by R. D. Hale
Myla is one of our housemates, but more like family to all of us, except my brother. She is the love of Arturo's life, but he will never admit it, and she has someone else – Cari. At some point her girlfriend will have to be told, but right now, I have no way to contact her. And I am terrified by the thought of explaining this situation, like doing so would make it real.
Crying, I hunch in my seat as Bex puts an arm around my shoulders.
'Don't cry, he's gonna make it. He's nearly there,' Bex says softly.
'Myla – what's he gonna think when he finds out they have her?' I say.
'Oh, er, they had Arturo once and the Rebellion rescued him, remember? There'll be a way to get her back,' Bex mumbles.
'When Arturo comes around, he's gonna be powerful. You know what he's like when it comes to Myla. He's gonna think he can take them on by himself. He's gonna go straight out there and get himself shot again,' I say.
'Then we'll just have to talk to him, make him see sense,' Bex whispers.
'And in the unlikely event he listens to a word, we'll never see Myla again…'
For the next few hours, the gang occupy themselves at the holoscreen, which is something of a novelty given the crappy compuscreen at home. Annoyingly cheerful music plays in the background as I slouch with the chair digging into my neck. Rebels keep glancing in my direction as though I am a celebrity or something, but none say a word.
Smig and Nelson sit either side of me like bodyguards and their broad arms dominate the table as they rest their elbows. The pair will not stop yapping about how they want to be next in line for experimental upgrades. Idiots.
A man in white overalls enters the canteen and I watch him approach the gang through the corner of my eye. He is tall and gangly, messy-haired with a pointed nose, and twitchy like he has drunk too many energy drinks.
'So I take it you're Arturo's friends… And which one of you is his sister?' the man says and I do not respond, but Bex points in my direction. 'Hello, Emmi, my name is Doctor Atticus Mylarde. The reason your brother has not yet woken is because of some residual brain damage which the nanites had failed to repair. Our scans indicate he has been conscious for some time, but we're just waiting for him to regain his motor functions.
'I've performed a surgical operation which was too unorthodox to be entrusted to a droid, and although I've not fully repaired the damage, I believe I've made it possible for the nanites to finish the job. I've implanted a prototype chip into Arturo's brain, because he is likely to have lost some of his natural motor functions. However, this chip will more than make up for that. His coordination and spacial awareness will be significantly boosted. I've had to fully sedate him to ensure he does not wake up before he is ready. The nanites will have finished their work by this time tomorrow and then you will have your brother back, better than ever.'
The doctor leaves the canteen and the gang encircle me, grinning as if brain surgery is some big game. Shuddering, I spot a three-dimensional display of giant insects on the holoscreen which no-one is paying the slightest bit of attention anymore. This gang is weird.
'You hear that, Emmi? This time tomorrow, we'll have Arturo back and he'll have superpowers. He'll be almost as tough as me,' Smig yelps.
'It'sth not fair!' Scoop sits upright with his eyes wide, bearing his crooked teeth. Suddenly, the life and death drama is forgotten, and we are back to regular idiots envying superhumans. 'Why can't we all get superpowers like Dynah, Rupert, Arturo, and Killow?'
'Who's Killow?' Nelson says.
'Our friend who was infected by nanites, developed strange abilities, and turned on my brother. He's disappeared now. We think he's alive, but we can't be certain. Arturo said the nanites seem to be controlling him,' I say.
'So let me get this straight, another one of your friends has superpowers? Almost seems lucky to me,' Nelson says, tempting me to slap him. 'Look, I'm sure the nanites just left Killow confused for a while. That's a pretty big adjustment. Plus, he's probably out there, having the time of his life. I would be.'
'Yeah, the gang's been really lucky so far, especially Arturo,' Oscar adds and his face drops as I glare. 'Well, not lucky. He is and he isn… Okay, I'll shut up now.'
'Hey, guys, maybe if we join this Rebellion, they can give us all some sort of power. How cool would that be?' Bex grins from the next table. 'I want a metal arm like that Jardine dude.'
'What would a pretty girl want with a metal arm?' Smig scratches his stubbly chin.
'Who said I'm interested in being a pretty girl? I wanna crush some heads,' Bex says.
'Me too… And then we could t-totally rescue Myla,' Oscar says.
'Guys, may I remind you my brother recently died because of this Rebellion?' I snap.
'And now he's coming back. Death isn't a big deal anymore. Well, apart from Lel. She… Oh, I'll shut up again.' Oscar lowers his head as I climb from my seat, worn out by the stupidity.
I return to the operating room alone to see two black eyes and glued incisions in Arturo's shaved head. My brother looks so much worse for someone supposedly on the road to recovery. The clothes I wore during the shooting are piled on a table beside Arturo's shoes, wallet, and spares. Not a speck of blood is visible on them now. I put on the cardigan I never wanted to see again, let alone wear, but my anxiety is fading and the woolly texture is comforting.
Sitting bedside, I take my brother's hand and goosebumps spread over my arm and then my body. A tear of tentative joy rolls down my cheek as I sense his lifeforce… A lifeforce even bullets could not extinguish.
'Hey, big brother, the doctor says you're awake in there so I assume you can hear every word. You should see yourself, you're a mess, even more so than usual. They've operated on you again, and they say you should fully wake up in a day or so. When you do, we're leaving this place. I can't take this city anymore. We'll go somewhere new and start ag…' I feel Arturo squeeze my hand ever-so-gently and I tremble. 'Arturo, can you open your eyes? Come on, open them… Please…'
Time passes. Arturo's eyes do not open, and I question whether the hand squeeze was imaginary. Tiredness overcomes me, and I yawn repeatedly, blinking until my eyes are closed for longer than they are open. My voice lowers to a croaky whisper: 'I'll see you in the morning, Arturo, and then we'll start our new journey. Sleep well and remember, tomorrow's just a dream away.'
Reincarnation
A male voice murmurs. I smile and drift away. More murmuring. I jump in my seat. My eyelids jolt open and my heart pounds. Arturo is murmuring in lamp light, his head moving, eyelids still closed. 'Arturo!' I yell, pulling the transparent mask from his face to see a thin tube leading down his throat. I carefully replace the mask to avoid further complications.
Footsteps hurriedly approach the operating room as I repeat: 'Arturo, Arturo.' The door swings open and I glance back at the puffy-eyed gang squeezing into the doorway, panting.
'E-E-Emmi.' I turn back to Arturo who has pulled the tube from his throat and is sitting upright. The machine beeps continuously as he rips wires from his scarred chest to reveal pink marks from the stickers. The blackness around his eyes is already fading and I could swear his pupils are now red.
'You did it! You did it! He's woken up,' I say as Jardine squeezes into the operating room, standing in front of the gang. His gold tooth shines in the lamp light, but his grin is removed by my brother's furious glare.
'You,' Arturo gasps, clenching his teeth, curling his lips.
'Arturo, he helped save your life.' I touch my brother's hand, but he pulls away. 'If it wasn't for Jardine, you'd be dead now.'
'How long was I out?' Arturo growls, displaying a level of strength and alertness which defies his condition as his veins bulge. I was expecting a slow recovery, weakness, confusion… Perhaps he is disoriented and his brain is still in fight mode. After all, fighting will be the last thing he can remember.
'Four days,' Jardine says.
'I wasn't asking you… Myla – what happened to her? What happen
ed to her?' The gang exchange anxious glances as Arturo jumps to his bare feet, wearing only his bloodstained jeans. He flings the bed to the side, clattering the machine which finally goes silent. The lamp stand wobbles, causing the lightbulb to flicker.
'What happened to her?' Arturo roars; his skin turning red, his scars redder.
'W-we don't know. They took her when they shot you.' I step back, startled by Arturo's ferocity. 'There was nothing we could do.'
'How can we find her?' Arturo says.
'We think they were coming for Dynah. We just got in the way. Everyone else is okay, but they have her,' I say.
'What if they think she's like Dynah? They could be interrogating her. They could be experimenting on her… No, that's not why they came. They wanted Myla and me because we implanted the virus. It's his fault!' Arturo growls, pointing at Jardine and then slamming the twenty stone brute against the wall like a rag doll.
My brother really is superhuman now.
'You're going to tell me how to find her. Or I am going to crush you,' Arturo commands.
'Ar… Arturo, I think I know where she might be. I had a dream.' Dynah steps forwards in her badass biker jacket, fixing my brother with ice-blue eyes.
'Where? You can sense things. If you dreamt it…' Arturo releases Jardine from his grip, turning and gasping with hunched shoulders.
'I dreamt they took her upwards.' Dynah points to the ceiling. 'I think she's in Orbital City and I know she's still alive.'
'Well, that's where we are going,' Arturo says, just as I had feared.
'Arturo, we can't just stroll in,' Jardine interrupts. 'They're looking for us. Their systems will recognise us instantly.'
'You can get us in.' Arturo scowls.
'I can get you in, but what do you think you can do? You can't get her out of there. It's too heavily guarded and central command are going to blow the place any day now,' Jardine says.
'So much for just knocking the power out… Get me inside and then I'm not your problem anymore,' Arturo says.
'Arturo, I like you. I don't want you to throw your life away,' Jardine says.
'Throw my life away! What about all the people you're going to kill? You're no different from any other terrorist. I used to think Samarianism was the problem with this world, but now I realise the problem is people like you!
'Samarianism is just an excuse. Take it away and people like you will always find another. I came back to this life for one purpose and one purpose only. If I fail then you, me and everything else on this Goddess-forsaken rock can rot, because nothing will matter to me anymore.'
'I'll do what I can. The rest of your clothes are in the corner.' Jardine points to the clothes on the bedside table, and we leave the operating room so my brother can get dressed.
Complications
We are led into a section of the base where rifles are mounted on the walls, serving as a reminder this place is no sanctuary. The gang sit around a long silver table with a console, and Jardine taps a few buttons. The console projects a three-dimensional map of what looks like Orbital City – a wireframe sphere with a complex interior. A section of the map flashes red and the words Security Station appear, but Arturo pays no attention. The surrounding faces display fear and confusion as my brother prowls back and forth like a caged animal.
'Ar… Arturo, I don't want you to go up there. I can't lose you as well,' I plead, rising from my seat.
'I have to go, Emmi. She's the only reason I came back,' Arturo says.
'B… but what about me?' I feel tears welling in my eyes. 'If I don't have you, I don't have anything.'
'Then you'll know how I feel, right now. I have to do this and if I can't, then I'd rather die,' Arturo says.
Jardine reaches into a cupboard and hauls a bag onto the table, which he unzips. He removes two small white cases, a white bottle, and a see-through packet containing a cloth. He approaches a sink, removes the packet, opens the bottle, and soaks the cloth in fluid.
He returns to my brother and scrubs his fingers, then throws the cloth in the sink and runs the tap. He removes a device from the bag, taps some buttons, then clamps it over Arturo's fingers, one by one. My brother winces and I assume his fingerprints are being rewritten.
Once finished, Jardine returns the device to the rucksack, closes the bottle, and turns off the tap. Arturo claws his fingers as Jardine collects a weapon from the wall-mounted armoury.
'Here's a phaser. It's made of dielectric composites so it's difficult to detect.' Jardine hands a phaser to Arturo, then delves into the spy kit, and removes a wallet stuffed with cards, pulling out two. 'Take these Citicards. Most security systems only check eyes or prints, however, some recognise faces. Move quickly and keep your head down,' Jardine says, and Arturo slots a Citicard into his pocket, then Dynah does the same.
'I'll go with you,' Smig says in a loud, deep voice.
'No, Dynah's coming. She's the only one powerful enough to be of any use to me,' Arturo says, disregarding the second telepath in the room, but Rupert is not battle-hardened.
'I'll come. I can help. This is the way it's meant to be,' Dynah says.
'Let's get these contacts in and get going,' Arturo demands.
Dynah undergoes the fingerprint rewrite as Arturo opens a small white case. He removes a contact lens and jabs his eye with a twitchy finger, then squeezes his eye shut. He fits the other contact lens with less clumsiness and squints for a few seconds. Then he shoves the phaser into his jacket lining and strides towards the door.
'Emmi, come here.' Arturo reaches into his pocket as I approach him timidly. A tear rolls down my cheek as he squeezes my wrist and places his wallet into my palm.
'I don't want you to go. Please don't. If I lose you…'
'When you lose someone, all you want is one more chance to bring them back. That's all I wanted with Lel, but I never had the chance. With Myla, I do. This wallet contains a lot of money. If I don't return, keep it. Get yourself away from here. I don't want you having any part in this war. If other people want to waste their lives, that's their choice, but you're not wasting yours to help them. You're better than this,' Arturo says.
'No, I don't need this because you're coming back. You and Myla are both coming back.' I try to return the wallet, but Arturo closes my trembling hand. He stares deeply into my eyes as I wonder how I would cope without two of my closest friends, without my big brother… And the softening of Arturo's position makes his selfless act seem so selfish.
'Emmi, I can't promise you that I'm coming back… I…'
Arturo's words are interrupted by a siren and flashing lights as the alarm system is triggered. Jardine activates the holoscreen and it displays armed guards raiding the complex. A gun turret on the ceiling mows one of the bastards down, but his ally throws a grenade which takes it out with a flash of energy. Turbo and Smig grab rifles from the wall and I tremble with no idea what I am supposed to do.
'Guys, we have company. Follow me, now!' Jardine says, and we hurry out the room and over a grated floor, reaching a junction. Jardine turns and slips to one knee as phaser fire whizzes past his huge body. We retreat to a room containing a growling machine and many pipes, and Jardine slams the thick steel door.
'In the vent,' Jardine says and my brother tears the grid from the wall like it is nothing. Arturo pushes me into the vent and I crawl into darkness as someone bumps into my feet. Light streaks through the vent and I turn right to see another grid which I shove, but it does not budge.
'You'll have to force it open, Emmi, quick,' a voice whispers from behind.
I bash the grid with my fists until my hands ache, then I pause for a moment and reluctantly continue, wincing with every strike. My efforts create a loud rattling and my heart pounds as I tremble uncontrollably. What if they hear me?
I shove the grid with my forearms, clenching my teeth as the screws at last give way. Scrambling from the vent head-first, I reach my palms towards the floor tiles to break my fall. I roll over and get
up, helping the others climb from the vent, and Turbo is the last to emerge. Arturo and Jardine do not appear to be coming and I can only pray they are winning the fight.
'Get into the corners,' Turbo says as gunfire echoes throughout the base. 'Smig, get your gun ready.'
The gang huddle in two corners and Turbo opens the door with his machine gun readied. The roar is dizzying as he opens fire within a confined space, then steps into the corridor. Thud. Thud.
'Rupert, we need to be careful. Our powers could cause collateral damage,' Dynah says.
'Let me and Turbo handle things.' Smig follows Turbo into the corridor and the pair stand back-to-back with rifles pointed as the rest of us emerge. Two dead guards lie at one end of the corridor which is filling with blood. The wall behind is riddled with bullet-holes.
Turbo leads the gang around the pool of blood and past the dead bodies with Smig acting as rear-guard. I cannot help watching the holey corpses through the corner of my eye, grimacing as a leg twitches. Turbo reaches another junction and opens fire, taking cover behind the wall, then firing again. I can feel the noise reverberating in my bones as I cower helplessly.
A soldier emerges from behind us, running and firing his rifle, but the bullets stop mid-air, tinkling onto the floor. Smig's bullets face no such problem and tear the soldier apart. Dynah stares down the corridor with glowing red eyes, ready for the next victim, and Rupert moves to the front.
'The exit is through here.' Turbo points to a fire exit past the dead men. 'We have to be quick.' We run for the open door, leaping corpses and passing beneath a gun turret. I assume these were programmed to recognise enemy uniforms, otherwise everyone would be targets.
A stream of blood causes Scoop to slip, and I catch him, almost falling in the process. Smig grabs my arm and drags me through the doorway as Scoop regains his balance.