One-Move Checkmate - Part III

17th March

Old Settlement, Artemis, State of Luna

Making my way down to the 'situation room' with Akira, was uneventful. He isn't very talkative, not that I know what I would say to him. But anyway, that isn't important right now. Even whether I want to see Frank's dream through to the end, I can think about that as much as I want later. The only thing that matters right now, is helping Frank get through this pinch.

I make my way down the stairs, and find myself up on an elevated platform. Up on the platform with me, stands Rosia de Marcos, from the provisional government meeting, and someone (presumably Frank) sits in a chair in the middle of the platform, but it's what lies in front of me beyond the platform that catches my eye. A huge room, filled with computers and enough people to man them, fills the space beyond the cavern. The walls are shiny and sharp and black. The bedrock of the cavern itself, I realise, has been made into the walls of this secret room. Rosia seems to hear my approach and looks back at me. I don't know anything about her, other than she works with and for Seine Montague. Frank, however, does seem to trust her, or at least trust Seine, enough. I walk forward until I stand beside Frank, on the other side of him from Rosia. Frank finally notices me when I come to a stop, barely half a meter away from him.

"Kyle, I'm glad you came," Frank speaks. He tries to hide it, but I can hear in his voice. It wasn't just some trick over the phone, Frank is scared. He's shaking. His left arm, still braced in the exoskeleton, is uncontrollable. Frank's eyes are wide open, and dash and dart from side to side. I've never seen him quite like this before. He is terrified. I can't imagine quite what he's thinking, I never have, but I understand that the idea that everything he's ever worked for, ever wanted might be lost to him, must terrify him.

"What can I do for you, Frank?" I say. I stay standing, looking down at him.

Frank looks at me, and for a moment he looks like a helpless child, "I don't know, Kyle. I don't know what to do, I don't know what I want you to do. It just… how did it come to this? If I had seen this coming, I could've dealt with it easily, but… but I can't stop it now. It's too late. I don't know what I can do to change this."

What is this? Who is this in front of me? I don't recognise the person in front of me now. This is not the Frank Scuderi I know. The Frank who always knows what's coming his way, who's always one step ahead. That Frank wouldn't ever be like this snivelling man in front of me. It makes me a little disgusted. To think Frank would ever be helpless like this. If I say nothing now, this will be how it all ends. Frank and Aria's dream will die, and come to an end. Whether that would be a good thing or not, I cannot say, because I don't know. I've followed Frank blindly without knowing what his dream really is, so I only know what people have told me. Jazz says that it is something beautiful, and Alexander agrees, but believes that Frank's way of going about things will tarnish it. And maybe their right, but I don't know. All I do know, is that Frank has never relied on me the way he is right now. Because of that, though I'm still unsure where I go from here, for right now I need to be Frank's faithful follower.

"I don't know what you want me to do either, Frank."

"Huh?"

"I said, I don't know what you want me to do. There's nothing anyone can do, except for you. It's always been you Frank. You're the one who's always led me, always told me what to do, and I could only do it without asking any questions because I believed in you, Frank. So, you don't get to just give up when it gets tough. It isn't your place to lose your head just because one thing hasn't gone how you expected. This isn't just your dream anymore Frank. In fact, it isn't even just about your dream anymore. You made this important to everyone on the moon, to everyone that followed the Lunarian Dream. You're not allowed to fail them."

Frank looks at me and blinks a couple of times before he speaks. In the pause, I notice that the entire room has gone silent, that no one else is speaking. Everyone is looking in our direction, listening to what I have to say.

"But," Frank begins, "there's nothing that I can do. I can't change what has already been done. There's no piece that I can move, no play that I can make. There's nothing left that I can do."

"I don't believe that," I grab Frank by his collar. I pull him up, making him hit his left forearm on the chair's arm. He winces in pain, but I pay him no mind, and drag him up so that he's almost at my eye level.

"I don't believe that for a second," I repeat, "from all my years at your side, following you, what I've learnt is that even if no one else can see it, there's always a way forward. You can always find a way, even if no one else can, so you can't just say there's no way now, not this late in. There must be a way. All I'm asking is that you try to find it."

In lunar gravity, Frank feels so light. So light that I can hold him up by the collar the entire time I'm speaking. When I'm done, I finally let Frank find his feet. When he's standing, he breathes in deeply, and exhales. Then he does it again. I notice then that he's no longer shaking.

As he straightens his collar and tie, Frank says, "there's always another way forward, huh?"

Frank begins to smile as he finishes pushing his tie into place. He walks away from me, and smacks his hands down on the metal bar serving as a handrail along the edge of the platform. Everyone is staring at him, looking, watching, waiting for his orders. Then he starts laughing. He tries to hide out, but everyone heard it. Frank Scuderi giggled, at some private joke that no one else will ever hear.

I hear him say something that sounds like 'I understand' under his breathe, then Frank looks up and out at the room below him.

"Open communication with the Indonesian President. I have one more piece that we can play before we've lost."

Frank's orders are simple, and even though he has tens of people waiting on him, only a couple have any work to do. All the rest of us can do is wait and watch as this plays out. Whilst we're waiting for the communication line, Frank takes Rosia aside, and speaks to her privately. I would like to hear what their saying, but they keep it very quiet. The only clue I do get, is that Rosia looks shocked upon hearing whatever it is Frank is asking of her. Though that seems normal at first, Frank does say a lot of things that seem crazy at first, but considering that this is Rosia it must be something crazier than usual. After all, to break Rosia's posed look, it must be something quite shocking. Frank returns to his seat in the centre, with a wry smile.

"Thank you, Kyle. You were right, there's always another way. This might just work."

I don't say anything to that. I just think about whether or not I did the right thing. I'm still unsure about everything. Do I want Frank to succeed? Or should I try to stop him and his dream? Alexander was right, I can't follow Frank blindly anymore, but whether that means I shouldn't follow him at all, I'm not sure yet. All I know, is that Frank is relying on me right now, so for right now, I'll follow Frank. I can worry about the rest after this is over.

After a short wait, the Indonesian President appears on a screen ahead of the platform, and overhead from the rows of computers below. The President is an older, aging man. I don't know much about him, but I believe that he's ex-military.

"It's too late, Mr Scuderi," the President begins, "you've already lost. In an hours' time, LKY Spaceport will be in our hands, and the Helium-3 supplies will be cut, not just for your enemies, but for your allies as well. The entire Earth will turn on you."

Frank just smiles as he listens, "no, you're wrong Mr President. I'm sure it's meaningless, but I'll ask once anyway. Turn your ships around, and we can come to a deal."

"There's nothing you can offer me, Mr Scuderi. Your days are numbered."

"Consul Scuderi."

"You can call yourself whatever you like. I don't recognise your… whatever it's called."

Even now, Frank's smile hasn't disappeared. He stands and takes a step towards the edge of the platform, "you know, I don't think you understand, so I'm going to tell you a story. Just to show how serious I am… what rules I'm willing to break, so that you understand that your going to be on the wrong side of all this if you don't turn those ships around.

Three years ago, I came to an arrangement with the Israeli government. In return for a large arsenal of missiles, which I used to take out China and Pakistan's communications, I agreed that the first ten thousand colonists on Mars will be Israeli. On top of that, the Israelis also agreed to help me secretly transport Palestinian workers up to the moon, and from there to Ceres. What you don't know, however, is that a ship known as the Persephone is currently less than a day away from completing its' return journey to the moon, carrying valuable resources mined in the asteroid belt. The Persephone is by far the biggest spaceship ever built. It's so large, that it would be impossible for it to ever leave Earth's atmosphere if we tried to launch it from down there. What do you think would happen, if we changed that ship's course, and made its' destination say… Jakarta?"

The President blinks a few times, and looks at the screen for much longer than can be accounted for by the four-second delay. A look of disbelief spreads across his face.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, I'm very serious, Mr President. If I were to redirect the Persephone right now, it would… arrive at Jakarta in twelve hours. How many people live in Jakarta? Do you think you can evacuate all of them in time?"

In that moment, I felt an inexplicable sense of dread. A sense of terrible, terrible fear. Frank Scuderi. I no longer recognise who that is. Yes, I still know the person who has that name, I haven't forgotten that, but I no longer recognise who that is. What he has become. I look fearfully at Frank, sitting just beside me, and as I look at him, I get a strong feeling that the person sitting beside me is not human. What is sitting beside me, is a devil.