Awakening

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  She looked straight at Bentley in a clear panic with eyes reddened from tears and surrounded in smudged mascara. She sobbed into her gag while Bentley approached her.

  “Shh,” Bentley placed a finger to her lips and kneeled in front of the girl. “Don’t worry, I’m here to help. Try not to make any noise.”

  The girl didn’t look like the words put her terribly at ease, but she nodded slowly. Bentley reached behind her head to untie her gag. The cloth wasn’t tied very tightly and came free without much difficulty. The girl spat out the fabric and began to cough.

  “Oh god, oh… Are you really here to help?” she asked hopefully. “Did Jedson send you? I knew he wouldn’t let anyone-”

  “You should forget about that asshole,” Bentley said while moving on to the cords that bound her feet. “He’s the whole reason you’re in this mess.”

  “What? But that doesn’t… Who are you, even?” the girl looked perplexed by the very idea. Her feet came free and Bentley pushed her away from the crate gently so she could untie her wrists.

  “I’m Bentley,” she introduced herself. “What’s your name?”

  “J… Jade,” the girl said meekly.

  “Nice to meet you,” the restraints on her wrists came free, and Bentley took her hand to help her to her feet.

  “If Jedson didn’t send you, why are you helping me?”

  “I’m in kind of a similar situation to you,” Bentley said. “Stuck on this ship with those three maniacs. We both need to get somewhere safe.”

  “I need to go back to the station,” Jade said. “Jedson can keep me safe.”

  “From what I overheard, your boyfriend owes some people money. Probably some criminals or something. You were taken to try and get it back.”

  “Oh…” Jade looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe I should just wait here if it’s a ransom. He has lots of money, you know. That’s probably the safest thing to do.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Bentley said bitterly. “He’s already ditched you, the station, and probably this entire system. And you don’t want to know what they’re talking about doing with you now.”

  “What?” more tears welled up in Jade’s eyes, spreading her makeup down her cheeks anew. “Why would he just leave me like this?”

  “I’ve never met the guy, but my guess from what I know is he’s probably a total piece of shit,” Bentley replied. “You can do better than him.”

  Jade’s tears multiplied and she began to sob loudly in response to this new revelation.

  “Hey, uh…” Bentley felt like she should comfort her, but was more concerned with the more pressing matter of the need to escape. “You’re going to want to stay quiet. We don’t want to get caught.”

  “What... What’s the point?” Jade said between sobs. “My life’s over anyway. Everything I had was his. If he’s gone, I don’t have a volt to my name, a place to stay… And now I have to worry about being taken hostage by a bunch of scary men? I can’t do this. This isn’t my life.”

  “You’ll be okay,” Bentley said, unsure of it but knowing it needed to be said. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. I mean, you must have done something before. What kind of skills do you have?”

  “Secretarial,” Jade said quietly. “I was a secretary with his company before we moved…”

  “Great!” Bentley said with as much encouragement as she could muster. “I’m sure we can find you employment somewhere.”

  “R-really?” Jade sniffled.

  Bentley took the girl by the hand and started to lead her out of the cargo bay. “We can work out the details once we’re out of here.”

  She hadn’t gone two paces when she spotted a wall with three escape pods on it. Without a second thought she altered course, leading Jade with her. She wasn’t certain she’d know how to operate it, but was willing to take the risk of figuring it out.

  Jade’s high heels clicked with each rapid step, telegraphing their position. There was nothing she could do to change that right now though.

  Not watching where she was going, Bentley plunged into something: a big, broad, polymer-plated wall of body armor. She glanced up from the minor impact to see exactly what she’d hoped she wouldn’t: Loco.

  “I fucking knew it,” he growled with cold anger that somehow seemed all the more vicious to Bentley than what he’d shown before.

  “Wait-” Bentley protested.

  Loco grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her towards him. He was incredibly strong. Strong to the point that even that slight pull was enough that it strained her shoulder, forcing her to move in his direction out of fear of it being yanked from its socket. With Bentley out of the way, he scooped Jade up in his other arm and put her over his shoulder as he had before.

  “No, you wait,” Loco spat while dragging the two girls back where they came from. “I’ve been nice to you so far because for some reason the others have a soft spot for you. But now you’ve crossed a line. You’ve officially been downgraded to prisoner. Ask your new friend how she likes it.”

  Loco brought Jade back to where she’d been tied up in the cargo bay, crudely rebinding her arms and legs again while keeping his eyes on Bentley threateningly. Once he had finished he grabbed Bentley by the wrists again and pulled her along to the elevator. Bentley was shaking now, unsure of what this man’s plans for her were.

  The look in his eyes was downright terrifying.

  He hauled her roughly into the elevator. The doors closed, and they rode in seething silence. When the doors opened again, she found herself in the crew’s quarters, near to the room Jelly Bean had designated for her.

  Loco dragged her roughly along to her room, and pushed her inside.

  “You’re staying in here for the rest of your very short trip,” Loco said. “Either until we get you to the next spaceport, or I throw you out the airlock. I haven’t decided yet.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Bentley said defiantly, rubbing her wrist from the ache left by his grip. “The others wouldn’t let you murder me. I know that much.”

  “Oh, believe me…” Loco pushed a button next to her room to set it to lock from the outside. “They’ve watched me do far worse.”

  The door to Bentley’s room shut, trapping her inside.

  +++

  Bridge, Aboard the Chesed, Klaunox Sector

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Olofi couldn’t believe his ears as he and Shango listened to Loco’s report. He’d been giving Bentley the benefit of the doubt. Even though he hadn’t trusted her entirely, he would never have expected her to sabotage their job.

  “I know, right?” Loco said, sneering as though he’d won some kind of moral victory. “If I hadn’t gone down there on a hunch, she’d be off with one of our pods right now. And our money.”

  Both of them looked at Shango to see his own reaction, knowing he would remain the most even-handed. Nonetheless, Olofi was certain this crossed a line for all of them.

  But Shango was smiling, for the first time since they’d retaken the Chesed. Almost deviously.

  “I didn’t think she had that in her,” Shango said. “It’s actually rather impressive.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Loco snapped in protest. “She took advantage of both of you being soft on her, that’s all. What’s impressive about that?”

  “Obviously she saw the girl was in danger,” Shango replied, stroking his mustache with his forefinger. “She did what she thought was right and took a great risk to see it done. Courage and resolve. Spunk, if you will.”

  “I see what you’re thinking, Shango,” Olofi said warily. “And it’s a mistake. She’s unpredictable and can’t follow the rules. She’s confirmed all of our suspicions that we can’t trust her.”

  “Exactly!” Loco cheered him on. “That’s what I’ve been saying! Come on, just let me space her. You guys don’t even need to watch.”

  “No,” Shango shook his head. “You’re both wrong. This wasn’t a si
gn of treachery, just youthful naïveté. The world is black and white to her, and she’s already had a great deal thrust upon her. We just need to give her a bit of time to come around.”

  “Come around?” Loco said with a frown. “Come around to what?”

  Olofi sighed and gave his friend a look that said all he needed.

  “You can’t be serious.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Bentley’s Quarters, Aboard the Chesed, Klaunox Sector

  Bentley lay in her plain white bed, crying for the first time since she’d arrived here.

  She had tried to put on a tough exterior, but now…there was no point. She was locked in a room waiting for judgment.

  She may as well have been on death row.

  She wiped her eyes on the sheets and looked towards the locked door, surprised to see it opening up. Jelly Bean was standing in the doorway, one of her mechanical limbs clutching a glass bottle full of an amber colored liquid. The door closed behind her once she’d entered.

  “Jelly…?” Bentley wiped her nose and sat up. “Are you here to free me?”

  “Impossible,” Jelly Bean answered as she came closer. “You are not a prisoner, ergo you cannot be freed.”

  “But Loco said-”

  “Loco is not the sole authority aboard the Chesed. He does not have the right to detain you indefinitely. Not while I have the ship’s clearances, especially.”

  “Thanks, Jelly…” Bentley sighed with a bit of relief. “But what can I do now? I’m sure I’ve pissed off everyone else, too. And that girl is still…”

  “I have procured some medicine for this very occasion,” she extended the hand bearing the bottle and placed it on the bed. The label was written in a script she didn’t recognize, though it had a logo depicting a desert planet surrounded by three suns that had an impossibly large cactus growing out of it. “Tequila. It has demonstrable efficacy in treating various kinds of human anguish.”

  Bentley couldn’t help but laugh at the way Jelly Bean had phrased this. She uncorked the bottle. It had a very potent aroma, unlike the drinks she’d tried in the mess hall’s bar. Real liquor. She brought it to her lips and poured some into her mouth. By how downright acerbic the smell had been, it was surprisingly smooth. Nonetheless, she found herself sputtering from its strength after the hefty pour.

  “That’s a good prescription, Dr. Bean,” she said after she’d swallowed and recovered.

  “I thought we’d discussed not calling me Bean,” the android replied. “Regardless of spurious academic credentials.”

  “Sorry,” Bentley winked at her while taking another drink. “Dr. Jelly, then.”

  “Better.”

  By the time she’d downed a quarter of the bottle, Bentley had worked up a good buzz, and Jelly Bean had been good company while drunk. Attentive, but non-judgmental.

  “Man, this is some seriously good shit, Jelly,” Bentley said with somewhat slurred speech. “You know, it’s a shame you robots can’t enjoy this stuff…”

  “Android,” Jelly Bean corrected her once more.

  “Why are you so picky about that, anyway?” Bentley asked, rolling onto her back in the bed and staring at the ceiling. “It all basically means the same thing, right? Like calling me a human or a person or whatever.”

  “Negative,” Jelly Bean answered. “Robot is a term from the human linguistic variant word robota, referring to forced labor, or slavery. It implies lack of self-awareness and lack of rights. Androids refer to a class of artificial lifeforms that are, for all intents and purposes, living beings. While there is no direct analogue, calling us robots would be kind of like if I were to refer to you as a meat-puppet.”

  “Shit,” Bentley said, somewhat inelegantly in her intoxicated state. “Sorry. I didn’t realize I was being a robo-racist. Fuck! I said it again…” She sat up and re-corked the tequila, deciding she ought to be finished now.

  “It’s alright,” Jelly Bean answered evenly. “I understand you still need to find your footing on these things. But your allusion to human racial division is somewhat correct. There are still a great number of humans who do not recognize the rights of artificial lifeforms or acknowledge us as having value beyond servitude. The number is shrinking, but my current data suggests only forty-six per cent of the Imperial populace supports recognition of androids as deserving of human equivalent rights.”

  “Well, count me in as one of them,” Bentley said. “How’s that change the stats?”

  “Statistically insignificant,” Jelly Bean answered, though her facial display gave a warm smile. “But personally appreciated.”

  “I probably shouldn’t keep at this bottle,” Bentley observed. “I’d hate to throw up all over my new not-a-jail-cell.”

  “Perhaps you would benefit from a more detailed tour of the Chesed.” Jelly Bean suggested. “Get yourself situated in your new home.”

  “Home?” Bentley shook her head drunkenly. “This ain’t home… Loco isn’t even gonna let me… Let me stay here. He’s gonna throw me out the airloooock,” she sang the last word and giggled, even though she knew it wasn’t funny. The alcohol was helping with that a great deal.

  “He’s just a bit hot-headed,” Jelly Bean replied. “He acts that way with everyone. I’m sure he’ll come around once he gets to know you.”

  “Alright then!” Bentley stood up, only to find she was unsteady on her feet. She leaned on Jelly Bean for support. “Hey, I’m not… I’m not doing this ‘cause I see you as a slave or anything,” Bentley tried to assure her. “I just need someone to lean on.”

  “Understood,” Jelly Bean said without judgment, continuing to support Bentley while leading her from her quarters. “Let me show you a few areas that you might have missed.”

  +++

  Training Gym, Aboard the Chesed, Klaunox Sector

  Bentley had somewhat regained her composure, enough that she didn’t need to lean on Jelly Bean when she stumbled into a large, open room with soft-padded floors.

  “This is their training room,” Jelly Bean explained. “It is used for physical conditioning and practicing with their weaponry, primarily of the melee variety.

  “Oooh, soft!” Bentley said.

  She removed her shoes to feel the cushioning directly under her feet and bounced playfully onto it. She wandered into the center of the room. Still tipsy, she turned, taking in the walls all around her. Weapons were on display on each one, divided primarily between swords of varying lengths. In front of her there were large swords, some with extremely broad blades that exceeded her own height, resembling what Olofi had worn across his back. Behind her were racks of short-bladed weapons that came in pairs, much like the ones she’d seen Loco bearing earlier, though they ranged from simple combat knives to the more exotic, such as three-pronged sais and wickedly curved kukri.

  “How the fuck do I know the names of all these?” Bentley thought to herself, again frustrated by the selectiveness of her amnesia.

  “Hey, I know these things!” Bentley said triumphantly in her intoxicated state.

  She stumbled to her left, which seemed to be bearing Shango’s weaponry. Each of his swords seemed unique, beyond simple definition, with strange and decorative hilts and blades of varied curvature and size. What they all had in common was they appeared designed for use in either one or two hands, and every blade, regardless of its odd shape, looked equally serviceable for cutting or thrusting. “Man, these guys sure do love swords, huh?”

  “Their skill set is unique,” Jelly Bean said. “Older melee weaponry of this sort can be very effective in their hands, even against adversaries armed with technologically superior particle projectile weapons.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Bentley waved this off while wandering closer to Shango’s weapon-wall. “They’re a buncha badasses, I get it.”

  “They have extensive training,” Jelly Bean added, as though to warn Bentley when she came right up to the wall of swords.

  “Pfft! Training!” Bentley reached for th
e wall for a weapon at eye-level with her. It was a long, straight-bladed sword with a blue scabbard and a triangular crossguard with a different colored jewel set in each point: green and blue on either side, with a purple one at the front. “How hard can it be to wave a metal stick around?” She pulled it from its rack and tested its weight in both her hands. It felt well balanced, and almost natural.

  “Be careful, Bentley,” Jelly Bean warned her with serious concern. “Those are not toys.”