AP rounds, and the left magazine had 44 bullets remaining. That wasn’t too bad, but neither was it too good, and since I didn’t know if there was another Miss Ponytail waiting for me aboard the Promenade, I chose to be prepared for that possibility. And so I reached for the two spare magazines attached to the Regalia’s skirts, only to learn they were useless to me.

I only needed a moment to understand why.

When I’d jumped backwards during the gunfight with Miss Ponytail, gunfire from the minigun had peppered me with bullets and punctured the ammo mags stuck to my skirts. They had also perforated the spare batteries I’d pulled from the wrecked linear rifle.

In short, I had no spare magazines or batteries to replace those fitted to the Punisher.

The only piece of good news was that the magazine I’d pulled out of the giant handgun back at the apartment had survived the bullet storm. With the gun out of ammo, I swapped the empty magazine with the spare one. It only had ten rounds left but that was way better than nothing.

Unfortunately, I now had to spend more bullets to climb up onto the tower’s domed roof.

Aiming the Punisher upwards, I switched the linear rifle to single-shot mode, then fired four rounds into a ceiling glass panel. It was the victim of an earlier fusillade from Miss Ponytail, thus it was already weakened.

Within seconds, the panel fractured wildly and then broke apart.

After the pieces fell, and crashed to the translucent floor, I holstered the rifle against my back, then bounced on my feet a few times to get some spring into Mirai’s legs, before executing a standing jump that launched me about eleven feet into the air. That was high enough for me to grab onto a support beam – one of many that formed a domed web that kept the glass panels aligned. The beam took Mirai’s weight without giving way, and I clung to it for a beat before using her exceptional strength to climb through the gap and onto the tower’s roof.

A strong wind gusted between the top of the tower and the underside of the habitat’s ceiling.

It reminded me of the time I crawled over a building rooftop while a sandstorm raged around me in the dead of night.

I had to brace myself a little against the wind, but it wasn’t enough to trouble me as I ran over the glass roofing. Truth be told, I avoided the glass panels because most of them had been pierced by dozens of bullets. Not trusting their integrity, I chose to run long the metal webbing that connected the panels.

About twenty meters ahead of me, one of the tower’s branches extended upwards from the rooftop to a ceiling rafter that happened to run directly over the Promenade sailing serenely away into the distance. At the base of the branch, I jumped into it through a gap between triangular trusses, then used it to climb up and into the ceiling rafter.

The tunnel-like interior was roughly a meter wide, and the floor comprised of metal rungs interspersed some twelve inches apart. Because of this, running first through the branch, and then the rafter, was akin to running along a horizontal ladder. Alternatively, think of it like running over the monkey bars instead of swinging from them. It took some practice to run without tripping, but after travelling a couple of dozen meters, I had grown in confidence and skill. No longer fearing that I would suffer a misstep, I was able to split my attention between what was outside the rafter and the rungs underfoot.

Through the gap between trusses, I could see the habitat stretching out below me in all directions, but my focus soon settled upon the Promenade. Because of its large size, the turtle shell glass gondola appeared to be drifting leisurely through the air, but its speed was deceptive. In the short time since undocking, the Promenade had travelled more than a hundred meters from the tower in a northerly direction.

I listened to the wetware softly counting down the remaining time, then concentrated on running faster through the rafter.

That was easier said than done.

A single foul step and I risked putting a foot through the gap between rungs.

Yet I had no choice but to hurry because I was running dangerously out of time.

00:45…00:44….

I caught up to the Promenade.

It was now some eighteen meters below me.

Yet I faltered.

Rather than climbing out of the rafter through the space between trusses, I continued running until I was directly over the Promenade’s bow – although both ends of the gondola were identical so there was no difference between the bow and the stern. However, I chose to think of it that way as I glanced down between the rungs I was running over.

From my point-of-view, it looked like a long fall from the rafter to the Promenade’s dorsal hull, and I was having serious second thoughts about this crazy ass idea that had inspired me to take the high road.

00:41…00:40….

With a loud gulp of air, I slowed quickly to a stop.

Grabbing onto a truss beam to support myself, I then climbed out onto the edge of the rafter that doubled as a catwalk beneath the habitat’s ceiling. The wind whipped Mirai’s hair about my head, obscuring my vision, but I could see the Promenade in my mind courtesy of the Argus System’s sensor-sphere.

The drop was indeed around eighteen meters.

It might seem strange that I was hesitating now. After all, not long ago I had jumped the gulf between two buildings, and sailed through the air some ten stories above a deserted street to land safely on a balcony.

So why was I so afraid of jumping now?

I guess it was because back then I’d been hoping to fall as little as possible.

This time, I was going to drop around six stories onto a moving object, and I had no parachute.

Then I remembered how the Princess Regalia’s skirts had acted like wings when I made the jump between the two habitat buildings. Maybe – just maybe – they could perform like mini-chutes this time and slow my descent such that I avoided splattering myself all over the top of the Promenade.

I will state for the record that I’m not a religious person, but I had asked God for His help once already, and as I stood on the edge of the rafter, I performed the sign of the cross, then prayed for a little help moments before leaping out into the open air.

I think I may have screamed as I fell.

Yes, I do recall a terrified girlish scream tearing loudly out of my throat as I plummeted down to the Promenade.

There was that roller-coaster weightless sensation as your innards rise up in your torso.

I fought that down by clenching my stomach muscles, but there was nothing I could do about Mirai’s large breasts. Fortunately, the Princess Regalia tightened around them, and kept her boobs from striking my chin.

The Regalia’s skirts had also flared outwards and hardened to act like drag chutes.

The Argus System assured me that by deploying my skirts I was indeed reducing my terminal velocity, but I continued to scream in cold terror as I stared through Mirai’s deep cleavage at the Promenade growing larger below me.

As I fell, I realized that the flying gondola was as large as an Olympic swimming pool.

With that much surface area, there was little chance I would fail to land on it.

The problem was the landing itself.

I fully expected it to hurt to like Hell.

A second before touchdown, I relaxed my body while tensing up my leg muscles.

Then I landed with a loud bang.

My booted feet struck the transparent glass of the dorsal hull, fracturing one of the panels on impact.

I had dropped at a steep angle so there was some forward momentum.

My body fell into a forward roll that quickly turned into a tumble over the gently sloped surface.

The Argus System warned me I was in danger of falling off the edge of the Promenade, so I hastily spread out my arms and legs – desperately hoping to stop before I careened over the side of the gondola.

I succeeded in flipping over onto my belly, then pressed my booted toes into the hull.

Spread-eagled, I slid over the Promenade like a starfish with large breasts.

A loud squealing emanated from between Mirai’s boobs and the smooth surface.

In the end, I don’t know if it was friction from her boots or her boobs that brought me to a stop.

Regardless, I was happy to still be alive…until the pain of my hard landing caught up to me.

I howled in agony and truly believed I’d broken my legs.

It was the same pain that I experienced when I woke up in the rubble, after Clarisol’s bomb had demolished most of Telos Academy’s replica in the desert.

Unable to move, I squeezed my eyes shut as tears welled up and then trickled down my cheeks, while my breaths came out in short, rasping gasps.

As for my legs, they hurt so much I thought they were aflame.

All the while, the wetware in Mirai’s head continued counting down the time I had left.

00:25…00:24…00:23….

Opening my eyes, it took several attempts to blink away the moisture before I could see clearly again. The burning sensation was slowly fading away, thanks to the concerted efforts of the Angel Fibers infesting Mirai’s body. But I was grateful to them as I swallowed twice with difficulty, and then peered through the glass beneath me into the Promenade’s upper deck.

“Huh?”

I looked straight into the eyes of my former sister.

Erina was sitting at a table with a stunned expression as she gazed up at me.

Seated perpendicular to her was Geharis Arnval, looking equally as flabbergasted at my appearance while holding a phone to his ear.

00:19….

My gaze fell on the large handgun resting on the table.

Arnval looked down at it as well.

00:18….

It wasn’t possible to ignore the pain torturing my body and addling my senses.

But it was possible for me to move again.

00:17.…

With some effort, I raised myself onto my arms, then pulled up my knees beneath me.

00:15….

Standing up on broken legs proved to be excruciating.

But the scream I bellowed carried my determination not to lose – not when I was this close to victory – such that it sounded more like a warcry.

00:12….

Swaying unsteadily in a pain induced feverish daze, I summoned the Punisher and supersized handgun.

The armatures swung down from against my back, then delivered both weapons to my waiting hands.

00:10….

Precious bullets be damned.

I aimed at the glass panel underfoot and squeezed both triggers simultaneously.

00:09….

Armor piercing rounds perforated the dorsal hull and tunneled through the Promenade’s upper deck.

Explosive rounds blew huge chunks of glass into the air.

And I traced a circle around me.

00:06….

Remaining standing was almost unbearable.

My legs screamed in pain so strong that it made my breath catch in my lungs.

00:05….

The glass underfoot creaked and fractures raced across its surface.

00:04….

Biting my lower lip hard enough to draw blood, I jumped high and then landed hard on the glass panel with a sharp scream.

00:03….

The glass crackled as it fractured but didn’t break.

00:02….

I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my jaw, and jumped again.

00:01….

The glass broke apart and I fell through into the gondola.

I landed on the translucent deck, and immediately choked in agony as my legs screamed out in torment, then collapsed under me.

Falling onto my belly, my weight pressing down on heavily on Mirai’s breasts.

But I couldn’t move, and when I was able to breathe again – however many seconds later – I gasped and gulped air into my lungs while low, tortured moans escaped my lips.

Yet as it had before, once the weight was off my legs the pain slowly faded away.

After a short while, I gathered myself, and then slowly raised my body onto my elbows.

I looked up.

In my peripheral vision, the sky beyond the Promenade’s transparent ceiling remained bloodred, and the countdown was frozen across it.

00:00.

A few feet in front of me was the table with Arnval and Erina seated around it.

Arnval regarded me in silence for a while, then picked up the gun lying on the table.

My heart tightened into a little ball that beat painfully in my chest, and a strangled whisper broke free.

“…no….”

It couldn’t be.

I’d crashed through into the Promenade before the countdown reached zero.

I’d crashed through before it reached zero!

Arnval’s expression was unreadable as he studied the gun.

Then his eyes met mine.

“…don’t…,” I whispered.

I tried to swallow but my throat had closed up.

In truth, I could barely breathe, however, I could still move.

Holding myself up on one elbow, I lifted Miss Ponytail’s handgun and aimed it at Arnval.

Only then did I realize it was out of bullets.

Arnval snorted softly, then shook his head as he smiled down at me.

Grabbing his gun’s receiver, he slid it back and forth.

A single bullet was spat out of the ejection port.

It landed on the translucent deck and then rolled toward me, coming to a stop somewhere beneath me.

I looked up at Arnval as he placed the large handgun back on the table.

He folded his arms calmly across his chest, and then met my questioning look with a cocky smile.

“Congratulations…ma chérie.”

Seated perpendicular to him, Erina took a deep shuddering breath that she released raggedly.

Her body lost its strength and wilted on the chair.

Arnval gave her a thin look. “As per the terms of the agreement, your execution has been rescinded…for now.”

Erina closed her eyes but she nodded haltingly in acknowledgement.

Arnval exhaled loudly and heavily, then pushed his chair back.

Standing up, he retrieved his gun from the table, then holstered it within the folds of his trench coat.

Pausing for a moment, he looked down at me as I struggled to raise myself onto my knees.

“I’m sure the two of you have much to talk about.” He glanced out of the gondola’s windows. “You have until we land at the park.”

Seeing that he intended to leave, I hastily called out to him.

“Arnval, wait.”

He regarded me over a shoulder. “Yes?”

I settled onto my knees, winced sharply against the flash of pain that burned through my legs, then sucked air into my lungs. “What happens now?”

Erina looked up at Arnval with an anxious expression.

Arnval may have noticed, but he kept his attention on me as he slowly turned to face me.

“You need to recover from you injuries.”

“No”—I shook my head—“what happens to Erina?”

Pursing his lips for a long second, Arnval then took a deep breath. “I have orders to escort her to Ar Telica. That’s all I can tell you. However, rest assured that she won’t be executed, and she won’t be turned into a virtual existence.”

Erina’s eyes widened marginally but she also nodded ever so faintly in silence.

Did that mean she understood her fate?

Did she know what lay in wait for her back in the city-state?

Arnval shrugged his shoulders for no reason that I could understand, then turned away again. “You have a few minutes until we land. Make use of them.”

I watched him walk away, then descend to the deck below via a spiral staircase in the middle of the Promenade. Like the tower, the gondola’s deck was translucent, so I could faintly see Arnval indistinct shadow in the deck below.

“Isabel?”

I blinked and tore my focus away from Arnval’s blurred shadow.

My gaze met Erina’s and for a long while we simply stared at each other in silence.

- # -

After everything I’d endured to get here, I found myself at a loss for words.

I didn’t know what to say to her as she faced me.

Erina sat at the table, and I knelt on the translucent deck.

I ended up breaking eye contact with her, and my gaze fell on the oversized gun in my right hand.

It was out of bullets but tossing it away didn’t seem right.

It was Miss Ponytail’s gun, yet I had nothing against the weapon that I considered a smart tool, although I did find its turncoat mindset a little disturbing – like a sword that didn’t care who wielded it as long as it was able to draw blood.

With a faint shudder, I holstered the gun. Feeling the armature press gently against my back, I turned my attention back on Erina.

Her expression had grown guarded. “Isabel—?”

“What?” I harshly cut her off, surprising her.

When she recovered, her lips moved yet she appeared to be having trouble deciding on what to say. Eventually, she took a deep breath, then spoke with what sounded like genuine gratitude.

“Thank you.”

Those words were like a cold wind blowing through me.

I stared speechlessly at her, and it was my turn to struggle with a response.

At first anger blossomed in my chest, then it was pity, then regret, then self-reproach, before it finally filled with contempt.

“You know what gets in my throat…that fact that you sound like you mean that.”

Erina was quiet for a second before giving me a shallow nod. “I do.”

“Why?”

A penitent smile settled upon her lips. “Because I have no desire to live my life like Clarisol.”

I stood up on aching legs and ignored their protests. “Then why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you do it?” I shouted. Erina flinched, but I pressed on. “Why did you betray House Novis?”

She blinked slowly. “You sound upset—”

“Of course I’m upset!” I took a long stride toward the table and glared thunderclouds at Erina. “Look at all the shit you put me through!”

My arms trembled while my hands repeatedly clenched and unclenched as though wanting to throttle the infuriating woman seated before me.

“Do you think this was easy?” I asked her. “Do you? Mirai may be preternatural but she’s not immortal. She’s not invincible. She’s not some frekking superhero. Do frekking get that? Do you Erina?”

Now it wasn’t just arms but my whole body that trembled in anger.

Erina sat back slowly with a contrite look on her face. “I’m sorry—”

“I don’t want your apology!”

“Then what do you want from me?”

“An answer!” I took a couple of quick, deep breaths as I tried to keep my anger lidded. “Tell me why you did it. Now!”

Erina was quiet again, then she dipped her head a little at me. “Isabel, why did you save me?”

I gaped at her. I couldn’t believe her temerity. “You’re frekking unbelievable….”

“Why did you save me?”

I swallowed and considered summoning the Punisher.

It still had about twenty bullets left in the magazine, and I only needed one on Erina – not to kill her, but to wound her.

I cleared my throat again before my boiling anger could clamp it shut.

“If you’re going to die,” I replied, “then it will be by my hand.”

“Then why don’t you shoot me now?”

I lowered my voice and spoke with calm the belied the fury I felt within. “Because now’s not the right time. I’m not a fool, Erina. I know that you have plans for Mirai that having nothing to do with the Gun Princess Royale. And I doubt they have anything to do with saving humanity. But I’m going to learn what they are, and just when those plans are on the verge of fruition…I’ll kill you. I’ll deny you the chance to witness your plans come true. That’s a promise.”

I finished that vow with a gentle nod toward her.

Erina inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly. “The truth is, I have no recollection of ever betraying House Novis to the Empress.”

My fury was swept aside by abject confusion. “What…?”

“I have no memory of betraying House Novis.”

Once again, I gaped at her. “What the Hell are you saying?”

“How many times to do I have to repeat myself?”

I clenched my jaw for a long moment as my anger returned, albeit not as strongly as before. “Then why is Sanreal accusing you of betraying him.”

“Just because I can’t remember doing it, doesn’t mean that I didn’t betray him.”

I half frowned, half grimaced in confusion. “…huh…?”

Erina crossed her arms calmly. “If I was going to betray the Sanreal Family, don’t you think I would have taken measures to wipe my memory clean?”

Was that even possible?

I guess the question was written on my face, because Erina smiled weakly. “The Empire developed the technology not long ago. And House Novis has it in their possession. Have you forgotten that we copied Ronin’s neural map into your brain? Targeting precise memory locations can be done with a little advance preparation.”

“You’re saying that you wiped your own memory?”

“I’m saying that it’s possible, but I have no recollection of having done so.”

“But doesn’t that mean that Sanreal could be wrong about you?”

“It does,” Erina shrugged as she agreed with me. “But unfortunately, I have no evidence with which to refute them and prove my innocence.”

I stared at my former sister, an Alpha, and wondered if Erina would be so foolish as to make herself the prime suspect.

No, that didn’t seem right to me.

This was Erina we were talking about.

The Alpha who always planned several moves ahead.

There was no chance in Hell that she hadn’t expected this turn of events to arise.

In other words, she knew that Sanreal would suspect her, but why didn’t she have the means to prove her innocence?

Something felt off about this situation.

However, should I question her? Should I reveal my suspicions? Should I tell her that I suspected she was bullshitting me?

Erina took advantage of my preoccupied silence. “You saved my life, but now that it’s clear he can’t trust me, Sanreal will undoubtedly have me reassigned.”

I struggled for a moment to jump my thoughts back on track. “What…?”

“I said, I’ll be reassigned…probably.” Erina pouted in displeasure. “Such a bother.”

Her reaction felt amiss to me, and it was distracting too.

I made a conscious effort not to dwell on it, but it wasn’t something I’d disregard either. It was something I’d come back to later when I wasn’t struggling to keep up with her. “You started Project Mirai. How can he finish it without you?”

“Finish it…?” Erina smiled wistfully. “I wasn’t the only one working on Project Mirai. I had help from a lot of talented people. Most of them Alphas. One of them will take over from me. Most probably it will be Umi who will take the reins.”

“Umi?”

“Doctor Pearson. You met her on the VTOL.”

I remembered the bespectacled young woman of Erina’s height, perhaps a little older, who rode with us aboard the VTOL on the short hop from the marina to the city.

Inwardly, I released a bitter laugh.

Though that had taken place only four days ago, it felt like a month had elapsed since then.

I yanked my thoughts back before I fell into a deep reverie, but in doing so, I remembered something else from recent days.

“You tried to warn me about this, didn’t you?” I asked Erina. “Back in the infirmary, when I paid you a visit. That’s what you were trying to tell me. That I would need to carry on without you someday.”

A long moment of silence went by before Erina said, “More or less.”

“Does that you mean you did betray House Novis? Did you tell the Empress about Mirai?”

I watched my former sister bite her lips, then exhale loudly as though expelling something unpleasant that had built up within her.

“You’d think I have a reason to,” she replied. “After all, you are precious to me.”

I remembered what I’d said earlier to her, about knowing that Erina had special plans for me.

“What am I to you?” I asked her.

Erina frowned slightly before breaking into a gentle smile. “You’re a daughter to me.”

I took a half step back from the table.

After all the suffering I’d experience because of her, her sentiment wasn’t something I could accept.

Erina pressed on. “Whether Sanreal is right or wrong about me, it doesn’t matter. Whether I betrayed House Novis or not, isn’t your concern. For the time being, I’m out of your life. You should rejoice.”

I blinked a few times, unable to agree with her, though I couldn’t tell you why.

The way things had turned out seemed off.

Ghost had warned me that Sanreal was planning to test me.

Had I passed or failed?

After a quiet breath, Erina nodded slowly as though to herself, then looked through the Promenade’s windows at the surrounding habitat. “We’ll be landing soon.”

The Promenade was indeed descending, and I watched the tall trees of a large park surround the gondola as it approached a sizeable clearing.

Erina released a soft sigh, and then stood up gracefully.

Not knowing any better, it was hard to believe that she’d survived a near death experience courtesy of my efforts.

“Take care of yourself,” she said softly, then turned on her heels and stepped into the aisle between tables.

It wasn’t until now that I noticed the deck was outlaid like a restaurant.

I watched Erina walk down the aisle toward the spiral staircase in the middle of the Promenade’s deck.

I didn’t know how I should feel as I stared at her back.

Happy? Relieved? Angry? Should I hate her more than I did before?

But why was asking myself that?

Because how I felt was tired, drained, and confused.

I’d achieved the goal of saving her, but now what?

Erina paused when she arrived at the spiral staircase, and then half turned to look back at me. “Isabel.”

I felt lethargic as I returned her gaze. “What…?”

“I’m proud of you,” Erina stated. “So very proud of you.”

I choked on my saliva, taken by surprise not by her words, but by the honest sentiment she expressed.

Erina’s radiant golden aura told me that this was how she truly felt toward me.

While I stared at her at a loss for words, Erina smiled wistfully, then descended the staircase to the lower deck.

“What…the Hell…was that?” I muttered under my breath.

Then I noticed the faint warmth that nestled against my heart, and it made me angry at Erina, and at myself.

“Damn you,” I whispered.

I focused my awareness on that warmth, then clamped a hand around it, but after hesitating for a long, long while…I let it go.

But I couldn’t bring myself to extinguish it.

“Damn you, Erina.”

In frustration, I kicked a chair out from under a table, and sat down heavily onto it, but when I leaned back the backrest collided with the holster arms attached to my Princess Regalia.

Growling in irritation, I considered dumping the holsters, but instead chose to scoot forward on the chair.

With my elbows planted on my thighs, I dropped my head into my hands.

Not long after, I listened to a melodious chime briefly sound through the Promenade, and the flying gondola trembled gently as it touched down in the clearing.

Raising my head, I looked through the gondola’s glass windows in time to see a flock of birds take flight from the nearby tree line – startled into the air by the Promenade’s landing – and remembered watching the seagulls during class from my window seat as they rode the thermals above the ocean waves.

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Apologies for the delay.
2021 has been busy and I've been pushing hard to get the ebook version of Book Three re-edited and polished.
If you follow me on Twitter (@HartSimkin) you'll know how far I've progressed with it.
And you'll see what I'm planning next to release in 2021 before Xmas.
Perhaps to great disappointment, my next novel will not feature any TG elements.
It's a science-fantasy book that I hope has a much, much broader appeal than GPR.
However it is set in the GPR universe, although a couple of thousand years after the events of Mirai/Isabel, whereas Remnant Fiestas is set a couple of hundred years before GPR.

That said, I am not giving up on GPR.
I plan to release 1 book a year on the series or quicker if possible.
But having a novel with a broader appeal and higher financial return, will allow me to continue GPR to its conclusion.

If you are new to the GPR series, and are interested in reading of purchasing Books 1 and 2 of the Gun Princess Royale, the links are provided below:

Book One - Awakening the Princess

Book Two - The Measure of a Princess

A percentage of the purchases made through the links will go toward supporting the website.

I wish you all well.

Please, stay safe.