by Barry Solway
Mel? It was Evan.
I’m a bit busy at the moment, she sub-vocalized back.
I just hit the surface. Where are you?
Mel eyed the man carefully. The Asadharans displayed their emotions in their eyes, and he was just a bit too far away for her to make out his expression. She didn’t say anything, waiting for him to make the first move.
I’m a bit over a mile from the tower.
I’m about the same, I think. Should I wait for you? Can we meet up?
No. Get to the tower. Riley saw a ship. Kathor’s already there.
I’ll be there in five minutes. Hurry. Kathor may not wait long. And Mel… be careful. There’s more than one Order ship. They’re all over the place.
Mel smiled. Yeah, I saw that too. Get to the ship.
Roger that. See you soon.
Mel’s smile faded. A strange sense of ease fell over her. The others would get out, one way or the other. She had a deal with Kathor.
“Who are you?” the man finally said.
“Just a normal girl. Trying to make a living as a gladiator,” she replied. Mel glanced from side to side, ostensibly looking at the soldiers and their weapons, but in reality searching for another door down into the tunnels. There was no way she could fight them all off, and she wasn’t going to let them capture her.
The man took two steps forward. He was fifteen feet away now.
“I think not,” he said.
Suddenly, he surged forward, nearly as fast as Riley. With a yell, Mel shifted to the side just in time. Her left fist lanced out, aiming for the side of the man’s head. He ducked and spun, his foot striking out with a back kick. Mel reflexively lifted her leg to block the kick with her shin, then backpedaled as the man threw three rapid punches. She ducked under an arcing kick and punched with her left hand, catching him in the center of his chest. Instead of the flesh and bone that she expected, she heard the distinctive crash of metal on metal. The shock of the blow reverberated up her cybernetic arm and into her spine. The man flew back ten feet from the force, but landed on his feet. He crouched for a second, then slowly stood to face her.
“As I thought. You are hardly normal. You are, in fact, illegal.”
“Gives new meaning to being an illegal alien. You seem awfully spry yourself. I guess you get a hall-pass to illegal cybernetics?”
“The Order maintains the harmony of our worlds. To prevent people like you from subverting the natural way. I am curious about what you are. A new species? Or have I uncovered an attempt at genetic engineering gone drastically wrong?”
“I’m having a bad hair day, but drastically wrong seems harsh,” Mel said. She saw her target, a door that would take her back to the underground, and she wondered if she could cover the forty yards before she was shot.
Mel, I’m here, Riley said. It’s not Kathor. It’s Jon and Anna. Anna says that Kathor’s ship is behind the nearest moon. He won’t come any closer because of the Order. Are you close?
Mel looked at the agent. Maybe she could get to the tunnels, maybe she could escape. But she wasn’t going to get to the ship.
“We have your friends,” the man said.
Mel blinked in alarm. Riley? Have you heard from Beats and Gorgeous? Have you seen Evan?
Evan? No. I haven’t heard from Beats and Gorgeous yet, either. Where are you?
Mel looked at the agent. “I don’t have any friends.”
“I’m sure. Your conspirators, then. The Maneshee and the Ankhen. There are others here, we know. More like you. We will find them, too.”
Mel closed her eyes. They had captured Beats and Gorgeous. The two aliens—the two people—who had befriended her and tried to save her and the other humans. Anna, can you hear me?
Of course I can, Anna replied, her voice full of annoyance. I’m working overtime here, trying to keep the Order AI from tracking me. Where the hell are you?
Can you check if Beats and Gorgeous have been captured by the Order?
Mel stalled for time. “What do you want from me?”
“Your cybernetics are illegal. And you are either an alien species or a genetic experiment. Both of those make you illegal as well. Your attempts to subvert the Order cannot be tolerated. We allow some leeway, like the gauntlets. But you have taken it too far. Your presence will not be tolerated.” The man waved three of the soldiers forward.
Mel, I found them. They were captured and are being held in one of the Order ships. How did you know?”
Because I’m about to join them, Mel replied. There’s no way I can make it to the ship. I won’t let them take me. You need to leave. Get the others to Kathor.
Among all the stupid ideas you’ve had, that’s the stupidest, Anna said. Kathor wants you, not the others. He’s just as likely to kill them as anything. I’m tracking you now. We’ll come get you.
No. You’ll just get everyone captured if you try to rescue me. This is an order, Anna. Evan has a copy of the medical protocols Kathor needs. Get everyone to Kathor. When you get there, you’ll understand. I’m sorry. I never meant to control you or take away your freedom. Anna… I love you. I really do. Save the others. I have to run now. Goodbye, Anna.
Anna’s voice rang in Mel’s head, but she pushed it away. The soldiers were ten feet away now and closing. All three had their rifles up, aimed at Mel’s head. One of them stopped five feet from her, and the other two walked forward. One of them held metal restraints.
“Place your hands on your head and turn around,” the agent said. Mel complied. The soldier with the handcuffs grabbed her arm, and Mel moved.
She spun to her left and lashed out with her cybernetic arm. The man flew backwards and slammed into one of the other soldiers. Twisting, Mel’s cybernetic hand caught the third man with an uppercut that immediately made him go limp. Leaning forward, she scooped the man up in a fireman’s carry, draping him over her back. Turning, she sprinted for the doorway. They had practiced this move in training, but she had never expected to use it. A moment later, a round slammed into the soldier's body, jerking her head forward, but the man’s body and armor protected her. Shots peppered the ground around her. One hit her left arm and another her leg. She felt a shot graze her lower back, just above where the cybernetics of her abdomen ended. Warm blood seeped down her back.
She raced to the door. Without stopping, she launched herself forward, twisting in midair so the man’s body slammed into the door. The force wracked through her body, but the door buckled, and she fell through into the stairway.
She threw herself down the stairway, rolling to a halt on the next landing. Shots continued to fire through the open door until she heard the agent yell for them to stop. Her left leg had twisted where it joined the knee and she struggled to get to her feet. Limping, she continued down the stairs. Above her, she could hear the sounds of the soldiers coming into the tunnels. As she climbed down, she pulled open a flap on her left arm and triggered the transmitter to the rigged power cells in the command center.
She moved as fast as she could down the stairs, the soldiers only a few floors above. Pushing through a door on the tenth level down, she staggered into the hallway. She wondered if Soryda was still down here, desperately trying to find her and kill her. Stand in line, lady, she thought grimly.
Mel had a general idea of where she was, and headed back in the direction of the command center. She could hear footsteps echoing behind her. Turning a corner, she stumbled over an object. Wicked’s ax. But Wicked herself was gone, and this was a dead end. Mel raced backwards and continued down another intersection. The metallic echoes distorted the sounds, and it felt like the soldiers were coming from every direction.
She turned left, then left again. As she hoped, she came up to the command center from the other direction. The two robots were there. One of them still lay on the floor, waving a claw like a stuck bug, while the other one banged into the first one over and over.
She leaped past them and skidded into the command room. Lights flickered
past the doorway, and three soldiers raced in. They spotted her and started firing. She ducked behind one of the consoles as shots peppered the wall behind her. Then, something unexpected happened.
The robot that was banging into the one on the ground stopped and turned to the soldiers. It swung its massive arm, knocking one of the soldiers over, then grabbed another one and crushed his head. The third one fired on the robot. Mel peeked out from behind the console. Wincing at the stabbing pain in her back, she looked down to see blood pooling on the floor.
At least she could still walk. It wouldn’t matter for much longer. More soldiers ran into the room, fighting the robot and looking for her. Beams of light flashed in every direction as the soldiers yelled and fired at the shadows. The robot took another soldier out.
A moment later, the agent walked calmly through the door, easily dodging the giant robot. Mel felt a vibration in her left arm. A signal that the power cells had reached critical overload. She thought she could hear a faint, high-pitched whine from the generator room. The Order agent surveyed the room, and Mel stood up, their eyes meeting.
“Enough. You are trapped. I would prefer to take you alive, but it isn’t a necessity,” he said.
“No.”
The explosion rocked the room, sending debris and bodies flying. Mel slammed into the wall under the giant screens. Debris from the ceiling rained down, and one of the screens toppled onto her.
The room groaned as if in pain. Eventually, it died away, and she lay in black silence.
She was still awake, barely. She could feel the warm blood on her back, her left leg twisted underneath her, the giant screen bearing down. Buried ten floors underground, she would die of dehydration or blood loss. And it was okay. She had saved her friends, given them a pathway home. Evan had the medical protocols. Kathor would honor his agreement, and she would honor hers.
She felt lightheaded. The silence broke with a grinding sound, a screeching of metal. She knew she was losing it, losing her grip on reality. A moment later, the debris at her feet shifted. Barely able to understand what was happening, she could feel the giant screen being lifted away and thrown off to the side. Her light was gone, and she couldn’t see anything. She felt a tugging on her right leg. The feeling was off in that leg, but she realized it was the giant robot, the one that had killed the soldiers. It grabbed her leg and started dragging her across the floor, over twisted beams and glass and chunks of concrete. She screamed in pain, feeling her back spasm and her twisted leg ripping from her knee. The movement stopped as the robot shifted. It reached down and grabbed her head between its pincers, then lifted her off the ground.
A weird sense of gratitude floated through her mind, along with a final thought. This sucks. At least I won’t die of boredom while I slowly bleed to death.
Chapter 37
“Anna, go back. We have to go back,” Riley said, slamming his hand down on the console.
“We can’t, Riley. It’s too late. The Order is crawling all over the place. We have to leave now,” Anna replied. The ship shuddered and detached from the tower, then banked right before diving low into the city.
“You can’t be serious! You’re just going to leave her behind?”
“I told you, it’s too late. I tried to save her, but she went back to the command room and blew the power cells. Even if she’s still alive, she’s ten stories under. She’d die of starvation before you could get her out.”
“Bullshit!” Riley yelled. He paced back and forth, running his hands through his hair. “She’s not dead. Not Mel. She’s a fighter. Jon! Help me out here, man. Tell Anna.”
Jon looked haggard. He couldn’t meet Riley’s eyes, but shook his head slightly. “She did it on purpose.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“How the hell should I know?” Jon shot back. “Maybe she just likes the attention. Or maybe she was trying to give us a chance to escape. You know, by distracting the Order.”
Riley threw his hands up. “I can’t believe you’re all giving up on her! How about Beats and Gorgeous? Are we giving up on them, too?”
“Beats, Gorgeous, and Evan are in the Order’s custody,” Anna said. “There’s no chance of getting them out at this point. I’m doing what she told me to do, Riley. Do you understand me?”
Riley opened his mouth to argue, but the import of Anna’s words sank in. He had a look of confusion on his face. “She wouldn’t do that, Anna. She promised you she wouldn’t.”
“I, obviously, have no idea what you’re talking about,” Anna said. “But I can’t go back for her. You two should strap in. The ride might get a bit bumpy.”
Riley and Jon each took a seat, pulling the harnesses on. “Where are we going?” Jon asked.
“Kathor’s ship is in orbit around the smaller moon,” Anna said.
Both Jon and Riley swore. “That’s insane,” Jon said. “I’m not going back to Kathor. We should go… I don’t know. Back to Latanu.”
“I can’t,” Anna said. “Even if I thought that was a good idea, which I don’t.”
“If we go back to Kathor, we just become prisoners again,” Riley said.
“Mel said she had an arrangement with Kathor.”
“What arrangement?” Riley asked.
“She didn’t say. She told me I’d understand when we got there.”
Jon almost vibrated in his seat. “This is insane,” he repeated.
“You already said that,” Riley said. “It’s true, but it doesn’t help to keep repeating it.”
“Screw you,” Jon said. “Anna, turn the ship around. We don’t want to go to Kathor.”
“Sorry, Jon, I can’t do that.”
“What the hell, Anna?” Jon pleaded. “You’re as bad as her. Everything always has to be your way. Turn the ship around!”
Riley sighed. “She can’t.”
“Why the hell not?” Jon said.
“It’s a long story,” Riley replied. “But she can’t. Looks like we’re going to Kathor’s ship, so… time to adjust to a new reality.”
As they came to the edge of the city, they entered a low mountain range. Anna guided the ship through a canyon and up the side of a mountain. As they came to the top, the ship accelerated, and they continued into the sky. Riley and Jon sat helplessly as the pale blue sky faded and gave way to thousands of stars blinking in blackness. The ship turned, and a small round moon came into view.
“We don’t have much time,” Anna said. “The Order is tracking us. They’ll be on us soon.”
They sat in silence for several moments. Riley stared out into the void. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“We were against impossible odds, Riley,” Anna said. “Look at us. I’m a machine. Evan and Mel were halfway there. We were never going to go back. There’s nothing for us on Earth anymore. Mel tried. There were times I thought we could do it. But I don’t think we really had a chance.”
Riley swallowed. He wanted to argue. Wanted to yell and scream and break something. “I… I don’t know what to think. I just miss her, that’s all.” Riley sank back in his chair, feeling smaller and more helpless than he could remember. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and finally turned to Jon. “I’m not going down without a fight. I have no idea why Mel wanted Anna to take us to Kathor, but I won’t be a prisoner again.”
“Finally, someone talking some sense,” Jon said. “What do you have in mind?”
***
The moon grew larger in the window. The ship banked right, and the moon slid off to the side.
“This is going to be close,” Anna said. An Order ship was just behind them, closing in fast. They had already fired a missile, but Anna had avoided it. “I won’t be able to shake them much longer.”
“Does it matter?” Riley said.
“I’m supposed to get you to Kathor’s ship,” Anna said dryly. “I assume that means alive.”
“You know we’re not going to let him take us, right?”
&n
bsp; “Yes, I can actually hear you and Jon plotting,” Anna replied. “What you do after you get there is your problem. Well, my problem too, I guess. But it doesn’t matter. We’re all on borrowed time.”
“What does that mean?” Jon asked.
“The damage to my processing unit has reached a critical level. I’m already losing memories. Processing power is below fifty percent, and heat levels are causing the damage to accelerate. I doubt I’ll last the day, and any damage the ship takes will just make it worse.”
“I didn’t realize it had gotten that bad,” Riley said. “I’m… I’m sorry, Anna.”
“That’s going around,” she replied. “It’s okay. I don’t want to go back to Kathor, either.”
“You know, we could just turn around,” Jon pointed out.
“You’re not a good listener, you know that, right?” Anna said. “I guess you’re welcome to get off the ship and swim back to Latanu. Wait. The other ship, it’s in range again. They’re firing.”
Evan and Riley braced themselves. A missile flew by the right side of the window, and then the ship rocked, throwing them forward against their seats. The lights in the cabin blinked off, then back on.
“Anna!” Riley yelled.
“I’m here,” Anna replied, her voice slow and slightly slurred. “Direct hit… to the main engines…. Can’t find Kathor…. It’s getting… hard to think…”
“She’s hurt,” Jon said. “Damaged… whatever.” He leaned forward and checked a monitor on the console. “The main engines are out. Directional thrusters are still up, and we have forward momentum, but we can’t outrun them. We’re sitting ducks.”
“Where the hell is Kathor? Ah, hell. I guess it doesn’t really matter how we die, does it?” Riley’s voice was bitter. “I wish we could take some of them with us.”