15. Thestle Part II Midnight before the End of the World

The handsome manwho emerged from the bathroom was almost unrecognizable. The creams and neutrals Lupo had picked for Auren complemented his handsome features perfectly. Lupo couldn't help but grin at him, blushing as the two struggled to make eye contact without smiling stupidly at one another.

"Stop it," Auren said, covering his face coyishly.

"I'm sorry. It's just nice to see you in something other than a dirty space suit or pirate-splattered battle armor," Lupo chuckled. "You look very handsome. Did you have a nice shower?"

"You look handsome, too," Auren replied, "and yeah, thank you."

"Good. Well then, you'll need this. Sadly, it's not Keth, but it'll do the job. I think we'd stand out walking around with alien rifles, and where we're going requires a bit of discretion," Lupo warned, tossing a plasma pistol to Auren and holstering his own.

"More guns, huh?" Auren said disappointedly.

"More guns," Lupo acknowledged. "Ready?"

"Ready."

The two left the cabin and returned to the twilit woodland. Lupo guided them down the hill toward the dome's hyperloop terminal. Each of the domes on Thestle was connected by the transit system, which allowed for rapid transport to any destination on-world.

"So, where exactly are we headed?" Auren asked after a while.

He'd picked up a small pine bough from the ground and had been sniffing it curiously for the past quarter mile or so, seeming to marvel at the small bit of nature. His youthful curiosity was something Lupo increasingly adored about him.

"We are going to a club called Midnight. I'd share the rest, but I think you'll appreciate it more if I keep it a surprise." Lupo laughed, knowing words couldn't do justice to what Auren was about to experience.

"Fair enough, I like surprises," Auren said. "As long as it doesn't end with a Keth invasion…" he added uneasily, glancing nervously skyward.

Ahead of them, a group of soldiers were huddled outside the hyperloop train entrance as they emerged from the woods and into the clearing where Fendhall's little station sat.

"Great," Lupo mumbled as the pair approached.

The soldiers had noticed them and were turning away from the display they'd been occupied with. One of them stepped forward from the huddle.

"Citizens, are you aware this world is under imminent threat of Keth invasion?" the soldier called out, his voice modulating through his battle helmet. He had a formidable-looking plasma rifle slung over one shoulder, and his entire loadout looked more elite and advanced than anything Lupo had seen previously.

"We are. We're heading to Midnight to get a drink," Lupo said dismissively, trying to seem casual. He entered their destination into the train's display and waited patiently while it plotted a route.

"Ah, another doomsdayer heading to the end of the world party, then?" another soldier called out. "If I weren't on service, that's where I'd be right now," he added, sounding envious.

"Not exactly…" Lupo said uneasily, wishing he knew what they were talking about.

"Sure, sure, buddy. I get it. We're all fucked anyway. There is no shame in embracing it. Have fun. Drink a round for me. I hope you're good and sloshed before the Keth show up and turn us all to slag," the soldier replied darkly. The train had just opened its doors for Lupo and Auren.

"Good luck, soldier," Lupo said, saluting the man a bit awkwardly as the doors slid closed.

He sat down on the bench, mood deflated. He had been trying his best not to think about the family he'd left behind on Terra and what might have happened to them. He hadn't kept in touch once he'd set off for a life in the stars, but his thoughts drifted from them occasionally. And the thought that they might have met their end to that sickening green light of the disintegrator rays made him want to vomit. He was glad for the distraction when Auren broke their uneasy silence.

"Poor guys," Auren said glumly. The train bolted off in the direction of Midnight.

"You must have lost a lot of people you cared about on Vesperion," Lupo said, reflecting on the younger man's experience and wondering how he was feeling now under the very threat that had nearly killed him once already—knowing full well their thoughts were overrun by the Keth.

"A few," Auren replied after a time. "There was one woman, Hien—we worked in the kitchen together for almost two years. Some mornings, we'd get up early to make the battalion breakfast, and she'd always make sure to slip me extra bacon at the end of our shift. She had a nice smile."

His look grew distant, and Lupo put his hand on his thigh, feeling a pang in his heart as he saw the younger man's eyes begin to water.

"I let her down. I let all of them down," Auren said.

"You couldn't have saved her or any of them," Lupo soothed. "It's not your fault. You had a chance to survive, and you took it. It doesn't make you any less human."

"I could have been brave enough to stand by her side while she fought for her life, though," Auren replied sourly. Lupo placed a hand on his smooth cheek, wiping away a tear as it fell, and kissed him on the forehead.

"Honor is something we have to discover in ourselves," Lupo began, wanting to comfort the younger man but knowing better than to think he could fix his feelings for him. "This is the process of you figuring out your sense of that. You're a good man, Auren. War is hell. You might be chronologically an adult, but growing up is a lifelong process. Try to learn from your mistakes, but don't hold on to judgment of yourself. The situation you were in wasn't natural."

Auren sighed, pulling away and looking at Lupo appreciatively. A weak smile graced his face. Lupo smiled back, a corner of his mind entertaining briefly that Auren might intend to lean in for a kiss. But then the train stopped, and its door slid open to total pandemonium.

The train had spirited them to the club, its terminal built into the outer wall. Lupo knew there were no other domes in this region. Midnight was set off from the band of resorts, buried deep on the night side of Thestle. It was a stadium-sized glass structure filled with thudding music so loud and fervent it split Lupo's thoughts as they entered.

Above them, a vast holo-display glittered and shimmered as it adapted to the rhythm. Within, a riot of twinkling stars exploded into a flock of flaming birds that streaked through the ecstatic crowd on the dance floor before splashing against a far wall and erupting into a school of electric-neon fish that scattered in every direction. They swam amongst the club's patrons and along its walls and ceiling. The space was dark, and the mood frenetically apocalyptic. Most clubgoers were naked, wearing glowing body paint depicting various animal patterns from across human space, jumping and swaying to the music. Lupo could feel its notes reverberating inside of him.

"Holy shit!" Auren yelled excitedly in his ear, his tears suddenly vanquished. "This is insane!"

Lupo grabbed him by the hand and led him out of the hypertrain, guiding him toward the nearest of Midnight's many bars. There were thousands of people, all partying the night away like it really was the end of the world, and the energy was contagious.

"Have a drink with me before we get to business," Lupo screamed into Auren's ear, enjoying the way his hand felt in his own as they approached the crowded bar.

"I'd love to," Auren screamed back. His breath tickled Lupo's ear.

"Two black holes," Lupo yelled to the bartender.

She was beautiful, nude, striped with an elaborate, iridescent silver-and-copper pattern splashed across her. She clicked the order into a holo, and then a few moments later, she returned with the drinks, placing them on the bar top and eyeing the two conspiratorially as if she knew their story without hearing it. She leaned across the counter, her ample bosom swinging pendulously.

"And what type of animals might you two be?" she inquired, her voice a loud purr. "Let me guess… hmmm… lovebirds?" she clucked, nudging the drinks toward them with a smile before heading off to help the next partygoer.

"You got it," Lupo laughed, giving her a thumbs up.

"To lovebirds," Auren giggled, holding up his drink.

"To lovebirds," Lupo said, swirling the black imbibement in his glass.

The black hole wasn't alcohol so much as a mix of synthetic drugs that replicated a broad spectrum of mild highs, inducing a state of concentrated euphoria that lasted some hours. It immediately went to Lupo's head, and he felt his concentration narrow and deepen. Whatever fear he'd felt about the Keth or even Bartie was gone now.

"What the fuck was that stuff?" Auren yelled in his ear. His face was locked in a huge smile.

"Magic," Lupo said, pulling his companion out into the dance floor crowd after setting down his empty glass.

The dancers were sweaty, the air humid and frantic, and the ever-changing music beat slowed to a rhythmic thump. As the drug cocktail began to flood his system with endorphins, Lupo couldn't help but feel an overwhelming desire for Auren, who he had noted was a much better dancer than he—already losing himself to the rhythm of the night, apparently one with all this chaos.

The holo consolidated into a crackling thundercloud above them. It began to send sparks of technicolored lightning to the ground, casting splashes of neon to erupt through the room with each explosion—all of it synced up somehow to the endless beat.

But in that cacophony of sound, color, and sensation, only one thought, one feeling, occupied Lupo's thoughts: Auren.

And so Lupo let himself get swept away in it.