by Ran Vant
“Why… hello,” she stammered, before coolly continuing, “I’m surprised they sent you.”
“You are?”
“Yes, I am.” She stood there looking into his eyes for a moment, looking for that something she had once seen in the way he looked at her. Not seeing it, she looked down at the floor. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t think they’d send anyone. I thought it would just… happen.”
The silver-haired man stood there, looking at her staring at the floor. He nodded slowly. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Flora stood aside from the door and motioned him in. “Well, you might as well come in.”
“Thank you.”
“Can I get you a drink?” she asked.
The silver-haired main chuckled. “No, no thank you, Flora.”
“I wasn’t going to put anything in it.”
“Sure, Flora, I know.”
She pointed at the rose. “Just put it in the vase with the others.”
The man walked over to the end table and slid the rose in with the bouquet of fading lilies and tuberoses. Unexpectedly, the red rose somehow looked right there.
She poured herself a drink and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the mini-bar. Bags were under her eyes. Creases crossed her once smooth checks. She felt old. Used up. Flora turned back toward the silver-haired man. For the briefest instant, she felt like it was ten years ago. “Do you remember, how it was once? How much fun we had?” she questioned.
“Of course,” he said as he strode towards her. “Who could ever forget?” He placed his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around so she could look out the window at the great cityscape. “I remember gazing into the future, imagining what the world might one day be, but for them.” He began to massage her shoulders.
“I thought we could change it all,” she said.
“I know, Flora. We tried.”
He continued massaging her back and neck with one hand while he quietly slid the other into his pocket.
They both stared out the window, enjoying the moment, knowing it would soon pass. They said nothing. They just looked at the world beyond the little window.
The man drew a small metal disk out of his pocket. Flora felt the cool metal of the pulse-generator slide up against the base of her skull. He continued the massage with his other hand. A tear began to well up in her eye, but she continued to look out beyond at the wide world. “It’s okay, Steve,” she whispered.
He pressed the button on the metal disk and the pulse-generator emitted an orb of energy, instantaneously cooking a large portion of her brain. She collapsed into a heap on the apartment floor.
Steve slid the pulse-generator back into his pocket. He stepped over Flora’s body and walked over to the end table. He grabbed the fading bouquet from the vase, rose included, and held them to his nose, inhaling deeply. The flowers were past their prime, but their scent was still vaguely sweet. He turned back to his one-time lover. Squatting, he gently placed the flowers on her body, and studied the image. Fading beauty. Death. Steve thought it was one of the most natural things he had ever seen. He got up and left without a tear.
90.
Release
Michael sat alone in the room. The lights were dim, apparently to simulate nighttime. Of course, Michael was not asleep. The closest a Guardian ever came to sleeping was the few minutes spent in the black chair having a cerebral scan on a floating fortress. The truds, however, still seemed to follow the inefficient pattern of the sun, and so Michael was frequently left alone for six or more hours per day. He spent the time practicing missions in his head, analyzing means of escape, categorizing the intelligence he had gained and, not infrequently, thinking about his intriguing conversations with the woman. Such things were never discussed on Magritte. They seemed pointless, but at the same time interested him more and more.
Then, uncharacteristically at this hour, the door cracked open and in stepped the woman they called Eve.
**
Eve lowered the barrier. “Listen carefully. I need to explain a few things and we don't have much time. Do you remember the pain when you first got here? I saw you writhing in pain when they put those black pads next to your head. It was a brain scan. They learned about your fortresses in the sky, the plans as you saw them, the weaknesses of the floaters. They created a new weapon and they plan on exploiting the information from your brain scan to launch some sort of attack of the floating fortresses. They believe the Event is going to happen soon and they want to strike the gens first. You have to stop them…”
Eve began to release the reinforced spiderlyn that crisscrossed Michael since his attempted escape.
“They are planning a major assault on all of the flying fortresses. But that is only the first stage. I think they have something else in mind, a second phase assault of some kind, but I haven’t been able to learn what it is about. You must warn them.”
“Why are you helping me?” Michael asked.
“If the Ancients are destroyed, I won’t get what I’ve been promised. I need the Ancients as much as you do.” Eve release the final shackle. “Now let’s go!”
91.
Freedom Waits
Eve led Michael down a corridor. It was a smaller side corridor not as heavily traveled as the ones just outside his cell. Eve apparently knew exactly what she was doing. She had expertly maneuvered him through the gauntlet of guards, deeper into the complex. Now, in this side corridor, no one else seemed to be about at the late hour. Near the end of the side corridor, she stopped and listened for a moment. Then she opened a side door and stepped into a small laboratory.
The equipment looked old and even more primitive than normal. A thick layer of dusk seemed to cover the work surfaces. Based on the number of labs Michael remembered raiding, he didn't think that this one was used any longer. At the back of the lab, Eve bent over and opened a cabinet door. She pushed some beakers and old lab equipment to the side, and removed the back panel.
“This way,” Eve whispered, pointing for him to go first into the cabinet. She followed behind. Before replacing the back panel, she closed the cabinet door and slid the beakers and equipment back in place.
A red diode light suddenly emitted a subtle beam of light. Michael found himself in a cramped, but clean, ventilation shaft that ran along the back side of the lab's cabinets. The red diode light illuminated Eve, and Michael could see her digging into her pocket. “Here,” Eve said, taking out a second diode light, this one green, “Take this and crawl in that direction.”
“What will I find?”
“Freedom. Eventually it will lead you to a park, if you follow the marks I've made on the walls when you get to intersections. They look like this...” Eve drew a square inscribed in a circle. “Once you get outside, you know how to contact the fortress and warn them about what I've told you, right?”
“That will not be a problem. They will see everything I have seen, just as I have seen it.”
“Good. Be sure that the Ancients see who helped you escape. Then we will both be free from all of this.”
92.
Race Against Time
“What do you mean you don’t know where the genbot is?” Colonel Red asked firmly.
Sergeant Krantz explained, “We went on our rounds and it wasn't there. We quickly checked the logs, saw nothing was authorized in terms of a move or anything, and then pulled up the video images. It was Eve. Everything in the cell was recorded-”
Sergeant Stern interrupted, “The bottom line is that Eve released the genbot from the spiderlyn and the room, and the sensors can’t find them. The historical surveillance files have also been partially corrupted, so we don’t know what direction they went.”
It was almost impossible to believe. But it was happening, and he needed to accept that reality immediately. Red had already wasted too much time. “Initiate Phase One now.”
“But Colonel, we don’t have all of the units in place for Phase Two,” Lieutenant Winters t
ried to explain.
“Initiate Phase One now! There’s no time to waste. We can’t risk that the escaped genbot will be discovered. If he is discovered before Phase One is completed, everything will be ruined. Move it!” Colonel Red bellowed.
93.
Cleansing
Colonel Blue was furious. “How can Red even still be allowed anywhere near an operation? How many failures does this make? He allowed the Greendust to be kept around too long, and the worst happened: it was stolen. He failed with the garden trap, with the near genbot escape... and now this.”
“He needs to be removed from the equation, as I have long argued. All you need to do is tell me where I can find him. His time has come,” the man said.
“You are right, but we must wait a few hours more. The operation must succeed. When it's all over, we can take care of him then, after we clean out the rest of them and he has no one to protect him any longer.”
“Everything will be on auto-pilot soon. He serves no purpose any longer,” the man argued. “So many of them, chief among them Red, are willing to be corrupted by technology. They've forgotten what makes us different.”
“Just a little longer,” Blue advised. She wanted to be rid of Red a long time ago, also. But it was not so simple. He could not simply be removed without other things collapsing...
“At least we should start the purge with the others, before it is too late. Once the operation has succeeded, they will scatter to the winds and we cannot let that happen. We must contain the fortech knowledge, and we must start now. Time is short.”
The man had a point, Blue recognized. She was still reluctant, but the fortech was extremely dangerous, and she would not repeat the mistakes of waiting too long, as others had before her. “Very well: you may start with the others. And once the operation is in full swing, I will deliver Red, too. But I'm not telling you where Red is just now, because I honestly believe we may still need him. For just a bit longer.”
“The others will keep me busy enough for the moment,” he said, brushing aside his lock of gray hair.
94.
The First Breath Outside
Michael breathed in the fresh air deeply as if he were born anew and taking in the outside air for the first time in his life. He was out of the claustrophobic confines of his prison deep within the belly of the earth. He had crawled through the tunnels to be reborn in the lush green of a garden. Now he was in the open air and above him was the pale blue sky. Still deep in the urban canyons, however, he could not see Magritte hovering above. Perhaps the fortress had lazily moved on to patrol another region. More likely, it was just temporarily hidden from his view. Once he was in the direct line of sight of the fortress, if not before, Magritte and Rex would recognize the elevated temperature of his body, a sure sign of a Guardian. And once his heat signature was registered, it would be but a moment before his rescue. But first, he needed to make sure he eluded anyone who might have followed him through the tunnels. Next, he needed to avoid any detection as he walked among the truds.
Barring a dangerous adventure to the top of one of the skyscrapers, Michael figured his best course of action would be to walk down one of the urban canyons for some distance, before turning ninety degrees and repeating a long walk, all the while hoping to catch a glimpse of Magritte. He was not yet orientated to his position in the city, but he figured it should not take long for him to identify one of the many unique buildings. Once he was orientated and if he had not gotten a direct view of Magritte, he would make his way to one of the larger parks where he might have a more unobstructed view of the sky.
Michael began his brisk walk along his appointed path. He did not need to go far. When he got to the first cross street, Michael looked to the sky.
Magritte! He turned to walk down the cross street, moving closer to the hovering fortress. He was walking down the cross street for no more than a minute when he saw the small specks falling towards him. One… two… three… four? Could there be four? Then he saw the bold colors: orange, purple, dark red, and yellow. It was Talongrip’s team, built for power and combat.
The four falling Guardians of the West flew faster as they zeroed in on the heat signature that could only be a fallen comrade. Fortress Magritte had identified Michael immediately, and the standby team dispatched.
The purple one fell below the tops of the skyscrapers and his distinctive four wings sprung out, catching the air and rapidly slowing his descent. Truds fled left and right at the sight of the approaching gargoyles. Michael stood there, staring up, making it clear to any bystander that he was either an agent of the gens or insane. It was further evidence to the Guardians that he was one of their own.
Talongrip, in his four-winged dark purple armor landed first, followed closely by the dark red Raptorscream, the orange Razorwing, and the yellow one they called Eaglestrike. The massive Talongrip was about ten feet away from Michael and was the first to speak, “Lightbringer, is that you?” he asked.
“It is. I need to talk to Rex immediately,” Michael answered curtly.
“Of course.” Talongrip walked around Michael, and grabbing him underneath his arms, he leapt into the air towards the fortress above. Eaglestrike followed immediately. Michael enjoyed the feeling of acceleration once again as they sped skyward. Then an energy bolt flew by, coming from below. Then three more.
An inorganic combat robot crashed through the glass of a nearby wall and fired rapidly at Talongrip and his precious cargo. But Raptorscream was ready and sprung upon the Icer, slashing at it with his wings until it was scrap metal. Seven more Icers suddenly emerged, as if from nothingness. Talongrip saw it from high above. He thought for a moment that it might have been an elaborate ambush, with Michael as its bait. But if that was the case, it just showed how pathetic the truds had become. Raptorscream could easily handle them alone, but even that was unnecessary.
Raptorscream, who preferred the slashing action of his wings over the multiple energy weapons at his disposal, was already tearing into his third target when yet another group of robots crawled out from the depths and crashed through windows. But as each emerged in turn from their hiding place, they were cut down by something ghost-like. Raptorscream smiled as he shifted his vision spectrum to infrared. Rex had sent another team, Shui, Xue, Shulin, and Rang. Built lighter than the rest of the Guardians on Magritte, they proved deadly with their stealth and light-bending suits. They may have even been there before Raptorscream landed. After less than a minute, it was over.
It would be a stretch to even call the encounter a battle, so complete was the slaughter. These particular combat robots had pretty bad brains. The truds must have been desperate. Strangely, however, they hadn’t sent any humans. Humans in conjunction with inorganics, even the dumb ones, were typically more deadly. The distraction of the more robust inorganic combat robots gave the humans more freedom of action.
Raptorscream looked around the area in various spectrums but saw nothing. He confirmed with Shulin and Magritte: nothing. “I guess the truds are tired of dying,” he thought. Raptorscream left a dragonfly behind to keep an eye on the area and to explore where the Icers had been hiding. Then he flew back to Fortress Magritte. Lightbringer would have a lot to explain.
95.
Sky Breaker
Talongrip landed on the familiar ledge of the floating castle and released his grip on Michael. Michael took in the thin, cold air. He was glad to be back. He wanted nothing more than to go to the staging room, suit up, and join the battle below that he presumed, or rather hoped, was still going on. But he knew he had a more important task, and that was to report to Rex all that he had seen, and to warn Skyguard about this new weapon the woman had told him about. Perhaps the battle below was merely a distraction as the truds prepared to unleash their new invention.
Martha was there ahead of him, unarmored. “Michael!” she called as she embraced him.
“Take me to Rex immediately. I have important information.”
“This way;
he’s in the staging room overseeing the other teams below.”
Michael followed Martha along the familiar path to the staging room. The recesses in the wall were there, and so was his armor. But instead of suiting up, he knew he had a more important task; He walked straight to a scanning chair.
He saw Rex and began with his report immediately. “They are planning a major assault on all of the fortresses. I believe those inorganics were only a small part of what is to come. I know the precise location of their base and have seen several of their key leaders. Once I upload the information to Magritte, we will be able to quickly launch a strike and disrupt their plans.”
Rex was astonished. “Michael, where have you been? We thought you’d fallen.” The computer-brain had already clearly identified Michael, down to the specific version, and the date he had fallen. There was absolutely no doubt.
“I wasn’t killed,” Michael explained. “They extracted information from me using some crude form of Magritte’s scanners. I believe they intend to use that information to attack the fortress, perhaps to identify weaknesses in our defenses. However, I managed to escape.”
Michael walked closer to the chair and prepared to sit in it.
“Stop!” Dante called, as he and Gabriella entered the room. “What’s going on?”
Martha answered, “Dante, Magritte’s scanners do indicate it’s Michael. He’s been positively identified. Somehow he survived.”
Michael was thrilled to see more of his teammates, and especially his mate, Gabriella. During the time he was gone, he had felt like a piece of himself was missing. Now, it was all coming back together.