The Ganymede Legacy

by A C Bonesteel

  Leo stroked Annabelle's hair and continued as Alice knelt next to him. "She just stood there, day after day, and watched me. I only ever knew that she was in charge because of the way that others around her acted. They feared her. She never acted superior to me, though, and in truth, I believed she felt some affection or duty to me. I even thought that she might love me in some sad, pitying way for a while."

  Alice shivered as she listened to Leo continue his story.

  "Exony was the closest thing to a mother I've ever had. I even began to look forward to our marathon staring sessions. Something was soothing and meaningful in her eyes... I also felt that perhaps, if I could somehow show her something in my own, that she might approve of me."

  "When they subjected me to behavior modification therapy, everything changed. They injected memories, thoughts, and language into my mind. I played along, because I had to. I liked the language and archetypes they gave me, though. It helped me to understand myself a bit better."

  Leo grasped Annabelle's wrist as he checked her pulse once again.

  "They made a mistake, though. They tried to fool me into believing that the memories they implanted were real. They started calling me 'Leonard' and asking me about things that related to my fake past. They would give me memories of objects and then put those objects into my cage to see how I would react to them. They were trying to piece me together into the person they wanted me to be."

  "I still played along, even though I knew what they were trying to do, but even back then, I knew I had to get out. I knew I had to do whatever I could to maintain my sanity and seize any chance to escape. You see, they wanted to turn me into something that I didn't want to be. They were trying to train me to become some new form of Operative or some new tool for the Council to use in their quest for control."

  Alice placed her hand on Leo's shoulder and tried to interrupt him. "Leo, you don't..."

  But Leo ignored her and kept speaking. "I acted like a good boy, though, and when I was a good boy, they gave me treats. A piece of candy here... A steak dinner there... They taught me a lot as a reward for my good behavior, too. They would have called it training, but in reality, I was using them. I was taking every useful thing I could from them, while secretly tossing out every piece of manipulation..."

  "Exony always told me how smart I was, and what a good boy I was. She honestly had me eating out of her hand for a while, especially when my abilities began to manifest. She described visions of righteous and moral power that my abilities demanded I wield. She spoke to me as if I was some savior of humankind, like some demigod that would lead humanity out of the dark ages and into an age of peace and enlightenment. She said it was my responsibility, my duty, and that it was what I was born for."

  "But, it was all a lie. As my abilities became stronger, Exony realized that she couldn't control them, and neither could I. No amount of electrical stimulation to my brain would cause my abilities to manifest in any way other than chaotic randomness. Then, one day, I pushed the walls of my cage out of existence."

  "I would have killed her right then, but she stopped me. She did the only thing that could have stopped me... She cried out in joy and fell into my arms. It was the first time I had ever felt human touch, and the sheer joy of the gesture eclipsed any desires I had to harm her. I was in such awe of the human contact that I didn't struggle when they put me in another cell. I thought that maybe I had finally won the staring contest with Exony. Maybe I had finally shown her enough to let me be free."

  "But then, the next time I saw her, I knew something profound had changed between us. She stared into my eyes, but she didn't have that same sad smile. I knew by the end of that day that she was going to kill me."

  "They came for me that night, but it was too late. I found the Void, and it found them. It found all of them, except for Exony. Everyone who I had ever seen up to that point was taken, except for her. Seventy-four people went in the blink of an eye, but not her. I walked through that empty facility for hours, trying to find her so that I could ask her why before I killed her. I wanted to know why... Why me? Why? But I never found her..."

  Leo stopped speaking, closed his eyes, and took a few deep breaths. His tension had gone, and he seemed more relaxed.

  With careful slowness, Alice softly stroked Leo's shoulder. "Leo, we have to kill Exony. Then, we can find out about your past by analyzing her files, or something. I know you have questions about your past, but you can't trust her to tell you the truth. She'll use it to manipulate you, and you even said it yourself, she wants to keep studying you. The only solution is to kill her at our first opportunity, regardless of your unanswered questions. They mean nothing when compared to the lives of billions."

  Leo didn't reply.

  Alice removed her hand from his shoulder and scooted around Annabelle to face him. "Leo, we've talked enough about the past. We have to work on your gift now. I have a feeling you're going to need it when we land, if you want to save Annabelle, that is..."

  Alice dearly hoped that Leo would agree with her. It would be disastrous if his desire for the truth of himself proved more important to him than killing Exony.

  Leo didn't answer, though. Instead, he pointed down at Annabelle.

  Alice quickly looked down and saw that her eyes were open and had focused on Leo. Then, her hand twitched ever so slightly.

  Before Alice could say anything about Annabelle's improving condition, the loud distorted voice of the corrupted ship A.I. rang out through the room.

  "PREPAREFORENTRY SEQUENCWWWWWWWWWW WWGGGGGGGGGGGG."

  Leo and Alice snapped their heads to look at each other; both of them were clearly thinking the same thing.

  "I'll kill her. I promise," Leo announced.

  Then, he reached inside of his jacket, pulled out Alice's gun, and held it out to her. Alice grabbed it and checked the firing mechanism, then primed the gas chamber and checked its ammunition. To her surprise, it had a full clip.

  "I reloaded it for you," Leo explained. "There's a bunch more ammo in the locker over there. Grab some for me while you're at it. I gotta try to get Annabelle moving again."

  Alice stood and watched Leo for a moment as he spoke into Annabelle's ear and massaged her hand. Then, she walked over to Randell's weapons locker and searched for any weapon without a microchip, and that also used no metal parts.

  After a bit of searching, she found a collection of pistols similar to the ones Randell had sold them earlier. She grabbed them all, seized the ammunition stored in a compartment underneath them, then loaded each one.

  Dark thoughts grew in her mind, and her heartbeat pounded as she primed the weapons.

  "ENTRY SEQUENCE INITIATEDFFFFFFFFFFFFEEERTTTY!" the ship A.I. roared.

  Chapter 38

  Annabelle was engrossed in Leo and Alice's conversation and had forgotten to try to move for some time.

  "Move your hand, Annabelle," Idi suddenly commanded in her mind.

  "Leave me alone... Please..." Annabelle thought in reply.

  "Move! Your! Hand!"

  Annabelle wanted to resist, but why? Idi wasn't being unreasonable. Idi had never been unreasonable. Her commands had always made sense...

  Annabelle begrudgingly followed Idi's command. Excitement and relief flowed within her when her hand finally listened. She still couldn't speak, or even begin to stand up, but she could now twitch her fingers and move her eyes around in her sockets, and that alone was a massive improvement in her condition.

  At that moment, she could see Leo and his calm, but concerned visage hovering studiously above her. His sweaty skin and damp golden hair cut a stark contrast against the dull titanium of the room's ceiling.

  Annabelle tried to smile at him and felt her lips move a little. As he watched over her, Leo had told her that he loved her. He hadn't said it, but he hadn't needed to. He had told her with his eyes. When he looked away from her, his eyes became cold and his face tense, but when he turned his eyes to her, they softened, and something d
eep within him opened to her. It was a vulnerability that she had never seen in the eyes of a man.

  But could it be real? Annabelle knew all too well that what men chose to show the world was often not the real truth. It was that knowledge that had given Annabelle to inspiration to strike up a conversation with Leo in the first place, but it was also what gave her pause.

  Annabelle couldn't help but feel doubt as she stared up at Leo's kind face. Was his an honest love? Was it a love borne out of their experience together, or was she simply the convenient target of a man starved for affection?

  "He loves you, and you love him..." Idi whispered in her mind.

  Perhaps Idi was right. Time would tell, Annabelle reassured herself. When he learned the truth about her, his love would be put to the test.

  "PREPARE FORE LANNRRRRRDING SEQUENCEDWDDDDDDD!" the corrupted ship A.I. yelled through the room.

  Annabelle tried to stand up, but her legs didn't move. She would have to trust Leo to prepare her for the landing sequence.

  "No sign of Randell?" Leo asked Alice as he slid his hands underneath Annabelle. Then, he carried her to the edge of the room and held her tightly in his arms.

  "No, nothing," Alice answered.

  From Annabelle's new vantage point, she could see Alice standing by the weapons locker, fastening holsters around her shoulders, her hips, and her ankles, then placing pistols into each of them. When she was finished, she carried an assortment of several other guns over to Leo and sat down next to him.

  "Here," Alice offered as she held out two of the pistols for Leo to take. "They're loaded and ready to go."

  "Thanks," Leo replied.

  Alice pointed at the entry hatch. "We have no idea where we're landing, or what's waiting for us. So, we'll need to be quick on our feet if we're going to make it out of this. We could land, open that door, and be welcomed by nothing but the vacuum of some lifeless moon or asteroid. We don't know enough to make a solid plan..."

  Leo shook his head. "We'll probably be gassed the moment we land. She'll knock us out, then put us in some form of restraint, and we'll have to find a way out from there..."

  "We never watched the secondary briefing..." Alice said remorsefully.

  Leo narrowed his eyes. "I doubt we would have learned much from it. It seems to me that Exony's nano-cancer is helping us complete our mission by bringing us to her way more than any briefing could've helped us."

  "BRACE FOR LANDINGGGG THRUSTERRRRRR SSSSWWWWWWWDUUU!"

  "That's assuming it is bringing us to her..." Alice replied as she grabbed onto a shelf next to her for support.

  Annabelle wished that she could brace herself as well, but she could barely move her arms.

  Suddenly, she felt her body being smothered down onto the floor by the force of their rapidly decreasing speed. The walls of the ship began to rumble, and Leo had to shout for Alice to hear.

  "Look, I'll follow your lead! We cover each other, keep our eyes open, and hope for the best!"

  "Agreed!" Alice shouted back to him. "I'll take point. If either of us sees any threat, human, robotic, or otherwise, we need to eliminate it immediately. If we have any opportunity to kill Exony, we must take it. Those are my standing orders."

  Annabelle felt Leo's arms hold her tighter as the ship began to rumble intensely beneath her. Scanners and tools flied around the room as the turbulence intensified.

  "What about Annabelle?" Leo shouted.

  Alice looked down at her with concern. "If she can't walk, we'll leave her here, and she can guard the ship while we deal with Exony. If she can, we bring her with us."

  Leo nodded and squeezed Annabelle even tighter as the massive force of the landing reached its peak. She didn't know whether the turbulence was normal, or if they were all about to die, but at least she could feel the ship rumbling around her. That could only mean that her paralysis was continuing to fade.

  In spite of her growing hope that she wouldn't be left behind, she was unnerved. The vibration of the ship was still intensifying, and a loud roaring had started echoing around the room. The rumbling of the hull reached such a fever pitch that Annabelle began to have doubts that they would survive the landing.

  After twenty harrowing seconds, her doubts proved groundless. The ship gave one final heaving lurch and a massive hissing blast of its thrusters, then became silent and motionless.

  All became quiet, except for the occasional pop of the ship's hull as it dispersed the heat it had accumulated during the landing.

  Then, Idi spoke within Annabelle's mind.

  "Annabelle, with much difficulty, I have been able to program an effective immune response to the paralytic agent and have coded your cognitive implant to implement it."

  "Thanks, I guess. Can you leave me alone now?" Annabelle thought in reply.

  Idi didn't respond.

  Idi had been in her mind for days, and it had been useful to say the least, but Annabelle was tired of having the A.I. in her thoughts. Idi was always there, encouraging her, but also judging her... Telling her what to do...

  Then, Annabelle turned her thoughts to what was to come. Would Leo and Alice leave her there? She supposed that if it were the right thing to do, they would, and she couldn't blame them for it. She had no intention of allowing them to face Exony without her, however.

  With a massive mental effort, she focused single-mindedly on moving her legs. After a few seconds, she felt a cluster of nerves along her right thigh fade into life and saw her leg bend at the knee.

  Leo noticed her movement, and he spoke up excitedly as he released her from his embrace, laid her down on the floor, and knelt next to her.

  "Annabelle, that's great! Can you move anything else? Can you talk?"

  Annabelle focused on the muscles around her mouth and her vocal cords, and tried to speak.

  "Oooooohhhhmefffffffffff!" she moaned.

  Upon hearing her voice, she was disappointed that she could only produce an unintelligible moan but also encouraged by the fact that she was able to make any noise at all.

  "Good job!" Leo cried. "But, this fried ship A.I. has better enunciation than you do right now!"

  "Still, it's good progress," Alice interjected as she climbed to her feet. "She's coming out of it quicker than I did. It took me half an hour after I first moved to be able to make a noise like that."

  Leo stared into Annabelle's eyes. "That doesn't make sense. Why would her recovery process be faster?"

  "I have no idea..." Alice answered. "I'm just making an observation."

  "Mmmmmffff....duzzenmatter!" Annabelle moaned, startling both Leo and Alice as they looked down at her in surprise.

  Their expressions turned to stunned disbelief when Annabelle awkwardly rolled over, then weakly pushed herself up with her arms, and attempted to stand.

  Leo suspended his disbelief and grabbed her to provide support. With only slight help from him, she was able to rise and stand clumsily next to him.

  "Well, whatever the reason, that's one problem solved," Leo marveled as he looked at Annabelle admiringly.

  She tried to give Leo a look of gratitude, but her lips barely moved. She probably had a much stupider look on her still slightly numb face, but Leo didn't make any jokes about it. Instead, he just chuckled.

  Yes, that was one problem solved, Annabelle thought triumphantly.

  Her spirits sank quickly, however, when the hatch to the lab slowly creaked open, and a thick grey fog began to creep through the door towards them.

  Then, Idi spoke in her mind. "I recommend you surrender motor control to me, Annabelle."

  Chapter 39

  Alice watched the thick, grey fog flow through the door. If she had an atmospheric implant, she would've been able to analyze it, know if it was harmful, and how to defend against it if it was. Without such measures, there was little she could do.

  Then, an idea suddenly came to her. "Annabelle! Can you scan the cloud? Do you have any implants that can analyze it?"

  "Mmhhhh ye
ss. Hangonnnn umph," Annabelle grunted in response. She then closed her eyes while Alice watched the grey mist creep ever closer to them.

  Luckily, it only took a few seconds for Annabelle to open her eyes and reveal her findings.

  "Mmmph, it's errrrry normal, just wa-er vapor... High car-on dioxide content... mmfh-ing else."

  "Okay," Alice replied. She was deeply relieved that it wasn't a poison gas. "Can you walk, Annabelle?"

  Annabelle shook herself roughly and slapped her legs with her hands, then rolled her shoulders and tilted her head from side to side. "Yes, definitely. Give me a gun, and I'll go first. I'll scan and see what's out there. I'll see if it's safe."

  Leo looked surprised and concerned, but his concern didn't stop him from reaching into his jacket, pulling out a small pistol, and handing it to her.

  "I'm with you," Leo stated. "Take my hand and be careful. You're still weak..."

  "I'll cover you," Alice added, nodding to the other two.

  "What about Randell and Sila?" Annabelle asked with concern. "Where are they?"

  Leo shrugged. "They're somewhere on the ship, I'm sure, but we can't worry about them right now. We have a job to do. They should be relatively safe here for now, and they can take care of themselves."

  "We'll come back for them," Alice interjected. "Once we get a sense of our surroundings and our prospects for escape, we'll come back for them. Hopefully, they'll be working to get this ship back up and running while we're out there."

  "Alright," Annabelle agreed. "Shall we figure out where the hell we are?"

  The three exchanged a look of agreement and shared a collective deep breath. Then, they entered the dark mist and moved towards the hatch. As they reached it, Alice saw a dim twilight struggling to be seen through the fog. Wherever they were, it was a dark place.

  "The atmosphere is fine... It's warm out there, though..." Annabelle revealed.

  Then, she and Leo stepped through the hatch. Alice followed them closely, watching her barely visible feet to make sure she didn't lose her footing.