The Ganymede Legacy

by A C Bonesteel

  Alice smiled. "That's why I'm gonna let you go, Leo... Honestly, even if you won't help me, I'm still going to let you go... Because it's the right thing to do..."

  Then, Alice stood and turned away from Leo. "There's one more thing. Your Council file. All the records of what they did to you, who you are, where you came from, what they know about you. I have it, and I want to give it to you."

  Leo was shocked by that claim and felt a cold hunger spring to life within him. "What? Where is it?"

  Alice turned back to him. "It's on my ship. It will tell you who you were before you were taken to the Venus Research Facility and everything they did to you while you were there. It's biometrically sealed. Only you can read it. Its contents are a mystery to me, but I don't care. I don't care what you were. I only care if you will help me to stop Exony Margolesh from releasing a weapon more destructive than even the one released on Ganymede."

  Leo's heart raced. The things that she was telling him were more monumental than anything he had ever heard. Exony Margolesh? That was who they were supposed to stop? The woman who had directed his torture so many years ago? The woman who had stolen his memories?

  Leo gritted his teeth in anger. He had vowed to himself to kill her if he ever had the chance.

  Alice watched him with concern. "You're having a hard time believing me, and I understand that. But, ask yourself why I would take the time to build a lie like this and tell it to you here and now if all I wanted was to capture you and deliver you to the Council? I could just tranquilize you, drag you to my ship, and be done with it."

  "Yeah..." Leo begrudgingly agreed.

  Alice nodded. "You don't have to trust me. All I want you to do is come with me to my ship, go over the briefing, and take your file. Once we get to that point, then you can decide if you will help me. If you decide that you won't, I'll release you anyways. I don't need some uncooperative dead weight dragging me down while I try to save billions of people."

  Leo couldn't help but bristle at her backhanded insult. "If I'm dead weight, why the hell do you need my help so badly?"

  Alice could have become frustrated at his obstinance, but instead, she smiled at him. "If you really, truly do want to help me; if you buy into what we're doing, then you aren't dead weight. If you genuinely want to help people, then you're the farthest thing from dead weight I can imagine. However, if you come along with reservations or thoughts of simple self-preservation, then you're useless. This is bigger than just you and I, Leo. This is about doing the right thing. It's about finally doing one good thing with our pathetic lives!"

  When Alice finished, her tone had taken on an air of righteous anger. Leo was familiar enough with the feeling to know that it wasn't directed at him, but at herself. Her rage at herself had likely been building for years, and now, she finally thought she had a chance to do something about it.

  Her words echoed in his mind, and he couldn't help but feel some kinship with her. It seemed that they had both made massive mistakes in their lives, and they both felt an intense, but abstract inner drive to try to redeem themselves somehow.

  The difference was that Alice's drive was no longer abstract. She finally had her purpose, and she would pour every ounce herself into it.

  He, on the other hand, had never had a redemptive goal. All he had been able to focus on was his survival and freedom, and it had been impossible for him to do much more than the occasional act of good. Could he ever share Alice's purpose? Could he ever overcome his hatred for the Council and follow their orders?

  Leo's thoughts ran wildly through his mind, and then, from somewhere deep within him, a crazy idea began to form.

  Why not? What was his life worth anyway? Why not give Alice a chance?

  Leo felt like he was hallucinating, or like the whole thing was one big fever-dream. "Okay, Alice. If you're telling the truth, then take me to your ship, and I'll go over the briefing and take my file. Then, I'll decide whether to help you."

  Leo marveled at himself as the words left his mouth. It was insane to go with her willingly, but it would also be insane if she freed him. Maybe the Council had gone mad... Perhaps the whole universe had...

  "Really?" Alice quietly inquired.

  Leo's thoughts raced. What had Annabelle told him? That he was a man who helped people? Well, maybe this was his chance, and if it wasn't, then it was certainly a chance to hurt the Council. Hell, perhaps he would even get a personal audience with them, just like Alice had. Maybe the Void would join him in their chambers.

  Anyways, Alice could have already tranquilized him and taken him by force. That's what a typical operative would have done, but Leo had a profound feeling that Alice was about as far from a cold-blooded operative as one could get.

  She was offering him, at the very least, another hour or so of freedom. With even that on offer, along with the offer of giving him his Council file, even his distaste for the Council couldn't make him turn her down.

  "Yeah, Alice. I'll give you a chance..." Leo announced.

  "Okay, Leo," Alice agreed.

  Then, she bent down and reached towards his wrist restraints. He couldn't help but be impressed as a beam of light flowed from her wrist and severed the bonds that held him. She moved from his wrists to his ankles, and finally to his neck, cutting through each shackle in turn.

  When she finished, she extended her right hand in front of Leo. "Well, you're free. Promise not to kill me?"

  Leo stared at her hand for a few seconds, then grasped it within his. "Yeah, as long as you don't try to kill or imprison me..."

  "I won't... We're gonna need to find you some clothes," Alice replied as she took a step back, and Leo slowly stood up.

  He massaged his wrists and neck and rolled his shoulders as he tried to shake off the discomfort of having been immobilized for the last hour.

  "My stuff is over here..." Leo mumbled as he limped past Alice to the corner of the room. There, he bent over and picked up his clothes. As he held the fabric in his hands, he was dismayed to find they had been cut to ribbons.

  Leo noticed Alice watching him intently as he handled his destroyed clothing. He guessed that thoughts of admiration for the muscles that rippled underneath his skin was not the reason for her intent gaze, but instead that she was simply on her guard.

  Leo shivered a bit as he dropped the ruined clothes to the ground and shook his head.

  "I'm not gonna lie," Alice said with dark humor. "I'll probably get a few funny looks if people on the Grand Promenade see me dragging a naked man back to my ship. They might think you're a high-end escort fulfilling some weird fantasy. Anyways, Sullivan will have something you can put on..."

  Leo almost laughed at Alice's joke, but his composure held, and he managed to keep a serious look on his face. "I wouldn't dare subject you to that embarrassment. I'll find something. Shall we get the hell out of here now, Alice?"

  Alice's humor slid away as quickly as it had come, and she nodded gravely. "Follow me."

  She turned her back to Leo for the first time and walked to the door of the room. As he watched her, Leo couldn't help but think of trying to attack her from behind and making an escape. Why would she trust him like that? It didn't make sense...

  Leo shook his head in amazement; the gesture of trust Alice had just showed him might have been stupid, but he wasn't about to betray it. He wasn't the monster the Council made him out to be.

  Leo took a deep breath, and the thoughts of violence left him.

  As Alice opened the door, light spilled forth from it

  Then, together, they exited Thrall's torture chamber.

  Chapter 18

  A confused cocktail of emotions swirled within Alice as she stepped out of the torture chamber. She had been honest with Leo, and it had paid off. He trusted her enough to come to her ship, and he hadn't yet attacked her. However, her revelations to Leo had taken a considerable toll on her, and she was close to tears as she struggled to bury the freshly unearthed misery within herself.
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  As she looked around the room, she expected to see Director Sullivan's security officers standing guard outside it, but they weren't there. There was no one there except for her and Leo.

  With a quick thought, Alice reactivated her tactical implants and scanned the area. Interestingly, she couldn't detect any life signs in the facility. Perhaps Director Sullivan had already cleared the facility and extracted his prisoners along with the rest of his team, she thought.

  "This way... Cautiously, please," Alice warned as she walked towards the door that would lead them out.

  She continued her scans and saw that there were no life signs in the next room. Then, she cautiously opened the door and led Leo into the facility's makeshift barracks. No one occupied the space, and there was no sign of anything odd, other than crumpled blankets and personal effects that were strewn haphazardly across the floor.

  Alice paused for a moment and signaled for Leo to wait behind her. Her scan readings showed increased radiation the farther forward she walked, and that was cause for concern.

  With trepidation, Alice spoke to Idi in her mind. "Idi, I need you now. I see an increased level of radiation. What's going on?"

  Idi's melodious voice returned to Alice's thoughts. "The readings are currently at a safe level, but if they continue to increase, the conditions here may become hazardous. I recommend you leave immediately."

  Alice lowered her hand and gestured for Leo to follow her once again. "C'mon! We need to move faster. I'm getting some strange radiation readings..."

  Leo nodded as they walked across the barracks, shuffling around the clothes, cups, and entertainment tablets that sat forlornly upon the floor.

  As they crossed the room, Leo ducked down and grabbed an armful of clothes off the floor.

  "Too small... Smells like piss..." Leo mumbled as he shuffled through the clothes.

  Alice felt a bit of impatience. "Don't worry, Leo. If you can't find anything here, I'll buy you all the clothes you want once we get back to my ship."

  Leo shivered as he dropped the clothes and kicked them in frustration, then followed.

  When they reached the next door, Alice scanned the final room they needed to cross before they could leave the base for good. There were only two life signs within it, and they were faint.

  Alice thought the readings were odd. Only two faint life signs... What could that mean?

  "Keep on your guard... Weird reading in the next room," Alice warned.

  Leo nodded as Alice turned the handle next to the door. When the door creaked open, it revealed a horrific sight.

  As Alice led Leo into the next room, she was sickened by the sight of at least twenty bloody, mutilated dead bodies strewn across the floor just as haphazardly as the personal effects had been in the barracks.

  "What the hell..." Leo gasped.

  Alice zeroed in on the life sign readings still present amongst the slaughter. After pinpointing them, she turned to the corner directly to her right and saw Director Sullivan.

  He was sitting down on the floor with his legs splayed out in front of him. He looked up at her weakly with a mix of hope and despair in his eyes. Sitting behind him, and holding a knife to his throat while he caressed Sullivan's hair with the mangled stump of his arm, was a bloodied man she didn't recognize.

  Blood streamed from the man's mouth, and extensive edema was swelling above his right eye. In spite of his injuries, he had a broad smile on his face as he peeked out at Alice and Leo from behind Sullivan's shoulder.

  "Thrall..." Leo spat with pure hatred in his voice.

  Alice heard Leo name the man holding Sullivan hostage and knew by the tone in his voice that Thrall and Leo were bitter enemies. Was he the one who had captured Leo?

  Without delay, Alice quickly formed a plan and queried her hacking implant and projectile system, then transmitted a signal to interface with the two men who sat in the corner.

  She needed to hack any implant tied into Thrall's motor control to deny him the opportunity to kill Sullivan. At the same time, she needed to fire a lethal projectile into Thrall's brain with her bio-projectile system. Idi was everpresent in the back of her mind as she performed the necessary mental tasks, filling in details, and taking steps required to formulate and execute the plan.

  As Alice's mind worked, Thrall started laughing and singing hysterically as he swished his knife over Sullivan's face, slightly grazing his skin and eliciting winces from Sullivan every time the blade touched his skin.

  Thrall smiled up them slyly as he sang. "Mister Seven made a deal, he must have thought it would be a thrill, to turn on Thrall and have him killed, but he'll soon be dead, and his body still..."

  Alice stared him down. "Let him go. We can make a deal, but only if you let him go."

  Leo grunted his disagreement. "Don't bother. The guy is insane."

  Thrall laughed in response. "What did you think of my song? It's not a very good song, I know, but I made it up just now, and I did get whacked on the head earlier, so I'm a bit fuzzy... But, y' know, I got them all in the end... I always win in the end."

  Alice looked over at Leo and saw that his body had tensed. He was coiled and ready to strike. He stared at Thrall with fury in his eyes, and he was going to make a move if the opportunity presented itself.

  Alice looked at Leo pointedly and drew his gaze to hers before giving a subtle shake of her head. At the same time, she located Sullivan's implants and managed to crudely interface with one that was tied to his motor control.

  With Idi's assistance, she quickly engineered an elegant piece of code that would trigger Sullivan to lean forward when she transmitted a particular signal to him.

  Thrall, on the other hand, had no detectable implants for her to hack, and there was no technology near them that she could manipulate to cause a diversion. She would have to be exact with her timing if she was to kill Thrall and also prevent him from fatally injuring Sullivan.

  aSuddenly, Sullivan burst out with a loud, panicked warning. "Run! She's gonna exp..."

  Before he could finish, Thrall shut off the Director's speech with a savage upward thrust of his knife. Sullivan gurgled and gasped through the flow of his blood as Thrall cut through his vocal cords.

  Alice saw the blow clearly and knew that it wouldn't be immediately fatal. Sullivan wouldn't bleed out from the wound. She could treat him quickly after killing Thrall, so she didn't alter her plan, but steeled herself for the flurry of action she was about to unleash.

  Thrall leered at Alice and Leo and pointed his stump at them ominously. "I know what you're thinking right now. You're trying to figure out how to kill me and save this little piggy here. Well, sorry to say, you're not going to do either of those two things, in fact, you're going to die very soon instead. See, this is my home that you're in..."

  Alice had heard enough, and the moment for action had come. With a thought, she triggered Sullivan's motor control, and he jerked his head downward. At the same time, she raised her arm to fire into Thrall's exposed forehead. Bu, just as she did so, Idi's voice rang in her head, and blurred warnings flashed across her vision.

  "Radiation! Get out. Too stroooooonnnnnnnnnffffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr," Idi screamed. Then, her voice melted into incoherent gibberish.

  As Idi's voice melted away, Alice's implants began to malfunction. Strings of unintelligible data flashed across her vision and clouded her mind as she struggled to maintain her outer composure.

  Suddenly, without her control or knowledge, her bio-projectile system fired of its own accord, releasing a deadly dart from her wrist that missed her right foot by an inch as it buried itself in the floor.

  She began to edge away from Thrall. She wanted to save Sullivan, but the situation had become too dangerous. She had to consider her mission. If she or Leo were killed, it would mean failure and the deaths of countless people.

  As Alice edged toward the exit door, she tried to get Leo's attention and direct him to follow her. However, Leo's eyes were locked ont
o Thrall as he intently walked toward him. Thrall leered up at Leo for a few seconds before violently shoving Sullivan off of himself and springing to his feet.

  "C'mon Leo, let's get out of here now!" Alice screamed.

  Then, the lights went out, and the room was plunged into pitch-darkness.

  Alice quickly became lost in the darkness, and it spread over her like an oppressive, impenetrable fog. With panic racing through her heart, she reached around frantically for the handle of the exit door.

  "Fuck!" she screamed as she fumbled around where she thought the door would be.

  While she blindly searched, she tried to query her ocular implant and get a thermal view of the room, but the implant responded to her query by causing her vision to flash with a white and black strobing pattern.

  Then, the sounds of Leo and Thrall beginning a vicious battle erupted around her. Based on the frenzied grunting and rustling, it was a violent and clumsy struggle.

  Thrall could be heard yelling and grunting between whooshes of air that could only be violent swings of his blade. Leo was quieter, but she could hear his calm, deep breaths as he swiftly moved around the room. Alice had no idea if Leo or Thrall could see through the darkness, but she was completely blind.

  Alice thought she heard the telltale hissing sound of a door opening amidst the commotion, and for a moment, she expected the room to be bathed in light once again. Unfortunately, no light flooded into the room, and Alice became convinced that the sound was just a trick of her mind.

  Alice finally found the far wall of the room. As she ran her hands along it, the sound of Thrall's grunting and stabbing came nearer to her.

  "Please, please!" she begged as she felt along the wall.

  Then, finally, her hand found a cold metal handle.

  Alice grasped it firmly, but before she could turn it, someone violently smashed into her, pinned her against the door, and savagely drug her to the ground.

  As she struggled against her unseen attacker, she could make out the sounds of Leo also fighting on the opposite side of the room.