"I'm sure Alice will have no problem making a detour so I can have someone check out the tablet..."
Annabelle turned and sat cross-legged on the bed to face Leo. "She will. This thing getting hacked is a big deal. If Exony can hack a tablet on this ship, then she could hack other things, and that would put this whole mission at risk. This is important!"
Leo gave Annabelle a doubtful look. "She'll want to take it to a Council scientist, and if that's the case, she can burn in hell..."
Annabelle shrugged. "Well, she needs you. She went through hell to save you, all in the hope that you would help her. She'll follow your lead as long as you explain your thinking."
Leo sighed. "Listen, if that tablet is bogus, this whole mission is bogus too. You don't know the Council like I do. They lie, and lie more to cover up their lies. How many times have you seen the terrible things they've done, only to hear them lie their way into making themselves look good? Look at Ganymede! It's all bullshit, Annabelle!"
Annabelle nodded. "I'm young, Leo. I haven't seen them do nearly as much as you have, so maybe I don't have the experience to see things the way you do, but how well do you really know the Council?"
"I know what they did to me!" he shouted.
Annabelle nodded again. "You know what Exony did to you. You know what Exony did on Ganymede. Maybe it was all just her. Maybe she's the evil one, and the rest of the Council is alright..."
"They were part of it!" Leo roared. "They all bear the blame!"
Annabelle shrugged. "Fine. They did terrible things to you, and they've done terrible things to others, but they aren't all bad, are they? I mean, you're alive right now thanks to technology they developed, and so are a lot of other people. They've done bad things, yes, but they've also done a lot of good. If they were evil, why would they try to help anyone at all?"
Leo had to accept the crude rationality in her words, though he didn't want to. "Okay fine, they aren't completely evil. They're just mostly evil..."
Annabelle cut him off. "They're human, Leo, just like you and me. They make mistakes just like anyone else does. Just like you and I do. Have you ever lied, Leo? Have you ever made a mistake?"
"Yes, I've lied. Of course, I've lied," Leo stammered, "but I don't control the whole system. They have to be better than 'just people' if they expect me to help them, and they aren't!"
"Leo, how many people have you killed?" Annabelle suddenly demanded.
Leo was caught off guard by the question, and he didn't want to answer it. He didn't want to embarrass himself or give Annabelle a reason to fear him. He felt immense relief when Annabelle saved him from answering.
"Never mind that, Leo. It doesn't matter. My point is that you aren't some righteous hero. Maybe you want to be, but you aren't. Right now, you're just like everyone else. You're just trying to do the best you can with the hand you've been dealt, and call me crazy, but I think the Council is doing the same thing. They're trying to stop a crazy woman from killing us all, and they need your help. What's so bad about that? If you're so ready to condemn the Council when they do something wrong, then you should be prepared to step in and help when they want to do something right. If you want the system to change, then you have to take responsibility for making that change happen."
Leo felt the urge to argue, but she was right. The Council lied, yes, but they told the truth sometimes. If they were telling the truth in regards to Alice's mission, then he would be committing a terrible deed if he refused to help her.
"Leo?" Annabelle asked quietly, as she watched his thoughts churn within him. "What about the tablet? What if it was Exony? What if she did hack it, and she knows Alice is coming?"
Leo didn't want to entertain that thought. If Exony already knew about Alice, then the mission was already screwed. "It wasn't Exony. It was the Council. They're just trying to manipulate me..."
Annabelle placed her hand on Leo's leg then stared into his eyes. "But what if it was? Don't you want to know? What if Exony hacked the ship? We have to know!"
Leo avoided her stare and looked down at the tablet beside her. "I don't know, Annabelle... How would that even be possible? Some kind of subspace program to detect Council technology and hack it maybe... Or a specially programmed nano-virus... I don't know enough about the technology..."
Annabelle nodded in agreement. "Neither do I. We need an expert. We need to know for sure. Everything depends on it..."
Leo felt tears welling in his eyes. "Exony said she was my mother, Annabelle. That's insane! What if it was her? What if she's telling the truth?"
Annabelle kept her voice even. "That doesn't matter, Leo. It doesn't matter who your parents were..."
A single tear slid down Leo's cheek. "It matters to me...."
Annabelle was silent, but Leo could see tears forming in her eyes as well.
"I need answers... I need to know!" Leo declared.
Annabelle grasped Leo's hand within hers. "Then let's get some answers. Who do you know who could analyze your tablet and find out what happened to it? If it was Exony, you know she is real, and you know the Council is telling the truth. If it was the Council, you know that they are lying scumbags who are trying to mess with your head."
Leo considered her advice. Would Alice even allow that sort of delay? Who could he trust to be able to find out what Annabelle suggested? The only person he knew was old Randell Clark, a black-market tech dealer on Oberon. He had helped Leo change identities many times over the years, and he certainly knew Council technology. He had been a science officer for the New Republic during the war...
Randell could help him, but even If he did discover the truth of the tablet and learned that Exony had hacked it, what then? Would he find her and kill her? Or, would he be more likely to question her? He had to admit that there were answers about himself that only she knew.
Leo thought about Exony with disgust. For all the bizarre and cruel machinations of the Council, Exony had been the worst among them. Her illegal experimentation and Ganymede were terrible, and he was sure that it was only the beginning of her list of crimes.
If it was really her, and the Council was right, then she had to be stopped. Even if her crimes were only those she had already committed, she needed to be stopped. How many other lives had she stolen? How many more would die if she was allowed to continue?
Leo squeezed Annabelle's hand. "Listen, I know a guy on Oberon. He's not exactly a legitimate businessman, but he's helped me with my implants for quite a few years. He also sold me my ship. He could look at that tablet and discover the truth. He was a tech expert during the war..."
Annabelle grinned. "See? That's perfect... If you trust him, and he has the expertise, he can tell you exactly what happened. Plus, he can take out your fried implants and put some new ones in you while he's at it. That's a clear win-win. Alice will go for that!"
Leo tried, but he couldn't match the expression of happiness Annabelle so beautifully displayed. Instead, his lips only upturned to lessen his frown. He hadn't even thought about his implants yet.
"I guess that's a good idea, but I doubt implants will help us much if we end up going after Exony..."
Annabelle smiled wider, then patted Leo on his thigh and stood up. "I'm gonna get something to eat. Tell Alice we need to go to Oberon. She'll understand, I'm certain of it."
When she reached the door, she spun around with excitement. "Ooooh, we can get some good wine while we're there too. We need to get to know Alice better; to be sure we really can trust her. There's nothing better than a few bottles of wine to help with that!"
Without another word, she spun around, opened the door, and left.
After a few seconds, Leo sighed, stood up, and began the short journey back to the command deck.
Chapter 27
Thrall Verdum stared at his reflection in a small handheld mirror and inspected the thick, ropy scar across his throat. It had been quite a wound, and it should have killed him, but fortunately, reinforcements had arrived
at his base before he could bleed out. His brothers Yon and Kern, and a few more had returned just a few minutes after that freak Leo and his little bitch friend had managed to escape.
Thrall scowled as he contemplated the terrible, but oh so enjoyable things he would do to the scum who had hurt him so.
The pathetic vermin would pay for what they had done, especially Leo, Thrall thought. It wasn't enough of an insult to cut off his hand, apparently, because Leo had also taken it upon himself to kill his brothers and his beloved wife, not to mention cutting his throat with his own blade.
Although Thrall missed his hand and would have preferred to avoid having his throat slit open, the loss of his family was what hurt Thrall the most. After only a few short months of marital bliss, his devoted, beautiful, and oh so tasty wife was dead.
Lovely Justine... How beautiful she was, Thrall mused, as he looked over at her half-eaten corpse. The mirror he held had been a wedding gift for divine Justine, and she had showered him with kisses when he had presented to her on their wedding night. She had enjoyed the gift even more when he had explained how he had procured it. He had generously taken it off the dead body of an Osiris socialite.
What had the socialite's name been? Sarah? Rene? Thrall couldn't recall, and he supposed it didn't matter. The mirror was a pretty little trinket regardless of who owned it, much like the socialite herself. Its frame was light pink and made from ornately formed polymer, and it held a real silver mirror that seemed to add an element of refined grace to anyone's reflection within it.
Thrall smiled as he remembered the look of shock and idiocy that had come over that useless bitch's face as he had skinned her. Truthfully, the socialite hadn't been as pink as the mirror. In fact, her soft skin was a little paler, but inside... Inside she had been a beautiful mix of pink and crimson.
As he basked in the memories of the young woman he had killed so generously for his wife, he absentmindedly tossed the mirror into the corner of his sparse, cold quarters.
The radiation from his reactor had almost killed him, but just like the wound in his neck, it hadn't been enough. All that remained of the radiation was the cancer he could smell growing within his body. He would have to get it treated eventually, but that could wait. There was a job to be done, and not the least entertaining job one could have.
Thrall popped up from the couch and slid languidly across the room, stopping in the middle of it to pick up a small black briefcase off the floor. He cradled the case lovingly, then walked towards the door to his fun room. He turned the metal handle next to the door, which then opened with a soft hiss to reveal the subject of his most pressing task.
After Thrall stepped inside, he gently closed the door. Then, he gazed casually at Director Sullivan, who sat there naked with a look of idiotic terror smeared across his stupid, fat, face. Thrall walked over to his pathetic servant, then held the case up to show him the gift he was about to offer.
"See this?" Thrall asked.
He hadn't yet seen fit to repair Sullivan's vocal cords, mainly because he hated the stupid voice they produced, so he knew he wouldn't get much of an answer. All Sullivan could manage was a weak, gurgling cough as his eyes filled with tears.
With a twisted grin, Thrall continued. "This is your ticket to freedom, sir. This is the solution to all your problems. After I put this in you, you won't have a care in the world."
With a flourish, Thrall snapped the case open and extracted a small metal cylinder from within it. He cradled the cylinder with care and raised his eyebrows temptingly as he slowly offered it to Sullivan.
More gurgles emitted from Sullivan's idiotic face, and his eyes widened as Thrall raised the cylinder, then popped off its medal lid with his thumb. He then held it motionless and watched with glee as terror filled the entirety of Sullivan's being.
Then, with a wild squeak, Thrall shoved the open cylinder past Sullivan's weakly clenched jaws and down his throat. Sullivan's breathing quickened, and he gasped raggedly as the small robot that called the cylinder home awakened in his mouth.
Thrall had built the little gadget just for Sullivan, and what a little robot it was!
Thrall watched it lovingly as Sullivan opened his mouth and tried to spit it out, but it had claws, and it held firmly to the inside of his mouth. It looked like a small plastic slug, except it was covered in tiny, sharp scales to enable it to burrow easily through soft tissue.
Sullivan quickly realized he would not be able to banish the little gadget from his mouth, and he promptly gave up. Sullivan's shoulder's slumped, and a quiet crunching sound intermixed with his wheezing as the tiny robot used its razor-sharp scales to burrow through his throat.
Thrall listened to the quiet crunching and reached down to rub Sullivan's soft, hairy belly. "It'll be okay, sir. I know it hurts, but we're going to get you back in tip-top shape. You'll be back to your command post in no time."
With a smirk, Thrall watched as Sullivan began to convulse. He couldn't help but feel gleeful at how things had turned out.
The Director would soon be under his complete control, Osiris would be his within a few days, and Leo would soon be returned to him. It was only a matter of time before others amongst the chosen found Leo and his little bitch friend.
After all, Thrall had tasted him.
Thrall had his scent...
Chapter 28
Alice sat and stared at the data on her viewing screen. She was lost in thought, debating what she could do if Leo refused to help her.
She wished she could distance herself and the mission from the Council in Leo's mind, but it just wasn't possible. After all, she was there at the Council's direction, aboard a Council ship, and en route to a Council base on Umbriel.
The Council had made contact, and they knew of all that had happened on her mission so far. According to Idi, the link between the Council and Exony had been severed. Still, they had not decided to alter the mission. She was to proceed to the Umbriel facility for re-implantation, then locate Exony's lab and destroy it, along with her and all it contained.
Alice was slightly dismayed that the Council had offered no more help. She thought that if the link was broken, they could now act more directly in opposition to Exony, but apparently, that wasn't the case.
Alice's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door to the command center slide open behind her. She rotated her chair and saw Leo walking gingerly towards her. His face revealed immense doubt, and he held the tablet she had given him tightly in his right hand.
Alice didn't speak but gestured towards the chair next to her. Leo nodded and sat down heavily.
Alice was concerned about Leo. Idi had alerted her of abnormal readings coming from his quarters thirty minutes before.
The risks of having him on board had been rather abstract until the Epiphany had started shaking. As frightening as it was, the risks were necessary if she wanted his help to defeat Exony.
"Did the tablet answer your questions about your past?" Alice gently inquired.
Leo gave her a grim look and held the tablet up in front of her. "No..."
Then, he launched into an explanation of his experience with his file.
Alice kept her expression neutral as she listened, but inside, she profound worry began to grow within her. The tablet had been biometrically encoded, and she hadn't been able to read it. There should have been no way that anyone could manipulate the files on it, not unless they had access to Leo's biometric signature.
She supposed the Council would have access to that information, but why would they corrupt the data? How would that help their mission? They weren't that stupid...
If Exony had hacked the tablet, what else could she do to sabotage their mission? She could know precisely where the Epiphany was, she could disable life-support, or she could open the airlock...
Fear and doubt settled upon Alice as she realized that Exony could even be listening to her and Leo's conversation at that very moment...
Alice steeled
herself, and tried to make sense of Leo's experience with the file.
"Why would the Council do that to your file, Leo? Why would they sink to such a crude manipulation tactic and one that you would see through so easily? Why would they risk angering you when they need your help so dearly?"
Leo glared down at the tablet "They think they're so much more intelligent than everyone around them... They think they can play me like a fiddle, and I'll go right along with it..."
Alice knew she had to disarm Leo's anger. She had to convince him to calm himself and look at things logically, all while she internally processed the horrible possibility that Exony had already begun to sabotage the mission.
"Leo, I'm not claiming to be an expert, but don't you think it's possible that Exony hacked it? She is the most advanced programmer in history. Someone with access to your full genetic profile could access it and make the changes to it. Exony has access to that information. Hell, she probably created your genetic profile..."
Leo frowned. "Yeah, I guess..."
Alice was encouraged by his tentative agreement. "It makes more sense that Exony would hack the tablet to sabotage our mission than it does for the Council to do the same thing. Why would the Council risk alienating you further?"
Leo dropped the tablet onto the control console next to him and crossed his arms.
"It could be Exony, or it could be the Council. I'm not convinced one way or the other. I've already thought this through, and I know what we need to do. I talked to Annabelle about it, and she suggested that I take the tablet to a tech expert and have them try to figure out what happened to it."
Leo took a deep breath, then continued. "If it really was Exony, then I'll help you, but if it was the Council, then I'm done with this. If you want my help, I have to be sure."
Alice listened carefully. Leo was acting surprisingly reasonable. Trying to figure out the mystery of the tablet would mean a slight delay in their mission, but if it got Leo on board, then it would be well worth the delay.
The Ganymede Legacy Page 23