To my surprise, I feel Persephone's finger gently stroke my back. Given my sudden outburst, I did not expect her to be this tender. Why is she doing this? Shouldn't she be mad at me?

"Okay, fine, Hercules, I'll listen to you," she says, her voice strangely calm, "No need to shout."

Slowly, I get back onto my feet. I clear my eyes and then decide to sit down beside her breast – much closer than I was before. I lean my head against her bra, and her hand, having followed me from my previous position, squeezes me against her.

"I'm sorry for shouting. Allow me to explain what I thought."

"Alright then. Explain."

Well here goes. Time for a bit of flattery I think. Hopefully this ego stroking will get her to see my point of view.

"Do you think someone as perfect and as powerful as you could be born naturally?"

"I must have been Hercules. How else would I have been born?"

Her voice conveys a sense of confusion. It's like I'm stupid for asking such a question. I guess Flattery isn't working, so I need to try something else. Ah, I know!

"Then who is your mummy?"

"M-my mummy?"

"Yes, your mummy. Althea calls you mummy but who do you call your mummy?"

"I...I don't know. But I must have a mummy Hercules. Everyone has a mummy."

I sigh. She just doesn't get it. I guess it must be incredibly hard for her to come to terms with the truth. If I was in her situation, I'd probably be hard to convince too.

I wonder if she's thought about why she's not supposed to kill the miners. That might trigger something. Maybe I can try that route.

"You know how you're not supposed to attack most mining vessel?" I prompt.

"Uh, yeah, but I still kill some miner humans."

She squeezes me tighter against her breast with her hand, like I'm some cuddly children's toy. Who knew I could make such a powerful being feel so vulnerable? Hopefully she won't be too upset once I've said everything I need to say.

"I can't remember if I asked you this before, but do you know what the reason is?"

"No. Eris just tells us not to interfere with them. Sometimes the miners give us humans so they aren't so bad I suppose."

"Well, I think Eris is working with the miner humans. But I don't know why."

She suddenly stops squeezing me. Her voice takes on a harsher tone. How could she not see this? She's been out here longer than I have.

"How do you know? Why would Eris take orders from some stupid humans? What could she possibly get out of some stupid humans?"

"The miner humans love that planet you're not allowed to go near. But why? That's the final piece of the puzzle..."

"What puzzle?"

"Don't you get it?"

"Get what?"

"You're supposed to protect the planet. You were created to protect that planet. There's something very important on that planet. And we..."

"Listen, Hercules, you need to go. Go play with Althea for a while...or something. You can come back when you stop with the crazy talk."

Now you've done it Sidney. Perhaps I should have left it up to Wayne to explain it all to her. That way at least she wouldn't be upset at me.

"Were will I find Althea?" I ask.

"I'll send her to you. Just make sure to meet her by the lifts downstairs."

As I stand up, Persephone scoops me up with her hands. She deposits me on the floor by the lift lobby and walks off into the distance. Usually she sees me off, so I must have really got to her. At least I have a communications device now, if she feels the need to contact me.

When I reach the lower level, I see Althea running towards me – dressed in a casual red dress, with a holster around her waist. Seeing as she looks happy, Persephone must not have told her that she's upset yet. And, given how eager Althea is to point her gun at people, I hope it stays that way.

"I was wondering when my mummy would next let me have some free time with you," she says as she wraps her fingers around my wrist, "Come on, let me show you how we prepare some humans for mummy's dinner."

"Uh, wait," I say as I try to pull myself out of her grip, "Isn't there anything else that we can do? What do you do for fun around here?"

She looks at me perplexed. Like she is surprised that I don't find killing humans fun. Persephone has corrupted her so much; I wonder if she even considers herself human.

"Shooting at stupid humans is fun."

"But what else is fun?"

"Going in my mummy's swimming pool is fun. But she probably won't let us do that."

"Yeah, you're probably right..."

"I know what we should do for fun! My mummy says you're really muscular so you can fight some humans for fun."

Althea grabs my arm again. She tugs harder this time, and, reluctantly, I decide not to resist her. She's pretty strong herself, and athletic, so I better not upset her. However, perhaps stupidly, I still voice my outrage.

"W-wait, I can't do that!"

"Why not? I think you'll be good at disciplining the humans."

"Probably, but..."

Althea briefly turns back to look at me and rolls her eyes. Before I can finish my sentence, she cuts me off. She almost sounds annoyed at the fact that I don't want to abuse humans.

"Why are humans always so whiny? Come on, you'll enjoy yourself Hercules."

Without any further protest, I allow Althea to lead me down the corridor. After a minute or so of brisk walking, we arrive at a set of double doors, painted in pink of course. She barges through the set of double doors and a stunning sight is revealed.

The room is vast, though not very tall, and all along the far wall are the scarred bodies of humans. Many alive, some dead, all starved and weak. Dried blood is a prominent feature of the room, with random splatters everywhere.

The thing that I'm most drawn to, however, is not the blood or the numerous dead bodies, but someone I think I recognise. As Althea has released my arm from her grip, I take the opportunity to go and examine this person more closely.

"Hercules, where are you going?" Althea shouts, as I jog over to the familiar looking woman.

I ignore her. As I approach the woman, my worst fears are confirmed. Slumped in the corner is Jasmine, her naval pilot outfit stained with blood. But what's she doing on Persephone's flagship? Shouldn't she have been taken by Nyx or Eris?

"Jasmine, what have they done to you?" I cry.

Rather than reply to my question, she simply glares at me. Her eyes lock onto my own, paralysing me. Behind me, I hear Althea running up to us.

"You know this human?" Althea asks as she comes up behind me.

"Yeah, we know each other," Jasmine says in a strained voice, suggesting an extreme thirst,"I see Sidney is living the good life upstairs."

"Althea, let me handle this..."

"Okay Hercules," she interrupts.

"Hah! Hercules, is that what she calls you?" Jasmine spits, "That implies that you're still brave and strong. Of course, I can't blame you for being a traitor. I was promised great things too..."

"Then why on Mars are you down here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I was betrayed! It's only a matter of time before they betray you too I'm sure."

"Wait, what? Who betrayed you?"

"We won't betray Hercules!" Althea shouts, taking a pistol from out of her holster.

Althea points a pistol at her, but her only reaction is to turn her head to look at the wall. Her eyes seem to focus on a large patch of blood on the wall. To think she was the one who begged me not to switch sides.

"You know that holiday I went on to Olympus Mons? I lied. Well, I did go to Olympus Mons, that much is true, but it wasn't a holiday at all."

"It's the mining company, isn't it?"

"How did you know?"

"Isn't it obvious? Well, it might not be obvious, but I think you're the final piece of the puzzle."

"How so?"

"First of all, what were you asked to do?"

"If you get them, well Persephone, promise to let me live, I'll tell you."

"After all of the nasty things you said about my mummy?" Althea shouts, "I don't think so. You'll be..."

"Althea, please!" I say in an as authoritative tone as I can, "Can we talk over in that corner for a minute?"

I point towards the opposite corner, an area of the room with no human bodies. Althea puts her pistol back into her holster and begins to walk towards it. I follow her, letting out a long sigh as I do.

"So why do you want to save that filth?" Althea says, clearly annoyed.

"I believe she has valuable information that should help us to defeat Eris," I say, in the hopes of swaying her, "We need Jasmine alive."

"My mummy isn't going to like this."

"I know. But can we at least hear what she has to say?"

Althea crosses her arms. She stares at me for a moment, clearly thinking deeply. Eventually, she replies in a whiny voice – the sort of voice an annoyed teenage girl uses when talking to her parents after they just upset.

"Fine," she huffs.

I smile at her, though my thankful expression doesn't seem to have any effect on her. When I turn to look at Jasmine again, I see some of the people sneering at us. The atmosphere is clearly tense, but nobody seems to be voicing their anger about the special treatment Jasmine is getting.

"Why isn't anyone else speaking? I ask.

"They know not to speak," Althea says simply.

What could that mean? Is speaking an automatic ticket into Persephone's stomach? I better not ask her what she puts these people through.

I offer Jasmine my hand, and slowly help her up. She's clearly thinner than when I last saw her. I bet Persephone hasn't been feeding her properly.

"Thank you Sidney," she whispers to me.

Given how weak she looks, I wrap my arm around her waist as we head towards the door. Althea gets there first and holds the door for us. Despite her kind gesture, she still seems rather bitter.

After we're both in the corridor with her, she locks the doors behind us. When she turns to look at me again, it is clear that she is still quite uneasy at the situation. Her eyes narrow as she shifts her stare to Jasmine.

"What is this valuable information Hercules says you have?" she says in a stern voice.

Jasmine stares back at her. She coughs and then begins to speak. Although her own voice is strained, she still manages to be just about audible.

"Ever wonder why it was so easy for Eris to hack into the state of the art ship?"

"Come to think of it, yes."

"That's because...I was asked to implant a virus in the ship."

"P-pardon?"

"After the ship has launched there are no further chances for any software updates, and, knowing that, they asked me to infiltrate the computer system. After all, who would suspect a sweet young damsel like me?"

I never expected her to be capable of this. I let her words sink in for a few seconds. During the silence, none of us move or make a sound.

"Why do such a thing?" I ask, trying to mask my rising anger.

"You're a turncoat too," she counters.

"I guess I'm a hypocrite for asking: But why?"

She turns her head, making sure that I see her sorrowful expression. In front of us, Althea looks on impatiently. One of these days, her pistol will be pointed at me, I just know it.

"I was offered diamonds and other rare gems to the value of several million," she says, "But they decided to torture me instead. And then I was thrown in here."

Suddenly it hits me. That's it! Diamonds! The mining companies want to keep the price of diamonds and rare gems artificially high!

Why didn't I think of this before? It seems so obvious now. Carbon is one of the most common elements in the universe so it would make sense to block access to a planet full of volcanos and diamonds. That planet must have a huge supply of diamonds on it.

"Althea, is there anywhere we can sit down?" I ask, "Can we have some water too?"

"We can go into my bedroom," she offers, "There is water in there."

"Thank you Althea."

Althea leads us down another largely empty corridor, and we soon arrive at her bedroom. Surprisingly, it's furnished in the way one would expect the bedroom of a young woman to be – mostly in bright colours, particularly in red. I guess Persephone and her minions have been hard at work looting things over the years.

Given Althea's confused personality, I was half-expecting a cluttered room. Somehow, there isn't any clutter anywhere. The main items of note are a huge wooden cupboard at the far end, another doorway – leading to an en-suite – and, of course, a bed.

The bed, unmade, has an intricate metal frame, black, and white sheets. Moving on from the corner closest to the entrance, there is a simple night-stand, also white, with nothing on it. Before I can finish studying the room, Althea grabs my free hand and leads us into her bathroom.

"Water," she declares as she points towards the metallic sink.

I turn the tap on, and Jasmine immediately begins to drink from the sink. Perhaps I should have asked for a drinking utensil as well? It must be fairly demeaning to have to drink directly from the tap.

"Now, where was I?" Jasmine asks, bringing her head up from the tap, her voice now noticeably less strained.

"You were telling us about the rarities you were offered," I remind her.

"Yes, that's it. I was offered huge riches for infiltrating the ship's computer network. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as planned."

"Hercules, do you hate these miners?" Althea asks suddenly.

We both focus on Althea. Why this question all of a sudden? What answer can I give that won't upset her? Is Persephone even friendly with the miners? After all, it doesn't seem like she gets on with any of the other Angels.

"Um..." I say, before trailing off.

Althea rolls her eyes. Gosh, how can I say that I don't like the miners without irking her even more? Or maybe she's thought the miners were evil all along? I never actually asked her about that.

"My mummy and I won't hate you if you say no you know."

That's good to know. I did get the feeling that Persephone didn't like the miners. Then again, they have helped to maintain this ship. Weak slaves are limited in their capacity I'm sure.

"Does your mummy hate the miners?"

"Just answer my question Hercules."

"I do hate them."

"Okay, good, so you won't care if we have some more miner humans for our dinner then."

That was it? That's all that she wanted to know? I don't believe this woman! Anyway, back to the serious conversation...

"How did you do it Jasmine?" I ask, "Leave the battle area without being noticed I mean."

"The virus also prevents my ship from showing up on the radars, and because all of the fighters and bombers are connected to the main ship their radar systems are affected too. I was able to sneak away and dock with a cloaked mining vessel. After I left, the mining vessel got in contact with me, and I knew it was time for me to leave. I easily escaped during the heat of the battle."

"The plan was so well coordinated, it's almost like the miners were working with Nyx. There must not have been that long between Nyx launching her attack and you docking..."

"Hercules, I'm bored," Althea interrupts, "Can we do something fun together instead of all this talking?

"I'm sorry Althea. I have so many questions for Jasmine. What would you like to do with me?"

"Well, it's almost time to prepare my mummy's dinner, which is always fun!"

"Do you think we could feed Jasmine too? Don't worry, I'll take care of the cooking."

"I'll need to ask my mummy first."

That's what I've been dreading. How will Persephone react when she finds out I'm friends with part of her dinner? I can't imagine that a woman like her will take too kindly to competition.

Althea rolls up her sleeve to reveal her communication device. With a quick press of a button, she's opened up a channel with Persephone. Fortunately, her voice doesn't contain any of her sadness from earlier.

"Hello Althea," she says.

"Mummy, Hercules wants to know if he can feed one of your snacks."

Jasmine chokes at the bluntness of the statement. Sadly, I have become used to humans being food so her words don't affect me as much. Still, her brutal honesty is shocking.

"What?" Persephone exclaims, apparently offended by my regard for human life, "He wants to spare my food?"

"You'd better talk to him. It's crazy, I know."

And so the focus once again shifts to me. How on Mars can I be diplomatic here? I do not want to upset that huge mass of woman anymore than she already is.

"Explain yourself Hercules," Persephone says firmly.

"Jasmine is my friend and she..."

"Oh, her. Hercules, how could you? Don't you know the sort of things that she said to me?"

"No, I don't. But I'll make sure Jasmine apologises to you."

"Hercules, you don't understand. She called me a monster and said I was fat. I'm perfect, you said so yourself. I'm not a monster."

"Wait, the stupid miner humans are giving orders to Nyx too."

Oh my gosh. What on Mars did I just say? I don't even know if that's actually true. Then again, it does seem rather obvious now that I think about it; they were very coordinated.

"What? Really?" we hear Persephone bellow, "How dare she take orders from inferior humans! We don't take orders from any humans! We're Angels. We're perfect! How did you find out about this?"

"Jasmine told me that."

I hear Persephone choke. If Jasmine knew all this information about the miners then why didn't she just tell Persephone Nyx was scheming behind her back, instead of insulting her? All of this could have been avoided.

"But how do you know Jasmine isn't lying?"

"Nyx has blonde hair, yes? I saw them talking to Nyx," Jasmine says, her face almost a smile.

Is this really working? Wait, did Jasmine actually see them talking to Nyx? Why are the miners helping Nyx? What do they get out of this? Isn't Eris good enough for them?

"If this is true," Persephone says, sadness returning to her voice, "Then I'm not sure Nyx and I can be friends anymore."

"But she has Wayne with her," I protest, "You can't just give up on our plan."

"I don't care."