The Reclamation and the Lioness

by Robert D. Armstrong

  Leo lowered his eyebrows. “How do you know this?” he asked.

  The burned man stared up at Leo. “Because he told us the same fucking bullshit! In exchange, he promised us medical care... until we discovered the truth.”

  “What... truth?” I asked, turning toward Sylass as he walked up behind us.

  “They used our blood. Took sample after sample. They stole our genetic code and created clones. Children they could feed their warped, bullshit narrative to. But tell them what happened Sylass. Tell them the truth about how all your clones suffered and died!” the man shouted.

  I glanced over my shoulder and noticed Sylass approaching. His hands were behind his back as he glared at the injured man. I faced Sylass. “Please tell me these are the ramblings of a delusional, injured man?” I asked.

  The synthetic muscles in Sylass’s eyebrows rose. He smirked. “Not entirely.”

  Leo and I immediately yanked out our swords and ignited them. I pointed my fiery blade at Sylass angrily as he began to circle us. Leo stepped away from me as we took up offensive positions against the machines. Had I just killed these nomads for no good reason?

  “Careful, knights. Please. Consider there is more to this story,” Sylass warned.

  “You lied, Sylass. You knew exactly who attacked this ship and you let us kill them for you,” I said.

  The bright white light from my sword illuminated Sylass’s face as Leo pointed his weapon at the medical androids. “Get away from him!” Leo yelled.

  The man crawled toward us. “The only reason Sylass wants the Moderator destroyed is because it’s a threat to this little operation,” he said.

  “You wanted our blood samples, too. That’s it, isn’t it? You wanted to provide medical care for the Legion so that you can expand your operation?” I said to Sylass.

  “It’s more complicated than that, but yes. The Legion is a wealth of genetic diversity. We could create thousands of humans with such a pool. This man has only told you part of the story. Of course, we desire to have a human companionship again, but as you can imagine, humans aren’t as trusting of us anymore.”

  “So you decided to make your own? You wanted children so that you could mold their minds to love you without prejudice,” Leo posited.

  Sylass stopped. “Partly, yes. We wanted to be judged on our desire to assist humanity, not destroy it, but considering the androids of old nearly wiped out mankind, this is quite difficult. We need young, impressionable minds. It’s not that we aim to deceive these children. We just want to show them the truth of our nature.”

  “But you’ve lied to us. How could we ever trust you with an alliance?” I demanded, stiffening my arm as I shook my sword at Sylass.

  Sylass tilted his head. “Cloning humans for our personal companions is only part of the equation. Our main goal was to introduce more humans into the population, to increase your species’ overall chance of survival. As you know, you’re on the brink of extinction. Our method allows a backup and a potential chance for humans to flourish with enough research and—”

  “Experimentation,” Leo interrupted.

  Sylass slowly shook his head. “Yes, well, unfortunately, knights, we’ve reached a crossroads that steps on moral boundaries, but we were forced into this position. However unusual this practice may seem, I can assure you it was in the best interests of the species.”

  “And yours. As you said, you would rather be terminated than harm a human. If it’s true that you crave your companion, you want another Mrs. Raymond in your case. I hate to break it to you, but there will never be another like her—or me. We’re all completely unique,” I said.

  Sylass slumped his head. He held up his hand as he shook his finger. “Mrs. Raymond would be irreplaceable if it weren’t for one fact,” he said, outstretching his arms. “Most of us possess our previous owners’ DNA, whether it be hair, skin, or bone, and we will soon have the ability to recreate our owners, but first, cloning is trial and error, and it is a necessary evil before we recreate the ones... we loved.”

  “Loved?” I said, rolling my eyes. I sighed loudly and disengaged my sword.

  Leo raised his eyebrows while staring at me. “What are you doing?” he asked. Despite the urge I had to cut Sylass and every android in the vicinity down, it didn’t make sense. These androids had embedded themselves within the Legion, and any hasty decision we made now could make things worse. In the meantime, I needed Sylass to believe we would consider an alliance with them.

  “Trust me, Leo. I’m asking you,” I said. Confused, he stared at me, then glanced at the burnt man.

  The injured nomad’s lip trembled. “No-no-no! You can’t do this! They’re using you!” he pleaded. His voice began to fade. Oddly, his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Leo lowered his weapon slowly, disengaging it as we stared at the man.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Leo muttered. The medical androids scooted a stretcher under the burnt man and strapped him down.

  “Don’t do it!” he yelled in pain as nylon bands were tightened around his limbs. The androids attempted to adjust the fastener to be more comfortable, but it did little to ease his pain.

  The androids hoisted the burn victim and carried him away. Sylass stood in front of me as I stared ahead at nothing. “Good choice. I would like to believe that you see the long-term benefits of our research. In addition to that, we might be able to help you destroy the Architect,” he said.

  “As much as I hate to admit it, you do have a point. Your army is formidable and would be a force against the Architect if we could come to an agreement,” I said, mixing the truth with lies. I knew Luther would not go along with an alliance with these machines, but I wanted to see if we had any room to exploit them to our benefit first.

  Sylass glanced back and forth at each of us. “We will discuss this possibility of a military coalition after we secure the area. It’s possible there are more nomads nearby, and after your hostility against them, you will be seen as targets,” he said. We would be considered a target thanks to Sylass’s lies; otherwise, we would have never attacked those nomads.

  “I would suggest you stay here until we capture any remaining threats, just to be sure,” he said.

  Leo and I met eyes. “Fair enough,” I said.

  Sylass looked away from me. “This way please,” he said. We trailed behind him and walked back into the passageway.

  Leo leaned in. “Victoria—”

  “I have an idea,” I whispered. Leo sighed in frustration.

  After a few minutes of following Sylass, he opened a hatch to a small room with bunk beds. Red lights along the floors illuminated the otherwise dimly lit room. He gestured inside. “Here you are, for now,” he said.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “To be clear, you’re not our prisoners, but we will contact you when it’s safe to disembark,” he said. I hesitantly stepped inside, but I felt a sense of comfort with my sword attached to my belt.

  “While we’re waiting, do you have water?” I asked. Leo arched an eyebrow.

  “Of course. I’ll send it to your room immediately,” Sylass replied.

  “Thank you,” I said. Sylass nodded and exited, sealing the hatch.

  I felt Leo staring a hole through me. I turned around slowly. “Tell me there’s something I’m missing, please,” he pleaded, lowering his voice. I assumed he was mindful that the room could be under surveillance.

  I stepped close to him. “Leo, listen. These androids aren’t what we hoped for. I’ll be the first to admit it. In an ideal situation, we would destroy every last one of them for what they’ve done, but maybe we can use them somehow. Maybe there’s a way to play off their desire to help humanity,” I whispered.

  “Victoria, they’re only helping us to help themselves. All they care about is bringing back their dead owners through their cloning research. I have to let the Engineer know about this—”

  I put up my hands. “Not yet. Please. He has enough to worry about
and he has trusted us to get these machines to help us,” I said. To me, the Mave was the chief concern. We could worry about decommissioning these androids later.

  Leo shook his head in frustration and raised his voice. “How? How the hell are we going to figure that out? I just don’t see where your confidence stems from, considering the circumstances. Human experimentation goes against the knight’s code, Victoria. These androids are enemies of the Legion and we have to report it!”

  I showed Leo my palms. “Shhh. We will. Keep your voice down. We’re going to try and exploit these machines before we go down the path of no return. Just play along,” I said.

  Ever since repelling the nomads with the androids’ aircraft, I felt like it was my duty to take the reins in this situation. It came naturally. Oddly, Leo recognized this, and despite challenging me almost every step of the way, he was following my lead. I wondered if that would have been the case before his father’s death. This wasn’t the same Leo I remembered. He was more brittle in some cases. Less confident.

  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I opened it and noticed an android holding a tray with two glasses of water.

  “Come in,” I said.

  Leo threw up his hands. “Sure, yeah, come on in. Have a seat. Steal our DNA for experimentation. Whatever you like,” Leo muttered.

  This android was a female model that wore a faded navy-blue business suit. She was quite tall and elegant. From a distance, she could pass for human. She was bald and wore dark eyeshadow, but the stitching around her jaw and the silver color of her skin gave away her machine origins.

  She set the tray down and smiled. “Anything else?” she asked in a pleasant British accent.

  I lowered my eyebrows. “Yes, ah, you’re a newer Kelton model, aren’t you?” I gathered.

  She nodded and grinned. “Correct. I was actually one of the last Kelton homestead models designed before the nuclear holocaust.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. The way she referred to the nuclear war was eerily casual. “Uh. Right,” I said.

  “Anything else?” she asked again. I reached inside my pocket.

  “Yes, there is.” I pulled out the small input device Xena wanted me to have. “Do you know what this is?” I asked.

  She narrowed her glowing blue eyes at the device. “That looks like thumbnail access. It can perform software upgrades, deliver audio messages, or even swap behavior modules, but I have no way of knowing what this specific device does,” she replied.

  “Would you be willing to have a look? Sylass didn’t seem to know much about it,” I said.

  She reached out her hand. “As I said, I’m one of the latest Kelton models. Sylass is an older model than me. While he can upload the device, he doesn’t have the option to decline access of his commands. I do. When I input the device, I can accept the programs after viewing them. Perhaps the owner has labeled the files and I can at least view the download notes and tell you what it is.”

  I glanced at Leo. “Perfect. In that case, here ya go,” I said, handing it over.

  The android inserted the device. Her blues eyes flickered. “Loading... Please wait,” she said. All at once, her eyes turned black and her body hunched over and froze as her arms dangled lifelessly.

  “Huh?” Leo stared at her with a puzzled look. She collapsed to the deck, clacking loudly against the metal floor.

  Leo stepped back. “What the hell did you do to it?” he asked.

  “I asked you to trust me, Leo. That device was from Xena, remember? Let’s see what happens—”

  Suddenly, the android pushed itself up from the ground. I noticed a faint blue hue in its eyes as it stood up. It glanced down at its feet as it stood upright.

  “What’s your status?” I asked, looking the android up and down.

  The android placed its hands atop its head. It began to feel around its face.

  “I was getting used to my short haircut, but this is a bit much, Captain,” came Xena’s voice from android.

  My mouth dropped. “It worked... Xena?”

  “Good to see you again, Captain,” she said.

  I leaned toward her. “Likewise. Uh, the android you’re occupying said she could decline your program. What happened?” I asked. It was nice to hear her voice again.

  Her blue eyes glowed brightly. “She thought she would have that option. Hacking android networks is my specialty, remember?” she asked.

  “I was hoping you could work your magic,” I said, glancing at Leo.

  “Searching... Yes, just as I thought. I won’t be able to occupy this android long before their network detects my intrusion. It looks like I’ll only have around ten minutes before they do a check. First things first, why are you here?” Xena said, looking around the room.

  I stared at Leo as he stepped in front of me. “The androids of the Reclamation are not what we thought. They’ve been pushing for an alliance with us for years. Weeks ago, we discovered the Architect had implanted sleeper agents within the Legion. These new Mave look like us and we have no means of detecting them. It turns out that the Engineer’s son, Vlad, was the first of many more to come.”

  Xena raised her eyebrows. “Well, that makes sense. I never really got a warm and cozy feeling about him,” she said.

  Leo shook his head. “The Architect used Vlad’s political muscle to instigate a civil war, pitting us against ourselves. Now, most of our knights are dead. With our backs against the wall, the Engineer decided to investigate the potential of an alliance with these androids, but—”

  “These androids are completely off the rails. They’re insane,” I interrupted.

  Xena tucked her hand under her chin. “Captain Belic, define the actions that constitute insanity as it pertains to these androids,” she said.

  “Not literally insane, Xena. But they’re cloning humans. Creating children so they can mold their minds as they see fit,” I said.

  Xena’s eyes widened. “Well now, that’s a different spin,” she said, staring at the wall.

  “The people they stole the DNA from to create these children aren’t happy. They’re a band of nomads. Apparently, these clones are dying in experimentations. We came here to iron out the details of an alliance between us when we were attacked by nomads. That’s how we found out, when one of the injured nomads revealed Sylass’s plans to us,” I said.

  “If I must say, Captain, you do find your way into the most complex situations,” Xena said.

  “Tell me about it. Can you help us by giving us some options?” I asked.

  “That depends,” she answered. Xena paused for several moments. “I’m somewhat familiar with these androids’ network architecture. They communicate like a hive mind, but they have a leader, similar to the Moderator.”

  “Sylass in this case, right?” Leo asked.

  “Exactly,” she replied.

  “What are you getting at?” I asked.

  “If we can somehow insert this input device into Sylass, we could possibly destroy their cloning research,” Xena said, pointing to the back of her head.

  I slumped my head. “Another thing to consider is that these androids claim they’re attempting to repopulate the planet with humans. That idea is enticing, but—”

  “We have no idea what else these machines are actually planning, Victoria. If they hid their plans about the clones, what else are they hiding?” Leo asked.

  He was right. “Fine. Let’s assume we destroy their cloning research. Then what? We pray they don’t retaliate?” I asked.

  “I don’t think they have the capacity to retaliate. I honestly believe our alliance needs to be with these nomads. I’d like to find out how many there are and where their base is,” Leo said.

  “You think they’ll want an alliance with us after they find out I murdered their own?” I asked.

  Leo shook his head. “The only witness was that injured nomad. If it comes down to it, we’ll just have to explain that we were deceived by Sylass. That’s something they can r
elate to.”

  Xena stepped forward. “I gather the main takeaway is you want their cloning research destroyed. Can we all agree on that at least?”

  “Yes,” Leo said.

  “Also, they have an aircraft we want. It could turn the tide for the Legion if we could acquire it with your help,” I told Xena.

  “I gathered that freighter would be something of interest. In both cases, you’ll need to find a way to insert this device into Sylass to have a chance,” Xena said, pointing to the back of her head.

  “Can you tell us where Sylass is now?” I asked.

  “Loading... He’s in the officers’ lounge in a meeting on the fourth deck. That’s aft of the ship. It’s scheduled for the next hour. After that, he usually goes to the captain’s quarters,” Xena said.

  “Thank you,” I replied.

  “Captain,” she said.

  “Yes?”

  “I think we should play it safe. Go ahead and remove my input device from this android so my intrusion into their network isn’t detected,” she said.

  “Now?” I asked.

  “Yes. While it’s been a pleasant experience to speak to you again, I think we should be cautious,” she said, leaning forward.

  I hesitated. “Understood,” I muttered.

  She stopped, looking up at me. “Oh, and Captain...”

  “Yes?” I asked.

  “Good luck,” she said.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  The android’s eyes faded to black and then to blue again. Confused, it rose up and stared at us. “It seems I’ve experienced a system reboot. How long was I offline?” the android asked.

  “Ah, not long,” I said.

  “My system might have prompted the reboot for safety reasons once the unknown device was inserted. Unexpected. Anyway, I’m unable to view the files on the device as you requested. My apologies.” She smiled.

  “That’s okay. I’m starting to think the data might be corrupted,” I lied.

  “Possibly. Is there anything else?” she asked.

  “Um, no. That’ll be all,” I said. She exited the room.