by James Maxey
“Since before I could walk. Truth is, I didn’t really get the hang of regular walking until I was, like, five.”
He didn’t say anything, just kept looking into her face.
It was time for the really hard part. “I used to be called the Thrill. I fought crime with my sister, Rail Blade.”
“The… the alien who destroyed Jerusalem?”
“She wasn’t an alien,” she said. “I’m not an alien. I’m completely human. Totally ordinary. Except, you know, the flying stuff.”
“And… and you control minds,” he said softly. “The Thrill could control people’s minds.”
“Okay, no, she couldn’t. I couldn’t. I just, there was this voice thing I did and… look. It doesn’t matter anymore. I had a surgery. It altered my vocal cords. I don’t have that power anymore.”
“Did you… when we met, did you—”
“Have that power?” she asked. “No. I came here maybe a month after I had the surgery. You were the first guy I talked to for any length of time at all after I gave up my old powers. It was… intoxicating.”
“Intoxicating?”
“Because you liked me. I could tell you liked me. And it wasn’t because of any mumbo jumbo weird powers I had. You like me for being me.”
His couldn’t look into her face. “But you weren’t being you.”
“No,” she whispered. “And yes. I mean… I used to be someone different. But I stopped being that person. I gave up the sky and came down to earth. And you, you kept me grounded. I’ve never had a single regret about meeting you, except for being a coward and not telling you everything.”
“If you’d told me everything,” he said, “I’d have had you arrested. I mean, the Thrill is wanted by the FBI. I mean… how can you… how can you be—”
“I wasn’t guilty of any of the things they say I’ve done,” she said. “Except, you know, for some of the things.” She crossed her arms. “Things I did for the greater good.”
“According to what the FBI says, you used your mind control powers to defraud wealthy men. They say you could ask for anything and people would give it to you.”
“Those definitely weren’t my best years. But everyone I stole money from was a crook in some way,” she said. “Which doesn’t make what I did right. That wasn’t how I wanted to live. So I gave up my powers and came to live here.”
“Why here?”
“Because I met you, duh.”
He looked dubious.
“I had some money. From that time in my life where I was, uh, borrowing from crooks. But I didn’t want to live on ill-gotten gains forever. My father—my real father, Niko Knowbokov—owned a fleet of private planes. Even though I could fly on my own, I also learned to fly his planes when I was young. So, as long I as was faking an identity, I also arranged for a pilot’s license so I could have some honest revenue. And then, on my very first job, I ran into you. You know it was love at first sight.”
“Love,” he said, in an almost bitter tone.
She didn’t know how to answer that. Wasn’t even sure it was a question.
“And now… you’re a superhero?”
“I don’t really use that word. But, whatever. Yeah.”
“I hate them,” he said. “Every cop I’ve ever met hates them. Every time the Covenant is in the headlines, we hate them a little more.”
“We’re trying to be helpful.”
“You fly above us. You turn into ghosts, or are bulletproof. I mean, how the hell am I supposed to deal with this? What the fuck?”
“Keep your voice down,” she said. “At least let’s go in the house so the neighbors can’t hear us.”
“You go in the house,” he said, turning away. “I’m going to the cabin.”
“Please don’t go,” she said.
“You don’t have the right to ask me to stay,” he said. “You’re a stranger to me. A stranger. I’m going to stay out at the lake for a few days. When I come back… please be gone.”
She didn’t follow him, didn’t call out. What could she say? What was there to say?
She watched as his headlights pulled down the driveway. With her feet still six inches off the ground, she willed herself to float toward the back door. During her confession, she’d been chilled to the bone by the awful truth of her secrets. Now, she was just plain cold.
Inside the house, she put up her jacket. She went back to the bedroom. She heard something in the closet. She opened the door and found her helmet beeping. She’d forgotten to put it in silent mode. She pulled the helmet down and put it on. Using retinal commands, she launched her voice mail.
“Sarah, it’s Richard,” said the recording. The hair rose on the back of her neck. Richard Rogers. Her first lover, and the man who ditched her for her sister. She hadn’t heard from him in seven years. This couldn’t possibly be good news. “I… there’s really no way for you to call me back, and this isn’t something I want to leave on voice mail. I’m going to call again in one hour and pray you’ll answer the phone. It’s… look, just make sure you answer the phone. One hour. Until then, be careful.”
Chapter Twenty-One
God of Mars
App stumbled in the fine red-beige dust before falling to his knees. He looked about, mouth agape, at the long, rocky plain he’d landed on. Through the dust haze, he could faintly make out the distant, towering walls of the canyon.
Chimpion stood beside him in her pressure suit, showing no signs of disorientation. App’s belt normally spared him from vertigo following a space machine jump, but it was fine-tuned to earthly environments, not Mars. To his right, Steam-Dragon dropped to all fours, spreading her wings to steady herself, a nearly pointless effort in an atmosphere far thinner than the air at the peak of Everest.
“Fuck,” whimpered Steam-Dragon. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“The fractional gravity is likely affecting your inner ear,” said Chimpion. “You’ll adjust in a few minutes.”
“Holy moly,” said App, taking Chimpion’s hand as she offered it. With her support, he rose to his feet. “We’re on Mars!”
There was gurgling, retching sound through the coms.
App grimaced. “Did you throw up in your suit?”
“Oh god,” moaned Steam-Dragon. “It’s everywhere. There’s no way to even wipe my chin! Can we go home now?”
“No,” said Chimpion. “Suck it up.”
“That’s a terrible choice of words,” said App.
“Jesus,” whined Steam-Dragon. “The smell.”
“You’ve survived worse,” said App.
“Yeah,” she said softly. “Yeah. I have. Okay. I’m… I’m okay. What next?”
“I’ve got a hunch that’s what we’re looking for,” said Chimpion, pointing behind them.
App turned around. In the distance was a geodesic dome big enough to hold a small town. They were at least a mile away, maybe two, and this far from home, the space machine couldn’t be used to take a shortcut.
“The air’s too thin for me to fly,” said Steam-Dragon. “Guess we’ll hoof it.”
“This will be easy with the gravity so low,” said Chimpion, jumping in a long arc that carried her a dozen yards across the dusty, rock-strewn ground. “Come on!”
App followed. He couldn’t match the length of Chimpion’s leaps, but it was still a bit like jumping on a trampoline. He lacked Chimpion’s agility, however, and the soil proved deceptively difficult to land on. The fine dust was like jumping into talcum powder that lay over an unseen layer of sharp and shifting rocks. Steam-Dragon didn’t even try to jump, trudging along in a four legged gait, her head hanging low as she surveyed the places where she put her feet. Her dragon face didn’t convey a wide range of expressions but she certainly looked sullen. From time to time, Becky’s voice came over the coms, but she wasn’t talking to them as she whispered, “Ew. No. Oh no. Jesus no.”
Chimpion, on the other hand, had the posture and body language of a child rushing toward the tree on Christm
as morning. She looked the way App had wanted to feel. When he’d been in kindergarten, his teacher had told him that one day men would live on the red planet. He’d taken it as an iron-clad promise that he’d be one of the first people on the rocket ship. Lots of children had such dreams, but in retrospect, App could see the dark appeal of life on another planet. He’d found it comforting to think that there was an entire planet where his father didn’t live, where he could be free from violence and abuse.
Now that he was here, his father came to his mind with every step. The land here was barren, hostile, cold, and dimly lit, devoid of any nurturing elements whatsoever. His anticipated excitement had given way to full blown disgust. Fuck Mars. Just fuck it. Mars didn’t want him around, and he didn’t need Mars in any way to live a fulfilled, happy life.
“You’re being oddly quiet, App,” said Chimpion, standing atop a house-sized boulder.
“Just wondering why the hell this seemed like a good idea when I first heard it,” he said, leaping up to join her atop the rock.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” said Chimpion. “We’re just here to ask Rail Blade a few questions.”
“To ask questions of someone modifying the magnetic field of an entire planet with her mind,” said App. “What if we’re doing more harm than good by coming here?”
“What can we possibly hurt?”
“Aside from us?” asked App. “How about Earth? Rail Blade didn’t come all the way to Mars because she wanted company. What if she gets pissed off by our showing up on her doorstep and heads back to Earth to make sure she doesn’t get any more visitors? She could rust everything on Earth made of iron. Overnight, there’s no cars, no skyscrapers, no big ships or bridges or construction equipment. She could send mankind back to the Stone Age.”
“If she’s that big of a threat, ignoring her isn’t a responsible path,” said Chimpion.
“Maybe pitching out some of these objections before we got to Mars would have been helpful,” said Steam-Dragon, finally catching up. “Then I wouldn’t be trapped in dizzy world with my own vomit seeping into my crotch.”
“It’s not too late to turn back,” said App.
“It’s far too late to turn back,” said Chimpion. “You don’t think she knows we’re here already?”
“Maybe she doesn’t,” said Steam-Dragon. “She’s not omniscient.”
“So you admit she’s not a god,” said Chimpion.
“Well, no,” said App. “But—”
“She’s just another human being with powers,” said Chimpion. “There’s no opponent on earth we’d leave alone simply because they were dangerous to confront. You, Servant, and Skyrider didn’t back down from Sundancer even though she could have burned half the planet.”
“Right. You’re right,” said App. “Though, no offense to either of you, I’d be a lot less worried if Servant was here.”
“So she could beat him again?” asked Steam-Dragon. “If Rail Blade does seem hostile, I’ll hit her hard and fast. I don’t have any metal in my armor. I’ve got a shot if I take her by surprise.”
App stared at her. “I don’t know whether your attitude is encouraging or terrifying.”
“Let’s get this over with,” Steam-Dragon said, moving forward. “The sooner we finish this, the sooner I can get home and take a shower.”
By now, they were close enough to the dome that the dim light and dust no long obscured its details. Within the dome they could see vines climbing along the interior walls, the leaves ranging in shade from pale pea green to nearly black. Flowers of varying sizes and colors hung from them, red rosettes, pink disks, tiny yellow starbursts, and grand white trumpets that resembled doll-sized wedding gowns. Beads of moisture clung to the interiors of the windows, forming droplets that left trails as they rolled down the panes.
“Uh, guys,” said Steam-Dragon, her head still pointed down. “Look at this.”
They looked. In the dust leading from the dome, footprints. App wasn’t exactly a skilled tracker, but he guessed the tracks belonged to a barefoot human woman and two or three shoeless children, along with a larger set of prints that looked like a man in boots. The prints overlapped each other. Whoever had walked here had taken this path more than once.
“No one said there’d be children here,” said Steam-Dragon.
“We don’t know that there are,” said Chimpion. “Who knows how old these footprints might be?”
“What, you think they belong to ancient Martians?” App asked.
“Unless Rail Blade is capable of virgin birth,” said Chimpion. “I mean… she came here alone, right? Nobody came with her.”
“Just more questions to ask once we get inside,” said Steam-Dragon. She pointed her snout along the trail of footprints. “Look where they’re originating from in the wall of the dome. That look like an airlock to you?”
“Maybe,” said App. “Should we go up and knock?”
“Let’s not wait for an invitation into the dome,” said Chimpion. “Out here, even with our pressure suits, we’ll be battling the terrain as well as Rail Blade if things get messy. Inside, it’s obviously warm enough to grow plants, and pressurized enough to support liquid water. We can probably survive even if our suits are compromised.”
“Agreed,” said Steam-Dragon. “We obviously don’t want to break in through the glass. App, can you ghost your way into the airlock and see if you can find the controls?”
“What makes you think I would know how to operate an airlock even if I do find the controls?”
“How hard could it be?” asked Chimpion.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Ordinarily when I hit a situation requiring a new skill, I can find a You-Tube video demonstrating just about anything. Disconnected from the internet, I feel like part of my brain is missing.”
“Just improvise, okay?” said Steam-Dragon. “How did you become a superhero again?”
“It’s the belt that’s the hero,” said App. “I’m just along for the ride. But, give me a minute. I’ll see what I can do.”
He jumped toward the dome, entering ghost mode. He drifted through the hatch that opened to the outside, and solidified inside a steel tube with small windows along the top. The tube was tall enough to stand in comfortably. At each end was a door with a wheel attached, like something you might find on a submarine. Switching to full spectrum vision, he didn’t see anything at all electronic about the doors. They seemed to be purely mechanical. He turned the wheel and found it moved smoothly. Opening the door also proved easy. The iron door probably weighed a ton, but it was carefully balanced on nearly frictionless hinges. He motioned for Steam-Dragon and Chimpion to come forward.
“It wasn’t locked,” he said.
“Must be a safe neighborhood,” said Steam-Dragon.
They sealed the outer door behind them. As App spun the wheel to the interior door, air hissed into the room.
“Oxygen levels are breathable,” said Steam-Dragon, monitoring the changing atmosphere. “Pressure’s kind of low, but a hell of a lot better than what’s outside.”
“I wouldn’t take your suit off just yet,” said Chimpion.
“Not planning on it,” said Steam-Dragon. “No way I’m stepping inside that dome less than fully armored.”
“I’m transmitting coordinate and visual scans for the airlock back to headquarters,” said App. “It might make a good target for the space machine to bring us back.”
“Agreed,” said Chimpion, moving forward.
They stepped into the dome, gazing upward. App had seen it was big from the outside, but from inside its scale was even more impressive, larger than any sporting arena he’d been inside. He noticed that while there were vines all over the place and neat rows of various vegetables, there were no trees. He took note of the numerous bees buzzing around among the flowers, wondering how they’d gotten to Mars. Then he did a double take, as his enhanced vision revealed electromagnetic fields around each bee. His eyes went wide.
&n
bsp; “Those aren’t bees,” he said.
“They’re tiny robots,” said Chimpion. “They’re made of metal.”
“I don’t think they’re robots,” said App, stepping toward a nearby flower for a closer look at the nearest bee. “They don’t have any circuitry or motors. They’re being moved entirely by electric fields, like little puppets on strings of magnetism.”
“Yes,” said a voice that came from all directions at once, as the bees vibrated their wings at a frequency that simulated human speech. “They move because I will them to move.”
“Are we speaking with Amelia Knowbokov?” asked Chimpion.
“You’ve entered my home uninvited,” said the omnivocal bees as they gathered around the trio of travelers. “I believe you should identify yourself first.”
“My name is Johnny Appleton, but everyone calls me App,” said App. “I work with your sister, Sarah. We all do. This is Chimpion and this is Steam-Dragon.”
“You work with Sarah?” asked the bees. “Then… she’s still alive?”
“She is,” said Chimpion. “Though she recently was nearly killed by men who had the ability to pluck steel blades from thin air.”
“I see,” said the bees. “And you believe I’m somehow implicated in this?”
“We’d be negligent if we didn’t at least ask you a few questions,” said Chimpion.
“The last talking chimpanzee I encountered belonged to Rex Monday,” said the bees. “You’ll forgive me if I’m suspicious of why you’re here.”
“We chimps were enslaved by Rex Monday,” said Chimpion. “We were his test subjects, not his allies. You’ve nothing to fear from me.”
“No,” said the bees. “Nothing at all. I’ve evolved past any danger the three of you might pose. With but a thought, I could craft blades inside your chests and carve out your still beating hearts.”
“It’s not going to come to that,” said App. “Sarah said you weren’t a bad person. If you intended to kill us, you wouldn’t be talking to us. Why don’t you send the bees away and come out so we can talk face to face.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve truly had a face,” said the bees.