“Doctor, I would highly advise against that,” Apeiron said.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Jason replied. “Just take me there.”
“Jason, as much as I want to kill Dr. Cross, this is a bad idea,” Darnel said. “I really think you should reconsider.”
“I have, and I’ve made up my mind. Sometimes in order to understand your enemy, you must think like your enemy.”
Darnel let out a sigh. “Do you really need to talk to Doctor Cross to understand him?”
Jason simply nodded.
The pilots flew out of the open hangar door and toward the Titan Space Elevator. A few minutes later they landed at the spaceport for Sector 199. Two Canebrakes waited on the deck, their blue eyes simmering in the darkness.
Both machines guided the entourage through the secure habitat that required passing through sixteen hatches.
A Piston wearing black vacuum-rated armor waited for them at the final hatch. “Welcome to Sector 199, Doctor Crichton,” he said. He glanced warily at Apeiron’s segmented arms and serrated blades, and then at Darnel’s exoskeleton.
“We’re here to see Doctor Cross,” Jason said.
“Right, this way,” the Piston said. He held up a hand to Apeiron. “Humans only in this sector. It’s protocol, which I’m sure you understand.”
“She’s with me,” Jason said.
“I go where Doctor Crichton goes,” Apeiron said.
The Piston looked at them in turn and sighed. “Follow me.”
He guided them into a wide passage, where a sealed hatch opened to a bridge stretching over a silo-shaped room with thirty box cells, each with a small window. He stepped onto a hover platform at the end of the bridge and motioned for Jason, Darnel, and Apeiron. It lifted off, flew toward the top of the silo, and connected with another small bridge.
“Here you go,” the Piston said. “The Mad Wolf.”
“I want to talk to him alone, just with Darnel,” Jason said to Apeiron.
“Doctor—”
“That’s not a request.”
“Very well.”
Apeiron remained on the hover platform as Jason and Darnel crossed the bridge to the box cube holding the Mad Wolf. An electrical forcefield around the box activated, and the walls folded into the hull of the silo, exposing a small deck and a bed. Standing in front of it was Dr. Cross.
“Ah, Doctor Crichton,” Dr. Cross said proudly. Red INVS eyes stared at Jason before flitting to Darnel.
He was thinner than Jason remembered.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Dr. Cross asked.
“Help me understand why you have chosen evil to ‘save’ the human race.”
Dr. Cross’s grin faded.
“Evil?” Dr. Cross asked. “You think…”
Before Jason could respond, Dr. Cross screamed his response, his eyes bulging from the strain.
“Your efforts to save humanity have DOOMED us!”
Dr. Cross took two deep breaths and seemed to relax after the outburst. He looked back at the bridge where Apeiron waited.
“You designed a machine to solve humanity’s problems, when all along it is technology that has destroyed us,” Dr. Cross said calmly. “The only way to survive as a species is to return to where we started and create a new civilization.”
“Through a reset,” Jason asked.
Dr. Cross nodded. “Precisely.”
He looked away from Apeiron, and back to Jason.
“It would be better to let the asteroid hit,” Dr. Cross said. “When I first learned about Hros-1, I thought it was a lie. Now I know the truth. Don’t you see?”
Jason remained quiet.
“This asteroid is the solution to our problems,” Dr. Cross said. “It’s the cosmos curing a disease we thought was incurable. Humanity. The universe seeks to reset the balance on our planet, because we’re no longer worthy of the gifts it bestowed on us. Humanity has taken and taken, only prolonging the inevitable. It must be taught a lesson. You cannot change your fate. You cannot change the balance of life. You can only adapt to embrace it.”
He leaned in, his nostril slits nearly touching the force field.
“You made a mistake by thinking you could play God and transfer your sister into that… abomination… all for some hope at giving her eternal life, I presume,” he said, gesturing at Apeiron. “She isn’t our savior, Doctor Crichton. Apeiron is the devil, and I fear you won’t realize that until it’s too late.”
— 25 —
Chloe dreamed the same dream she had almost every night, in which Dr. Cross and his Iron Wolves hunted her through a frozen forest.
She awoke just before six in the morning, back in the hospital from yet another surgery, her body covered in sweat.
Apeiron’s voice filled her mind, reassuring her that she was okay, but Chloe still had a hard time calming down. For the past five months she had been stuck in rooms just like this one, recovering from her injuries. The most recent was a blood clot in her brain that had ruptured when she traveled to the space elevator, the changes in pressure causing the aneurism that had nearly killed her.
Chloe sat up in bed to watch the first glow of sunrise split the horizon. “Apeiron, sometimes I feel like I’ve used up all my lives.”
“I would argue the opposite,” Apeiron said. “You are one of the most resilient humans I have ever met.” This time the voice came from a white Hummer Droid as it entered Chloe’s room. “Are you ready to finally leave this place?”
“So ready,” Chloe said. “When are you going to tell me where I’m going?”
“I am going to leave that up to your uncle.”
Chloe dressed, pulled her hair into a ponytail, and left the room with the droid. They walked along a passage with a holo-screen playing news about Hros-1.
She had been so focused on her recovery that it still hadn’t sunk in that civilization could end in less than a month. But no matter how bad things got, they couldn’t get any worse than those days in the catacombs with Dr. Cross, or what came after: ten surgeries, countless hours of physical therapy, learning how to use her INVS eyes and augmented parts.
Uncle Keanu and Apeiron had kept her going.
And the visits from Cyrus. Although she no longer had a human heart, Chloe had fallen for the former police officer turned resistance fighter. He had listened to her when she needed someone to talk to, and she had discovered he shared a lot of the same struggles.
They shared a bond through trauma. A real human connection that she had lost in all the years running from the Coalition and struggling to survive during her captivity in Paris.
She had almost forgotten what it was like to have someone in her life she could trust beside her uncle. It was refreshing to share so many deep feelings and thoughts with him.
Because after all she had seen and with the world still in danger, she knew trust and true human relationships would become harder to find.
She continued down a white hallway, passing people like her: victims of the war, missing limbs and parts of their insides. Apeiron guided her out of the hospital to a garden with freshly planted trees and flowers, where Keanu was waiting under the canopy of a blooming oak tree. On his shoulder was something Chloe had never thought she would see again.
“Radar!” she shouted. The droid bird flapped over and landed on her arm. “Where did you find him?”
“Right where you left him,” Keanu replied. “After the Pistons cleared the area, I went back to our old home. Radar was there. Dirty, but nothing some soap and a rag couldn’t handle.”
“Who you calling dirty?” Radar asked.
Chloe laughed. That was her Radar.
“Were you going to leave without saying goodbye?” a jocular voice called. Cyrus limped down a garden path toward her.
“I figured you might be here,” Chloe said, smiling.
“You figured right.” Cyrus smirked, clearly embarrassed. �
��Who’s this?”
“Name’s Radar,” said the droid. “What’s that shit stain on your lip?”
Cyrus gingerly reached up to his mustache. Chloe laughed harder than she had in weeks.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Cyrus said.
“Pleasure’s mine, mate,” Radar replied.
“I’ll give you two a few minutes, but Chloe, don’t take too much time,” Keanu said. “Our shuttle leaves in five hours. Apeiron got us approved for two tickets to Kepler Station. I already have a job lined up as a human liaison administrator at the station.”
“What?”
“Apeiron can’t protect you here, Chloe, and the Red Wolves are still out there. You aren’t safe on Earth, and this is our chance to start over.”
“I’ll protect her,” Cyrus said.
“I can protect myself,” Chloe said. “I’ve survived more than my fair share of attacks, and I don’t plan on running and hiding.”
“No offense, but how can you protect yourself?” Keanu said. “I’m not just talking to you, Chloe. That question goes for the both of you. It’s not just the Red Wolves that are a danger. Things are getting worse in the megacities. Just last night there were riots in the refugee camp where I stay.”
Chloe had seen the images over INN. Apeiron had continued to encourage everyone to calm down and come together, assuring them that things would improve, that the odds of the asteroid making it past the cannons were negligible.
But it wasn’t just the asteroid that had people in the streets. Coalition refugees and unemployed Nova Alliance citizens made for a powder keg that seemed ready to blow. They were all desperate for work, but most of the labor and jobs available to them had been taken over by droids. The defeat of the Coalition had not magically changed the increasingly quagmire economy, no matter how the Nova Alliance Council and their allies like AAS tried to fix it.
“It won’t be forever,” Keanu said.
“Maybe Apeiron can get Cyrus approved, too,” Chloe said.
“I already asked,” Keanu said. “I’m sorry, but the answer was no.”
“What about buying a ticket?” Chloe asked.
Cyrus suddenly looked away, and she realized he couldn’t afford one.
“You aren’t selling me,” Radar said. “No, no, no, you aren’t.”
“I have some money left from the droid shop,” Chloe said.
“It’s okay, I don’t want help,” Cyrus said. He was a proud man, and she knew he wouldn’t accept, even if Keanu offered.
“Hello,” Apeiron said. “I am here to assist if you would like to discuss this, Chloe.”
They all turned toward the Medical Service Droid.
“Apeiron, I can’t believe you want to send me to the Moon,” Chloe gasped. She felt betrayed, hurt, angry.
“Chloe, you are a wonderful human,” Apeiron said, “and I want the best for you. Right now, that is at Kepler Station, where you can restart your life in a droid shop. I have an apprentice lined up for you based on your work with Kichiro.”
“Maybe this is for the best,” Cyrus said. “That’s a great opportunity, Chloe.”
She glared at him. “You’re okay with me going?”
“It’s not forever,” Cyrus replied, “and it’s safer than staying here.”
“Safer there, safer there,” Radar said.
“Radar, please shut up,” Chloe said.
The droid flapped its wings from its perch on her shoulder, blasting her with a draft of air.
“I want what’s best for you,” Cyrus said, “and if that means you go to the Moon and I don’t see you for a while, until I can get there…”
“I will see what I can do about getting Cyrus a ticket,” Apeiron said.
Chloe felt her anger subside as Cyrus brushed a strand of hair away from her face and kissed her cheek.
“It will be okay.” He leaned in and kissed her lips, then stepped back. “I’ll try and find a way to get on a shuttle. I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that,” she replied.
Chloe spent the rest of the day in a trance. She slogged through customs at the Nova Alliance spaceport, signing paperwork and applying for a custom droid permit for Radar. By nightfall, she was boarding a red corvette with her uncle and the droid. The seats were comfortable and spacious, and a window gave her a view of the megacity. Power had already been restored, and the Eiffel Tower was lit up in the green lights of solidarity.
As the shuttle blasted off, she watched her old home grow distant. The memories and horrors of the war seemed to fade with the lights. Maybe this fresh start was what she needed. She closed her eyes as the shuttle rumbled through the sky in the first stage of the twelve-hour journey to Kepler Station. Almost five months after dying on Earth, she crossed the barrier into space.
She took a calming drink from a Service Droid. As the fluid took effect, she looked out the window at a patrol of black and red King Cobra Spaceplanes. The single cockpit fighters had short wings with mounted plasma cannons and dorsal wings on the top and bottom. They were flying a CAP around the tenth and final Poseidon cannon that had just launched into orbit from a climber. Beyond, a red light winked over the five wings of Nova One space station. Blue lights flashed on incoming shuttles and MOTHs waiting for entry into the hangar bays.
The corvette passed by, heading straight for the Moon.
Chloe closed her eyes, thinking of Cyrus as she drifted off to sleep.
By the time she woke up, the shuttle was descending over the regolith of Kepler Station.
A kind female voice surged from the PA system of the shuttle.
“Welcome, visitors to Kepler Station, or if this is your new home, welcome home.”
This wasn’t the kind voice Apeiron used on Earth.
Chloe suddenly felt alone again, away from the AI that had been with her every single day for months, away from Cyrus, and about to set foot on a hostile, foreign hunk of rock.
She suddenly got the sense this wasn’t temporary.
Something about this journey felt permanent.
***
Ronin walked with his uncle and brothers through the gardens of Edo Castle. Akira had promised this visit for months, but again and again, he had been deployed on some far-off mission while Ronin and his family stayed at his condo in Megacity Tokyo.
Now, only eighteen hours remained before Hros-1 arrived. Most of the world had gone underground, and soon the Hayashi family would retreat to a shelter underground.
If his uncle was nervous, he wasn’t showing it.
Dressed in his snug black uniform and carrying his leather-bound book, Akira had finally made good on his promise, even with the imminent threat of Hros-1. Maybe Ronin was reading too far into it, but his uncle seemed relaxed and at ease being in the presence of his family, even if Elan and Zachary stared at their Commpads. Unlike Ronin, his twin brother seemed more interested in the screens than the history of Edo Castle.
Akira glanced up at the sky.
“You won’t be able to see the asteroid yet,” Ronin said. “I heard it won’t be visible until about thirty minutes before it hits orbit. We can’t see the cannons either, not during the day, but they’re visible at night, especially when the sun reflects off them. The magnitude of the glare can make them brighter than the brightest stars.”
“Cool shit, but I got a question,” Zachary said.
Akira nodded. “What?”
“If scientists are so sure the cannons will destroy the asteroid, why is everyone in shelters?” Zachary asked.
“Because even the most prepared warriors do not go into battle without caution and an exit plan.”
“Yeah, I figured, but still…” Zachary shrugged.
They continued through the gardens. The sweet fragrance of cherry blossoms hung in the air. The pink trees were in full bloom. Purple and blue Fuji flowers hung from wisteria trees. Tulip beds exploded with bright colors.
A pair of
black and yellow Hummer Droids carefully plucked weeds and trimmed bonsai trees around a pond.
Ronin treasured the time with his uncle. Through his eyes, Akira was a hero, respected by all and loved by his soldiers. He seemed to have no flaws, but Ronin knew that everyone, even his uncle, had an Achilles’ heel.
At times over the past few months, Ronin had noticed his uncle seemed sad. He figured that had to do with all of the death on the battlefield and probably the loss of his own family. Although, Ronin didn’t know the details about what had happened the night his wife and son died.
Akira stopped and gestured toward the ancient white castle towering over the gardens.
“Edo Castle played an important role in the history of the Hayashi family,” Akira said. “You three come from a long line of warriors, not only on my side, but your mother’s Apache side as well.”
Ronin could see her in the distance, standing with his father Kai. She reached out to a hanging wisteria flower and took a sniff.
“Have you learned about the Apache in school?” Akira asked.
“Yes, they were brave and fierce warriors,” Zachary said.
Elan nodded and signed. I must not have that blood in me.
Ronin and Zachary both chuckled.
“You got your talents, little bro,” Zachary said. “Nerd talents.”
They laughed again.
“So, can you tell us more about that book?” Ronin asked.
“This has been in our family for five generations, documenting ancient conflicts, and battles that I have waged,” Akira said. He handed the book to Ronin.
Ronin studied the gold stenciling: two swords behind a Silver Crane, faded Japanese letters, and a katana. He carefully opened the book.
“This is not just a book about war, but about the life of a warrior,” Akira said. “It is as much as a philosophical and spiritual guide as it is a historical document. Written on those pages is a code of honor, an ethos, that I have followed my entire life, and that your father has followed, and our ancestors as well.”
Ronin turned the pages with the utmost care, glancing at the journal entries, sketches of samurai armor, quotations about the samurai warrior code bushido, a recent drawing of a Canebrake fighting a Coalition Breaker.
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