by Eric Warren
“Me too,” David replied. His eyes traveled the room. “I think. What happened in here?” He stared at the burnt-out subway car, looking past Blu who still hadn’t moved from in front of him.
“Charlie happened. We think as soon as he came through the gate, he began his attacks. We haven’t been able to contact any of our allies,” Frees said.
“I’m standing in another universe,” David said, unable to keep a sense of wonder out of his voice. “Amazing.” He turned back to his daughter. “You did it, you should be really proud of yourself.”
Blu turned away. “Thanks,” she said, then returned to Arista. “What now?”
She stared at the main door to the room which was slightly ajar. “We’ll definitely need to raid some of the food stores and stock up. Without my powders, we’re going to have a hard time finding things for the three of us to eat. We can check a few of the crew quarters then move on to the main transportation hub. We also need to head for the command center. See if there’s a record of what happened here anywhere and if we can contact the outside world.”
“Then let’s get moving,” David said. “No sense standing around here with the dead.”
Arista eyed Frees who only shrugged in response. Now she had to keep two humans safe, in addition to finding Charlie. Still, Frees had been right back on the assembly floor. The more people, the better their pool of resources. Arista was just glad the other David’s body had been moved before the massacre here. She wasn’t sure this David would be able to handle seeing his own decaying body.
Who was she kidding, no one would be able to handle that.
“We need to be cautious,” Arista said as they approached the main doors. “Charlie might have left sentries behind. The colony has a dampener that will mask our human life signs from the outside world, but they may be able to detect us if they’re inside somewhere. So be on guard. Here.” She handed David the hypertaser Jennings had given her.
Frees took point and checked the small opening of the doors before wedging himself between them. With some effort, he pushed them apart enough so they could get through, single-file. Once in the hallway Arista could see it was more of the same. Decayed soldiers lay in the hallway, along with a husk every now and again. But it was clear who had won this battle.
“I recognize some of these names from my unit,” Frees said, inspecting the bodies. “They were sent up from the barracks. Or they were already up here.”
“Doesn’t look like the battle lasted long,” Blu said.
“It doesn’t take a machine long to kill a human,” Arista said. “Especially when that machine is mad.” She noticed Blu and David exchange looks, but they proceeded down the hallways without complaint. The air in here was just as musty as it had been in the gate room, and not all of the lights worked. Some flickered and a few were destroyed or hanging from the ceiling. But it wasn’t a hard trail to follow. It had been clear Charlie had been jumping from husk to husk as he moved along. Every now and again they would find another husk with a hole in its head. But for every husk there were at least a dozen humans, most military, some civilian. Even some children as they grew closer to the common areas and the general habitat. It seemed this time Charlie wasn’t interested in sparing anyone to keep them in tanks. This was a full-out war.
Arista could have sworn she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, but every time she checked it was nothing. It was probably because the harsh half-light of the place was throwing deep shadows everywhere and in the presence of so many corpses, she couldn’t help her imagination from overacting. But that didn’t mean she was about to let down her guard.
“That brings us to ninety-four humans, seven machines,” Frees said as they reached the main elevator.
“How many people lived in this colony?” David asked.
“Two thousand,” Arista said. “At least, that’s what they told me. It could have been more or less. People around here weren’t exactly honest.”
“At least this still works,” Frees said as the elevator descended to meet them. “If it didn’t, we’d have a long walk ahead of us.” The doors opened to reveal the body of a human splayed against the wall, though he was much moister than his fellows. Various maggot larvae crawled over the corpse, whose face was turned to the side with its jaw hanging open. The smell was palpable.
“Ninety-five,” Frees said.
“Ohmygod,” Blu said, turning and retching on the floor.
Arista wanted to make a crack about wanting an energy bar now but she refrained. “Killed more recently than the others?” she asked.
Frees hesitated, then bent down to inspect the corpse. “Maybe. Or it might just be the small space allowed these larvae to fester. I’m no expert.”
“Neither am I. But keep an eye out for any others that look…fresher than the others. It might point to someone else still being here,” she said, stepping into the elevator and keeping an eye on her peripherals.
“I don’t think I can go in there,” Blu said, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve.
“It’s a quick trip.” Arista covered her own mouth with her sleeve. “What is it, six floors down?” she asked Frees, her voice muffled.
“Yes,” Frees replied. “We’ll try Echo’s office first. Then McCulluh’s.”
They filed into the elevator, Blu with her sleeve over her mouth but David seemingly no worse for wear. As the doors closed Arista thought she saw movement in the shadows at the end of the hall again and put out her hand, the doors automatically opening again when they detected the obstruction.
“What?” Frees asked
“Someone’s here,” she said, stepping back out into the hall. She drew her weapon. “Are you picking up anything on your personal scanners?”
He shook his head. “I don’t see anything.”
“He’s out there,” she said, her eyes flicking back and forth. “You two, out. He might have control over the elevators and drop us to our deaths.”
Blu and David scrambled out of the elevator behind Frees.
“I saw him, down there at the end of the hall,” she said, staring into the darkness. It wasn’t the same hall they’d come down, instead an adjacent one without any bodies. The first time might have been a trick of the light, but she was sure this time. Arista didn’t want to take her eyes off the hallway, in case she detected movement again. Now she was sure Charlie left a husk behind as some kind of sentry; he wasn’t stupid enough not to be prepared.
“You three stay here,” she said, then began creeping down the hall, her movements slow and deliberate and the pistol out in front of her. She wasn’t about to be caught off-guard by this thing, and she couldn’t afford to miss. She wished the Device was still working, it always gave her upwards of ninety-seven percent accuracy when firing a weapon. She hadn’t used one without it.
Arista felt the presence of someone behind her and tilted her head so she could still keep her eyes on the dark hallway, yet in her peripheral Frees crept right behind her. “I’m still not detecting anything,” he whispered.
“He’s here, I’m sure of it,” she replied. With each step, the hallway grew darker as the only light came from beyond the corner. They entered a section of the hallway that wasn’t illuminated.
“Wait,” Frees said, “I saw something. It’s only a hundred feet in front of us.”
Arista planted her feet and put both hands on her gun, staring down the barrel into the darkness. “Show yourself,” she said, doing her best to control her breathing. If she wanted to get a clean shot she couldn’t be huffing and puffing with anxiety.
Her eyes caught the shadow of movement; something the color of midnight in a slightly less-black part of the corridor. Like it was using the shadows to camouflage itself. Her finger tightened around the trigger; the only reason she didn’t fire was in the very unlikely case it was a surviving human. More than likely it was a husk designed to follow them to their destination, then report back to Charlie. He’d probably been with them e
ver since they left the gate.
“I’m not going to ask again,” she said.
The shadows shifted and a figure emerged, concealed by a long cloak that covered the figure’s head all the way down to the ground. It was tattered and torn in areas, and covered in dirt and oil. The figure moved toward them and Arista caught the glimpse of a metal foot from underneath the bottom of the cloak. Her finger tightened on the trigger.
“I shouldn’t have expected anything less,” the figure said and for a moment Arista was transported back three months ago before she tried to infiltrate Manheim Insurance. Before she’d burned her own hand off and everything had been nothing but a series of plans. It was a voice she never thought she’d hear again.
“I don’t believe it,” Frees said behind her.
The figure reached up with both hands, pulling the hood of the cloak back to reveal only half a face. The left side was still covered in skin. The right was the partially-crushed polymorphic structure of a husk with a solid black orb for an eye staring directly at them.
Arista’s voice was breathless. “Jonn.”
ELEVEN
It took Arista a moment to register the sound of footsteps behind her. She couldn’t take her eyes off the man who stood before her, his hands out in a surrender gesture, yet his one human eye not breaking contact with hers.
“Stay back,” she heard Frees say to Blu and David. Or was he speaking to Jonn?
“Jonn. What…?”
“You’re looking well,” he said. His voice was tinged with a tinny sound, like his vocal processor had been damaged. His eye lingered on her hand a moment before returning to her face. “Your hair is longer.”
She reached up to touch it, keeping one hand on the pistol. Where had he come from? The last time she’d seen him was when she left him pinned under some assembly equipment back on the production floor in Chicago. He’d been there to build more bodies for Charlie—to replace the ones he’d destroyed in an attack designed to kill Arista and Frees. Arista had trapped him by impaling him with one of the mechanical arms. She thought it would kill him, but when they returned all that was left of him was a trail of mechanical fluids leading to one of the exits. Had they not been in such a hurry to find her parents they would have pursued him. And now here he stood, as if no time had passed at all. “I don’t understand,” she said. “How can you be here?”
“Does it matter?” Frees demanded. He stepped in front of Arista, his own weapon pointed at Jonn.
“Hello, Frees,” Jonn said, his face not betraying any emotion. “You’re looking…different.”
“I could say the same for you,” Frees replied, his voice even harsher.
“The Jonn?” Blu asked. “Your old boyfriend?”
Arista couldn’t help but notice the shadow of a smirk on the left side of Jonn’s mouth. But Blu was mistaken. It had never been anything other than a business arrangement—a way for Arista to blend into machine society better. The fact she had accidentally given him free will and he’d fallen in love with her was another matter.
“You found survivors,” Jonn said. “And you already told them about me. I’m touched.”
“Shut up,” Frees said, taking a step forward.
Jonn raised his hands higher. “I’m not armed.”
“I don’t care; I should have done this three months ago,” Frees replied.
“Frees, wait.” Arista pushed past him and placed her hand on his weapon, lowering it. “What are you doing here, Jonn?”
“Scavenging…surviving. Same as you,” Jonn replied. “But I’ve been here for weeks. Where did you come from?”
“Never mind that.” Her mind had finally snapped into focus. “I want to know how you got here. Did Charlie send you after us? Are you reporting back to him?”
Jonn’s face turned into a sneer. “Charlie? He’s dead. How could he—?”
“He’s alive,” Blu piped up. “He transferred his consciousness into Frees and stayed dormant there until—” She stopped short. “Until recently.”
A smile broke out across Jonn’s face as he stared at Frees. “I bet that just eats you up, doesn’t it? The great protector, the hero who saved the human…” Jonn trailed off. “You’re no better than I am after all.”
“I didn’t try to kill Arista,” he yelled.
Arista almost let it slip he had almost killed her when he jumped out of that window with her on his back, but they’d later determined that had been Charlie trying to influence Frees’ thoughts. “You haven’t had any contact with him at all?” she asked.
Jonn made a small motion with his head indicating no. “If I had, I would have killed him.”
“Taking out the competition?” Frees asked.
Jonn regarded him. “Charlie used me. He persuaded me his way was the only way forward. That there was no room for spontaneity in his world. Let me tell you, I’ve seen more spontaneity in the last six weeks than I have in my entire life and it does have a place here. Charlie was always wrong, it just took me some time to see that.”
Frees glanced at Arista. “We can’t trust him. I say we kill him now and get on with it.”
Arista’s eyes moved to David and Blu, who themselves were watching Jonn. Frees was biased, and she couldn’t count on her own judgment here, she was too conflicted. “What do you two say?” she asked.
“From what you’ve told us, he’s a threat,” David said. “I agree with Frees.”
“Jonn,” Blu said, causing Jonn’s attention to move to her. “Do you still love Arista?” Jonn winced, drawing back as if he’d been struck. “He does. It’s right there, plain as day. He’s not going to hurt you.”
“You don’t know that,” Frees replied, his weapon still trained on Jonn. “He tried killing her once, he’ll try it again.”
“I want to at least find out what he knows before we decide to do anything,” Arista said. “You’ve been here for weeks. Doing what?”
“I told you,” Jonn replied. “Scavenging. I can show you.” He reached down with one of his hands for the fold of his cloak.
“Don’t!” Frees yelled, startling Arista with his ferocity, stepping forward again. Jonn froze.
Arista placed her hand on Frees’ shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ve both got our weapons on him, he’s not that fast.” She raised her pistol and pointed it at Jonn again, addressing him. “Slowly.”
Jonn nodded, and pulled back the fold of his cloak, holding it for them to see. For a moment Arista forgot she was holding the weapon and almost dropped it, though Frees remained solid as stone. Underneath the cloak Jonn’s body was mismatched. He wore no clothes or skin, and it seemed his parts were from a dozen or more different machines, some with the polymorphic coating and others without it. In some areas, such as his left abdomen, only the skeletal structure was present, all the rest of him having been torn away. Arista could see no evidence of the original injury to his chest.
Blu gasped, stepping closer. “What happened?”
“I thought I was going to die,” Jonn explained, his face contorted as he spoke. “When Arista stabbed me with that assembly arm, I thought I was done. But then it released me, I presume when you killed Charlie—or when I thought you killed him. I dragged myself out of the building and managed a couple of blocks before I collapsed in an alleyway. My main power source had been damaged and I didn’t have long before I went into final body lock.
“But then something strange happened; I realized I’d somehow gained the knowledge to repair myself, all I needed was parts. I don’t know where I got the information, but it was like as soon as I needed it, it was there.”
“You killed someone for their parts,” Frees spat.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Jonn countered. “If it came down to me and an empty husk then guess who gets to survive? Isn’t that what the humans did? Survival of the fittest? I had a front-row seat to that class.”
“But…that shouldn’t be possible,” Arista said. “Each individual machine is coded for its o
wn set of parts. Only repair shops can—”
“—code new parts, I know.” Jonn nodded. “I salvaged an energy storage system and a few other parts from the husk and replaced my own, tearing off my own skin in a vain effort to save myself. But it wasn’t long before my system began rejecting the new parts. And the problem spread.”
“You had to keep replacing things,” Blu said, her voice in awe. “How much of you is original?”
“Just my head,” Jonn replied. “It’s the only part that never became infected. No one bothers me down here. I came here to escape, but what I found was a place where I could wait out whatever is happening up there. I had no idea it was a human colony until I arrived.”
“How did you arrive?” David asked. “From what Arista told us no one knew about the colony or how to get here.”
“Seven weeks ago I began noticing something strange. People who weren’t acting like…people. It turned out they were very much people, just the wrong kind.”
“Humans,” Arista said.
He nodded. “And they were hunting machines. Peacekeepers from what I could tell. I saw one shot down in the street.”
“We saw that too,” she said.
He closed the cloak again, fastening it in the middle. “I figured if I laid low I could avoid any trouble. Plus, I kept myself covered well by then and I certainly didn’t act like a Peacekeeper. Not anymore. But then it seemed like every gate on the planet activated at once. I had no clue what was happening, but I made sure to stay away. I didn’t want any trouble. And I had just replaced one of my legs and was still getting used to it. The husk I pulled it from was half an inch taller than me.
“But then a few days later all the gates activated again, and this time scores of people emerged, all of them humans. Some had weapons, some had supplies and some had…children. Human children.”
“Some of them did survive,” Arista said, thinking of Jessika. Had she gotten out before Charlie slaughtered everyone?