by Eric Warren
“Except for me,” she said.
“I need one human in the event I need future autonomous machines. I cannot predict the future. The day may come when the survival of our race depends on a human. You are that human. You will live in stasis inside my new and improved suspension tanks, to be used when I say. And that’s where you will spend eternity.”
“Why me?” Arista asked, stepping forward. All she had to do was get close enough to touch him. She flicked her eyes to Jonn who subtly nodded.
“You were promised to me sixteen years ago. I should have had you then. I should have had you when this traitor and the rogue conspired to break you out. And now I finally collect.” The husk kept its eyes on Arista. Every eye in the entire crowd was on Arista.
“Trymian won’t let you, it isn’t how the system was designed to work,” she said, taking more steps closer and trying not to think about Jill’s lifeless form behind her. If she thought about it too much, she’d lose her nerve and tip him off to what she was doing.
“It doesn’t matter what Trymian wants, he’ll be dead eventually. The palace will fall. I will make sure of it.” The plain-clothed husk grinned. He was older, with long salt and pepper hair.
“Then the remaining humans will stop you. You’ll never be able to destroy them all.”
“With more of these I can.” Charlie waved the weapon. “The humans are too dangerous to be allowed to exist. You used to feel the same way; has staying with them changed your opinion?”
“Every life has value,” she replied. “Even yours. You’re showing us what mistakes not to make.”
“You stupid human, do you not realize what they were doing to your own parents? Your machine parents? It was their desire to use their bodies to hold a human’s mind. To use them to extend their own lives, ending those of any machine who had become autonomous. But they could only use it on machines who had achieved autonomy themselves. They captured your parents, removed their minds from their bodies in an attempt to keep the bodies working while they transferred a human’s mind into the cortex.”
Arista thought back to the devices she’d found her parents in and how their minds had been separated from their bodies and yet still connected. Could he be telling the truth? Or were his words nothing more than more lies to convince her he was right? “How do you even know what was happening in the colony? You were stuck in Frees then.”
“I downloaded the colony’s records when I arrived back here,” the husk said. “They did not encrypt their data well. It was easily available.”
“You’re lying,” Arista shouted, though she couldn’t help but hear the panic in her own voice. Is that really what the humans had done to her parents? Tried to use them as a pathway to immortality? If the body of a machine didn’t register the mind’s internal time-clock, would they still shut down? And why hadn’t they disconnected her parents’ minds?
Because, something deep inside answered her, the bodies would shut down as soon as they registered the disconnection. Alive enough just not to die. Stuck forever, holding a human’s mind.
“No,” she whispered, stepping closer to the husk. “It’s not true.”
“Now you understand,” he said. “The humans will do anything—destroy anything they touch for their own selfish desires. They do not deserve this planet and have no claim to it.” She took another step and the husk tightened his finger around the trigger, pointing the gun at Jonn. “Stop there. I know you have a weapon in your arm. Is it the key? You will remove your arm before you come any closer.” She halted, staring at Jonn who stared right back, the side of his face with skin reflecting compassion. He knew one way or another he was going to die.
“You’ll have to pry it off my dead body,” Arista said, seething.
“If that’s how you want it,” Charlie replied, firing the weapon at Jonn. For a moment he seemed shocked, but then closed his eyes, resigning himself to his fate. As with Jill, the shockwave spread through his body transforming it into a light shade of gray. He finally collapsed, the human part of his face breaking off in the fall.
“I did not expect you would sacrifice yourself for the traitor,” Charlie said. “He betrayed us both. What loyalty did you have to him?”
“Then why—?”
“For his actions he deserved an execution. He betrayed me for you,” Charlie said. The crowd of husks shuffled again, bringing a second person forward and forcing him on his knees.
“David,” Arista whispered. His glasses were missing and blood covered his face.
“I’m sorry,” he called to her, struggling against his captors. “I thought I was faster than they were. I thought I could get away.”
“You will watch the systematic execution of everyone you care about until you surrender to me,” Charlie said, pointing the gun at David.
“If you’re going to kill everyone anyway then what’s my incentive?” she called, her nerves getting the best of her. She’d try anything to get him to focus on her and no one else.
“Hope,” he replied. “The eternal human optimism. If I let them live, however briefly, then you will have hope your allies will find some way to defeat me. Humans love long odds. And you can go into your tank believing they will succeed and rescue you. But if you do not agree, I will force you to watch as I kill them one-by-one.”
David hung loose in the husks’ arms, either unable or unwilling to stand on his own. There was no way she could get close enough to the husk with the gun before Charlie pulled the trigger. This was maddening; all she had to do was get close to one of them! It didn’t even matter which one. But her short conversation with Jill had tipped him off, throwing whatever surprise advantage she’d had out the window. Why couldn’t Jill have just stayed put in London? If she had, both she and David would still be safe.
Arista glanced back to the tower, sure Blu was watching from one of the windows. How could she condemn her sister’s father to death? The fact was she couldn’t; she wouldn’t make Blu watch her own father die. She was out of options and out of allies.
“Fine,” she finally said. “You win. I’ll surrender.”
THIRTY-NINE
They’d have to find another way. Without her. Despite all she’d done there was no way she could sit back and watch Charlie execute David. Blu might be able to find a way to remotely use the key, she could chase down Charlie but without Jill she had little chance of success.
Arista wanted to scream with frustration. After coming so close now she had to give up? Wasn’t there some way she could get to Charlie without removing her arm? All the husks were faster and more agile than she could ever be. She thought about taking the arm off and throwing it at him in some desperate hope it would hit him just right, but as soon as it was disconnected from her body it would power down. And she didn’t know if removing the key itself and throwing that at him would make any difference. Frees had held the key and it hadn’t hurt him; it had to be active.
She glanced at David, his eyes pleading with her. Were they pleading for his own life? Or for hers? She turned back to Charlie. Was David willing to sacrifice himself so she could take Charlie down? If so, how? That hadn’t turned out so well for Jonn after all.
But on the other hand, could she risk the future of everyone on the planet for just one human? But it wasn’t one human, was it? It would be all the humans. Charlie would find and catch up with them all eventually. All they were doing now was prolonging the inevitable.
She let out a long breath.
“You have accepted defeat,” Charlie said. “I see it now.”
“Shut up, you tin-can bastard,” she murmured, reaching up to unlock her arm from the sleeve connecting it to her flesh.
“Arista, don’t.”
The voice was a whisper on the wind. Arista jerked her head to the side, searching for the source of the words only to find no one was there. Only the group of Peacekeepers stood behind her, watching her every move. Had she imagined it? Was this what a psychotic break was like under treme
ndous pressure? But as she turned back the air beside her shimmered in a way that was familiar.
Like when a refractor was disabled.
The honeycomb fell away and beside her stood Jessika, wearing regular civilian clothes with a pistol in her hand. Her glasses were slightly and her hair was longer than the last time Arista had seen her, but it was still up in a messy bun on the back of her head. “Mom?” Arista said, stunned.
“Let go of my husband!” Jessika yelled, not paying any attention to Arista.
The husks turned to her as one, stunned at the sudden appearance of this other human.
“Grab him,” Jessika yelled and Arista tore her gaze away from her mother to see a husk had pushed his way through the crowd. He grabbed the two husks holding David and smashed their heads together in a quick, fluid motion. But this husk was different, he didn’t have any skin and only wore pants to cover himself.
The skinless husk grabbed David before Arista could process what was happening and pushed off into the air, landing behind Arista and Jessika, in front of the Peacekeepers. “Protect him!” the husk yelled to them, handing David off who still seemed unable to walk under his own power. The husk then turned and came up behind Arista. “Hi,” he said.
“Frees?” Tears prickled Arista’s eyes as the familiar voice resonated through her brain. He nodded. How was he here? How was he alive?
“What is happening?” Charlie’s manic voice yelled, swiveling to face them.
Arista swallowed her emotions, willing herself to focus. This was her best chance to get to Charlie. Frees and her mother had literally appeared out of thin air to turn the tide.
“You’re all out of hostages you giant pain in the ass,” Frees said and she drank in the comfort of hearing his voice again. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening; she’d watched the light disappear from his eyes. But it didn’t matter at the moment.
Arista turned to him. “I need to touch him,” she said, flexing her hand. Frees’ orange eyes went wide for a moment.
“I’ll have to do something you hate,” he replied, a small smirk on his polymorphic lips.
“What do you—?” Before she could finish, she was being hoisted in the air by her waist and pitched like a baseball toward Charlie. The distance was short and Charlie didn’t have enough time to move out of the way. Arista stretched her artificial hand out and it connected with Charlie’s forehead dead center, sending them both sprawling to the ground. For a moment all was quiet. She was on her back and beside her lay the husk. The one Charlie had used to kill Jill. And Jonn. And almost David. Arista sat up but Frees was already there, removing the necrotizer from Charlie’s hand. “Did it work? Is he in there?”
“What have you done?” Charlie screeched, his voice even higher-pitched now. The husk writhed back and forth, like a snake trying to shed its skin but all he ended up accomplishing was hitting different parts of the body on the ground. “What have you done?” he screamed again.
Arista glanced around at all the other husks, most of whom had begun turning to each other and asking questions, trying to figure out what to do. She’d done it, Blu’s lock had worked. It had pulled Charlie out of all the husks into this one. He was trapped.
She jumped up, running to Jessika and throwing her arms around her. “I thought you were dead.” She squeezed her with all her might.
“Not yet,” Jessika replied. “But I need you to ease up, that arm of yours is a killer.”
Arista let go and stepped back, tears in her eyes. “Sorry,” she said, wiping them. “I still forget sometimes.”
“I will destroy you,” Charlie yelled. She turned back to see Frees had restrained him, holding both arms down as Charlie thrashed against the hold.
Arista winked at Frees then knelt down in front of Charlie. “No. You’re not destroying anything else anymore. Trapped inside one body; now you know how the rest of us feel.” She touched her pinkie and thumb together again, deactivating the lock.
“I will find a way out. I did it before.”
“I don’t think you understand. You won’t have the chance,” Arista said. “This is the end of the line.”
“What are you going to do?” Frees asked.
“If you are to kill me you must upload me into the Collective Consciousness,” Charlie said. “It is what is required.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “Did Jill get that opportunity? Or Jonn? Or Max?” She clenched her fist. “No one gets to live forever.”
“You must—”
CRUNCH! Arista’s fist slammed into Charlie’s face, smashing it in one hit and shattering the cortex inside. Immediately the body stopped twitching and became silent.
“You never deserved it anyway,” she added, before taking a deep breath and standing again.
Frees let go of the body and stood as well, facing her with a smirk. “That was a nice punch.”
She tried to respond but was overcome with emotion. They might have stood there watching each other for eternity if it weren’t for the cheers.
FORTY
“Arista!” Blu yelled, running across the wide courtyard, throwing herself into Arista’s arms. David stood off to the side, supported by one of the Peacekeepers. Blu was laughing and crying at the same time, holding Arista tight as she trembled. “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it. You did it.”
Arista embraced her for a moment, keeping her eyes on Frees, who had a knowing grin. She knew she should be celebratory but all she could think of was how he was here. What happened to him after they went through the gate? How had they even found her? Blu finally let go, tears streaming down her face. “You’re amazing,” she said. “You know that. right? Like the coolest person I know.”
“It wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for you. The lock worked perfectly,” she said, thankful it hadn’t been a dud. She could only imagine what would have happened had she smashed into Charlie and the lock had done nothing.
“I know. I mean I wasn’t sure it would since we didn’t get a chance to test it but then I was like well if it doesn’t work at least I’ll get to see her punch some machines and man did you ever! I’ve never seen a punch like that it was like you completely—”
“Who is this?” Jessika asked, coming up beside Arista.
Arista finally broke eye contact with Frees and looked at her biological mother. “This…this is my sister Blu,” she said. “Blu, this is my…mother: Jessika.”
“Sister?” Jessika said, leaning closer to inspect Blu. “From the other universe?”
“It was pretty crappy over there anyway,” Blu said. “It’s so much cooler over here.”
Arista turned to Frees. “You told her about the other universe? Is she the one—?”
Frees nodded. “She found me. Fixed me. Even got me a new body.”
“The old one was a little worse for wear,” Jessika added, smiling. Arista couldn’t believe it. After thinking he’d died trying to protect them, she’d resigned herself to never seeing Frees again. She was elated, but that pit in her stomach had returned. The one telling her she needed to be honest about how she felt about him. Somehow she’d gotten her wish; she would be able to tell him. They would be able to talk about it. And that’s all she’d wanted.
David hobbled over behind Blu and they embraced, tears streaming down Blu’s face. Arista saw the Peacekeepers begin to disperse into the crowd of husks, trying to quell some of the confusion. Kurt remained behind, keeping watch for any other threats.
“Frees, you never said—” Jessika began, her eyes on David.
He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how.”
“What?” David asked, looking at each of them in turn as he leaned on the Peacekeeper. He finally decided to focus on the person who looked the most confused. “I’m sorry, Arista. Jill told me to create a diversion and I ran as fast as I could to try and keep those husks off you but I twisted my ankle. They caught up to me pretty fast.”
“It’s amazing,” Jessika said. “He’s like a c
lone.” She walked up to David and tousled his hair, peering into his eyes. “Are you nearsighted?”
He nodded. “All my life. Never got the surgery.”
“So was he,” she said, turning back to Arista. “But he had the surgery to fix it.”
“Do I know you?” David asked.
Jessika smiled. “No. But I think we do have some things to talk about.” She made a small motion with her head toward Arista.
“Oh,” David said. “Oh! You’re…I see and I’m…well, I mean I’m not, but I am like…this is a complex situation.”
“Ma’am,” Kurt said, coming up beside Arista. “How would you like to proceed? Most of these husks are looking for their programming paths. They’ve found themselves in a strange land and don’t remember getting here. What do we do?”
She watched the crowd as the Peacekeepers moved through the people, answering as many questions as they could and keeping everyone calm. “We need to get everyone back quickly. Infrastructure needs will start to break down fast if we don’t get the people back where they belong. Me and the other humans will have to stay away from them unless we want them turned autonomous. Can you pull more Peacekeepers to help you? Will Jairo allow that?”
“Jairo?” Frees asked. “What about the other two?”
“He’ll have to allow it,” Kurt said, ignoring Frees. “Unless he wants a full-on riot on his hands, which he might get anyway. I don’t like it when people sit up in their towers and watch the destruction happen below them.”
“I think you and I are alike in that way,” Arista said. “Once we can get everyone back on their paths we’ll start working on giving everyone autonomy.” She shot a quick glance to Frees. “Everyone deserves to have the same chances as the Peacekeepers.”
As if on cue, Jairo, Mitsu, and Takai appeared at the entrance to the building, making their way to the group of survivors. “Stop!” Arista yelled, running over to them. They were too close to what remained of Jill’s body. She needed to preserve as much of it as possible.