The Ganymede Legacy

by A C Bonesteel

  The kind director had already promoted the best among the chosen to superior positions among the station staff. Within just a few more days, the station would be entirely under Thrall's control. The Osiris Executive Director, one Ms. Arlee, was the last domino that needed to fall to complete that process. One little nudge, perhaps into a pool of acid, was all she needed...

  Suddenly, Thrall felt severe pain in his abdomen. He was overthinking, and he needed to eat. So, he absentmindedly reached down and felt around on the floor for a tasty morsel. He quickly found what he was looking for - a severed hand from the heiress who had lived in his new home before him.

  He pulled the bloody, smooth-skinned hand to his mouth and gnashed his teeth into it, tearing strands of tough, but tasty human flesh into his mouth. He chewed the meat slowly, savoring its complex flavor. After two more bites, he felt sated enough to continue thinking.

  Osiris was quickly becoming precisely as his father had envisioned it. It would become a place where the Chosen determined the application of laws. The rest of the station occupants would be nothing but playthings. They would be allowed to live only for entertainment, and for the most divine among the Chosen, for meat.

  Thrall tore another piece of flesh from the hand, this time chewing faster. His hunger had grown since he had finally put his plan into action. He needed more meat...

  It was odd, Thrall thought, as he took yet another bite from the hand. Initially, the idea of eating human flesh had been abhorrent to him. His father had tried to explain the necessity of it, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to cross that threshold.

  He had abstained, despite his father's urging through much of his adolescence, until finally, when he had neared adulthood, the hunger had taken his mind for the first time. That memory was one he now cherished.

  He had inelegantly navigated the ritual of immature experiments in romance that humans so bizarrely fostered among their youth. The penultimate example of that behavior had been a date with a girl named Charlotte. She had been young, lively, and easy on the eyes. When she had agreed to come with Thrall back to his room, he had fantasized about what would happen. The reality, however, had turned out very different.

  They had sat awkwardly together on his bed, making meaningless conversation until finally, Thrall had leaned in for a kiss. Charlotte had enthusiastically accepted the gesture, but when their lips had finally touched, and the smooth scent of her had entered his nostrils, he had gone mad.

  Her taste... Her scent... It had been so sweet, so flavorful, and so complex in its depth and balance...

  Instead of kissing her, he had chewed away her bottom lip as she cried out in pain and fear and struggled against him.

  He had ignored her cries and easily overpowered her, hungrily tasting more and more of her until his father had discovered them. Thrall remembered that moment with pride. His father had calmly walked over and plunged a short blade into sweet Charlotte's heart, then looked at him with admiration.

  A look was all he and his father had needed to communicate what had happened, and the knowing smile that his father had given him was all the reassurance he needed to finish his meal. Together, they had eaten Charlotte. They had consumed every piece of her except for the dryest of her bones, and it was then that Thrall's father had revealed the true nature of his divinity.

  The Chosen were gods. They had mutated over many generations of life in space, and prolonged radiation exposure. The tipping point, however, had been a fateful side-effect of the Council's standard bio-tech imprinting, which had been bonded to humanity through the technological manipulations of sperm and egg.

  His father had explained the genesis of their species shortly after his first meal. He had learned that initially, only one in a billion was chosen. However, as a manifestation of divine instincts, they had found one another among the Solar System. They had then built their communities by hiding in plain sight, and by showing no loyalty to the pathetic humans.

  Yes, to be born chosen was a rare gift, and it was what distinguished the leaders among them. Not all chosen were born, however; some were made. Thrall's father had discovered the method for spreading their gift amongst the ignorant herd of humanity. That fluid substance was given to a human only as a divine gift, and only when they were proven worthy.

  That gift had been first synthesized from his father's pituitary gland, and first tested on Thrall's mother. In the past, it had been given only during a hallowed ritual, but Thrall now had a different vision. He wanted to spread the gift on a broader scale than had ever been attempted before. He wanted the Chosen to rule the Solar system, and he would be the one to rule the Chosen.

  He was a god, and humanity was nothing but meat. However, they were meat with a purpose. They were to act as servants and sustenance. And perhaps, on the rare occasion, they would assume the mantle of the Chosen themselves.

  He would soon become the god of Osiris, Thrall thought with glee. Osiris would be the birthplace of the Chosen supremacy, and all the meat there would soon belong to him.

  Thrall smiled to himself, then tore another piece of flesh from the bloody, mangled hand and chewed on it thoughtfully.

  Chapter 37

  "Did you get any sleep?" Alice asked Leo as she wiggled her toes back and forth.

  Leo kept his eyes locked on Annabelle's motionless body. "Yeah, a few hours. Better than nothing, I guess..."

  With an awkward effort, Alice groaned and struggled to her feet. "We have no idea where this ship is going, do we?"

  "I have an idea..." Leo replied.

  When Alice had first moved her arms, she had soon realized her recovery from her paralysis was going to take a while. Mercifully, she had been able to sleep most of it away. As she tentatively walked around the room, she was now hopeful she would be able to move normally within a few hours.

  Alice rolled her shoulders, trying to stretch the fatigue out of them. She was recovering, but Annabelle still hadn't moved.

  "What's your idea, Leo?" Alice asked as she watched Leo kneel next to Annabelle.

  Leo checked Annabelle's pulse with a look of deep concern on his face.

  "Exony. It's taking us where she wants us to be... Oh, goddamnit, it's been at least twelve hours... Why hasn't she moved yet? You've been moving for hours, but she's still giving me nothing. Do you think she got a stronger dose?"

  Alice braced herself against one of the consoles in the middle of Randell's lab to test the strength of her legs as she replied. "She could have. It depends on how many darts hit her. I was only hit by one."

  "I couldn't find any darts stuck in her," Leo growled as he placed his hand to Annabelle's chest. "They must have fallen out on their own. Maybe we should check her body for wounds. We need to know if she's having an adverse reaction."

  Alice frowned. "Well, if you want to do that, you're going to have to remove all of her clothes. And that is, without a doubt, something that you should get her permission to do before you do it."

  Leo snapped his head to look at Alice, genuine offense contorting his face. "Obviously, but considering the circumstances, I doubt she would have a problem with it. In fact, I know she wouldn't!"

  Alice raised her eyebrows as she sank into a squatting position. "You know she wouldn't, huh? You know her that well?"

  Leo shook his head dismissively and turned away. "I feel like I know her..."

  "Fine," Alice conceded as she rose from her squat, then tested her balance by standing on one leg.

  Silence fell as Alice continued to test her neuromuscular function. She walked around the room a few times, then transitioned into a light jog for a few more. Leo paid her no mind as she completed her laps around the room. His attention was focused solely on Annabelle.

  "I need water," Alice stated as she suddenly noticed her deep thirst. Then, she began looking for some within the lab's shelves and compartments.

  Fortunately, it seemed Leo had already solved that problem.

  "The second cabinet to your
left," he shouted. "There's a few gallon jugs in there. The third compartment to your right has a bucket. That's our only bathroom. Sorry... I tried to find a way out of here, but no luck..."

  Alice quickly found the water and drank as much as she could, then surreptitiously found the bucket. Leo had already used it, she saw with disgust as she pulled it from the compartment. She snuck a glance at Leo and was relieved to see that he was still watching Annabelle.

  "Don't look over here, please," she called. Leo obeyed, and she was able to relieve herself with a modicum of privacy.

  "I know Randell left, but I couldn't see where he went!" Alice shouted when she had finished. She broke the silence with a far louder voice than she intended. Her control of her vocal cords had perhaps not recovered as much as her control of her legs.

  Leo cautiously turned and pointed at the small octagonal section of the floor a few feet from where Alice was standing. "He went somewhere else on the ship, I guess. He was on the floor with Sila for about a half-hour, completely catatonic, then got up and started working on the elevator on the floor there. He wouldn't answer any questions, told me to screw off multiple times, blamed me for everything, then grabbed some tool or another and worked on the elevator. Apparently, he got it working. After I fell asleep, I woke up and he wasn't here."

  "I wonder how big this ship is..." Alice wondered aloud, looking down at the elevator door. It was shut, and there was no obvious way to open it.

  Leo looked intently at Alice. "I'm sure he'll be back. He expects you to pay him quite a bit for his troubles."

  "Well, the money is the last of my concerns," Alice quietly replied. "I just want to know where the hell this ship is taking us."

  "Wherever it's taking us, it will be right where Exony wants us..." Leo grunted as he brushed his hair back with his hands. Then, he gave a small shake of his head, stood up, and walked towards Alice.

  "Are you sure about that?" Alice asked as Leo stopped next to her and stared down at the elevator.

  "Exony built the thing that is controlling the ship, but maybe she doesn't have direct control over it," Leo conceded. His furrowed brow revealed that he was thinking deeply about their current circumstances.

  Alice was happy that Leo was done fretting over Annabelle for the moment. "If she didn't have direct control over it, or at least some knowledge of what it's doing, why would it have caused the ship to take off? I mean, honestly, if Exony is in control of the ship, it would seem she doesn't want us dead, at least not right now."

  "You're right," Leo agreed. "If Exony wanted us dead, she could open the hatches. Or, maybe if she wanted to be more vulgar, she could fly us right into your-anus."

  "Seriously?" Alice asked with dismay, trying hard not to chuckle.

  "You get my point," Leo replied.

  "Now is not the time for jokes..." Alice groaned.

  Leo shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry. I guess Annabelle has been rubbing off on me..."

  Alice shook her head and sighed. In spite of his poor sense of humor, she agreed with him. Exony had them at her mercy, and if they made it off of that ship, it would be because she wanted them to. But why would she want them to?

  Dark possibilities clouded Alice's mind as she knelt next to the elevator and felt around its edge.

  "I get your point," Alice replied, with a glance up at Leo. "And, I imagine you're thinking about the same things I am. Why hasn't she already killed us? It doesn't make any sense."

  Leo's eyes flashed dangerously. "Either Exony isn't trying to do what the Council claims, she intends to turn us to her cause, or..."

  Leo trailed off as his expression darkened, and his lips began to tremble.

  "Or what?" Alice pressed him as she stood and began to stare at him.

  Leo looked Alice dead in her eyes. "She might want to watch me spend a few more years in a cage."

  "You think she might want to study you ?" Alice gently inquired.

  Leo was silent as his eyes slid out of focus. "I'm certain she does, actually. How long ago did Exony leave the Council?"

  "What?" Alice asked, surprised by the odd question. "Eight years or so, I guess."

  Leo nodded knowingly and turned away from her, then began to walk back towards Annabelle. "That was what caused it."

  "Caused what?" Alice demanded.

  He didn't turn to face her. "That's what caused the Council to stop sending operatives after me... At least, until you showed up."

  Alice gave up on the elevator and followed him. "They stopped sending operatives after you eight years ago?"

  "Four hundred fifty-two," Leo sadly revealed as he placed his hand to Annabelle's chest once again. "That's how many operatives they sent after me. At least two every year, for every year that I was free. But eight years ago, they stopped sending them. I figured that they had just gotten tired of losing operatives, but now I know why they stopped. It was because Exony was no longer on the Council."

  Alice tried to process what Leo had just told her. "You think Exony was responsible for the Council trying so hard to capture you?"

  "Yes."

  Alice's thoughts swirled in her mind. Had so many Operatives really met their end going after Leo? If it was true, then the Council had intentionally left that number out of her briefing. She felt like she had a good sense of Leo, but the fact that he was responsible for the deaths of so many like her was disturbing.

  Alice thought back on her own time spent in Council captivity. The months upon months of forced experimentation and testing... The pieces they had taken from her... The sleep deprivation... The cognitive relay that forced her to relive Ganymede again and again...

  Yes, Alice thought. If someone tried to capture her and take her back there, she would fight them with everything she had. She couldn't blame Leo for fighting for his freedom.

  Leo grasped Annabelle's hand. "I was the only one... I was the only subject in that program that lived. I'm the only one that can do what I can do. Exony wanted me back so she could continue her research. She wanted me bad enough to send so many, even though none of them had a chance. Well, except two."

  "The Pyros?" Alice asked, thinking back to her briefing on Leo's history. "Operative Yang?"

  Leo looked up and nodded. "Yes. I never saw her coming. The war was raging, and they had just outfitted their operatives with fourth-gen tech. I couldn't detect any of it, and when I met Ms. Yang, she played me for a fool. I was at a little bar on Titan, in a little dusty mining town. She hustled me at pool and brought my guard down far enough for me to let her buy me a drink. She had a mouth like a spacer, let me tell you. Every other word out of her mouth was 'shit.' I passed out at the bar, and the next thing I remember, I was in the brig of the Pyros."

  "But you escaped... By hell, you escaped..." Alice interjected.

  "By something much darker and much worse than hell," Leo continued as fear crept into his voice. "When I learned what that ship was going to do, the Void came... It tore The Pyros apart. Then, I left on Ms. Yang's ship. She was kind enough to find me as the Pyros was falling into Jupiter and took me there. I imagine she thought she would still be able to deliver me to the Council, even with the chaos that was happening around her. Even with what I had done. She didn't stand a chance..."

  "Five thousand people died..." Alice whispered.

  Leo's lips trembled as she spoke, and she saw guilt cloud his eyes. It was the same look she had seen in her own many, many times.

  "How many millions did I save, though?" Leo asked. "I saved them from whatever the hell the Pyros was going to unleash. It could have been worse than Ganymede for all we know. I didn't want to kill anyone, but I couldn't control it. I know most of those people didn't deserve to die. They had families. Their lives meant something. I know I had no right..."

  Leo looked away from her and stared at the wall for ten full seconds. Alice watched him in silence as she finally realized the true depths of sadness and regret that ran through him.

  Leo's voice broke when he con
tinued. "If I could go back, I would've just let them kill me back on Venus. If I'd known how many people I would end up killing, I would've ended it myself. I would've ended it back when I was stuck in that cage."

  "Me too..." Alice whispered. "Me too."

  Leo tore his eyes from the wall and gazed at Alice. He held a mixture of his own grief and empathy for hers in his eyes. Neither said anything, but the grief-stricken look that passed between them communicated much that words could not.

  They stood there silently and stared at one another for half a minute. As Alice watched Leo, she noticed a single tear streaming down from his right eye. It cut a path across his cheek and dripped towards the corner of his mouth. It's journey ended when Leo wiped it away with his hand, and Alice finally broke the silence.

  "Do you remember Exony?" Alice gently inquired. "Do you remember her from your time on Venus?"

  Leo nodded and took a deep breath, then sat down on the floor next to Annabelle. He gently placed his hand on her cheek and caressed the skin across her jawline. It was a striking gesture of tenderness and reminded Alice of when Shonn had touched her face in the same manner.

  "I remember..." Leo revealed. "My first memories... My first real memories are a meaningless mess, but I do remember them. When I first woke up in that cage, I was nothing but an animal. I couldn't think. The only thing I felt was rage..It was pure, blinding rage at my captivity. I learned fear next. Fear of pain..."

  Leo took a deep breath, then continued.

  "The first time I saw Exony, I knew no language. I understood the world only through emotions. The first time I saw her, I didn't see the apathy of the other lab workers. In her, I saw... Well, not love, but definitely care. She stood there and stared at me for hours. She had this sad, knowing smile on her face when she looked at me, and it always bothered me. I knew that she didn't try to speak to me like the others did because she knew that I would see it as some primal assertion of dominance. I felt like she understood me..."