by Chris Sapp
“You first,” Vi said and then yanked the gun towards her. Roe went with it and she elbowed him, hard enough to crack his beak. He groaned in agony through the smoke. She tried to rip the gun away for good, but Roe held on with one hand and used his other to claw at her face. She screamed when one of his talons jabbed into her eyeball. Blood streamed down her face, loosening his grip. Vi twisted away from him and smashed his knee. The sound of the tendons popping was audible. Roe yelled and collapsed into the chair.
Turning the gun on him, Vi glared with her one good eye. The other was a runny mess leaking down her cheek.
“Goodbye Driskell,” she spat.
She fired. His shoulder exploded in a puff of burning feathers and smoke.
“You missed bitch,” Roe grimaced. “Try aiming with both eyes.”
Vi roared in outrage and aimed the gun, intending to kill him with a headshot.
She never made it.
Vi’s brow furrowed in concentration and then her mouth contorted in a shriek of pain that never materialized. It couldn’t because the real Izabel had jammed the dead guard’s shock baton against the back of Vi’s head. A halo of electricity that radiated from the shock baton enveloped the Kameleon’s entire head. Smoke spilled off her convulsing body in waves. Seeing her suffer, was the most beautiful thing Roe could remember seeing in a long time. Finally, Izabel pulled the baton away and Vi collapsed on the floor. A large hole had been burned into the base of her skull. Roe wasn’t certain but he thought he saw charred brains. However, he was certain that she wasn’t going to pretend to be anyone else ever again. Grimacing against his healing bones, Roe bent over and took possession of the gun once more. Then he returned to his seat and stared across the cockpit at Izabel. She was covered head-to-toe in cocoon ooze.
“What the hell happened to you?” he asked.
“She tried to drown me. Inside a fucking cocoon.” Izabel said, slumping into the navigator’s seat.
“Damn. That ooze is pretty thick.”
“Tell me about it. I guess my lungs have more stamina after what happened on Aquila.”
“I guess so.” Roe placed the gun back on the console and sat down in the captain’s chair. Tiny stars on the verge of being swallowed by the blackness of space stared at them from outside the viewport.
“We have to get as far away from Centropolis as we can. Any preferences where?” Roe asked.
“Arktikus,” Izabel said.
“That’s not a good idea. Slade will definitely look for us there considering its connection to your old man.”
“What about the storage unit? No one can get in but me,” Izabel said.
“That may be true right now. But once Slade figures out that’s where we went, he’ll have every hacker in the galaxy trying to break in. No. It’s a bad place to hide.”
“I’m not going there to hide. I’m going there to detox,” Izabel said.
“That’s not funny,” he said.
“I’m not joking.”
Roe looked at her. He saw instantly that she was serious.
“Most people think that detox is our damnation. But my father didn’t believe that. He thought it was our salvation and he was murdered for trying to prove that to the universe. Now it’s on me. That’s why he left the vid in a place that only I could find it. But I lost it,” Izabel said.
“We can get it back. You don’t have to do this,” Roe said.
“Slade watched the vid and his decision was to detox us. He likes the ‘verse the way it is. He’s not interested in a galaxy free of addiction. None of the Druglords are. Not Slade and certainly not the Czar. They have too much to gain while everyone loses. I’m sure Slade destroyed the datapac the moment it stopped playing. You’re wrong. I have to do this.”
Roe looked at her for a long moment. She looked different. There was no sign of the girl he’d found in the parking lot of Spanky’s. Somehow in the week he’d known her she had matured from an adolescent girl into a confident woman.
“What if it doesn’t work?” He asked.
“For as long as I can remember all I have wanted was to follow in my daddy’s footsteps. I always thought it would be entraining the ‘verse with my guitar…but now I realize that it’s this. The universe needs to know the truth. They deserve to know. So, if I die…at least I died trying to save them.”
“Alright,” he nodded. He could tell that her mind was made up. There was no use arguing with her. “The only way Slade won’t come looking for you is if he thinks you’re dead.”
“Okay. So what do you suggest?” she asked.
“We steal from Slade’s playbook,” Roe said and he pointed at Vi’s body. “Griffon died disguised as Phaelan and Vi died disguised as you.”
Roe smiled when he saw understanding dawn on Izabel’s face.
IZABEL
THEY LANDED ON Arktikus approximately two hours later. The planet was scarcely populated and the chances of them being spotted was grossly in their favor. But Roe preferred to error on the side of caution so he landed the large transport inside the faux mountain. It was a tight fit but he was an excellent pilot. Another skill in a long line of skills that Izabel admired about him.
“Alright. Lie down,” Roe said.
Izabel nodded and then laid down on the floor of the cockpit, elbow to below with Vi’s corpse. She had experienced a lot in her short seventeen years but lying down next to a dead body that looked exactly like you definitely ranked number one on Izabel’s creepy shit-ometer. While they were traveling through hyperspace Roe had told her that they needed to remove the tracking chip the C.D.F had implanted in her because Slade would use that to find her. Once the chip was removed it would send an alarm back to the C.D.F headquarters notifying that them it had been removed. In an effort to avoid this and to further sell the idea of Izabel’s demise Roe planned to remove the chip from the real Izabel and implant it in their deceased decoy as fast as possible.
“Are you ready?” Roe asked as he kneeled between their two identical heads, “This is probably going to hurt more coming out then it did going in.”
“That’s what he said,” Izabel said.
“What?” he asked.
“Never mind.”
Roe pressed the barrel of the Injector Gun against her neck. A thermal imaging screen attached to the gun showed him exactly where in her neck the tracker was located.
“Okay. I found it,” he said. “On the count of three.”
She nodded. A switch located on the side of the gun allowed the user to toggle between extraction mode and injection mode.
“One,” he said.
She could feel her heartbeat racing through her entire body.
“Two.”
Sweat beaded her forehead.
“Three.”
He pulled the trigger. There was an explosion of pain in her neck. She screamed!
“Got it,” Roe exclaimed from a thousand miles away. He moved the gun away from her neck and she sat up. Holding her palm against her throbbing neck, she watched Roe press the gun against the charred flesh of Vi’s throat and pull the trigger.
“Did it work?” Izabel asked.
Roe didn’t answer. His eyes were glued to the thermal imaging screen. After what felt like an eternity, the gun chimed.
“Yes! Positive ID,” he said, pumping a clenched fist into the air.
“Izabel Ramsey for all intents and purposes, you are now deceased.”
“Good. Now it’s your turn. Payback time.” She smiled and held her hand out for the Injector Gun.
“My chip will stay with me.” Roe said.
“Don’t tell me big bad Roe Driskell is afraid of an injector gun?”she taunted.
“That’s not it.” Roe shook his head. His smile and jovial mood were gone.
“Then what is it?”
“We put your chip inside Vi. Where’s mine supposed to go?”
“I don’t know. Out the airlock,” Izabel said.
“That’s not a terrible i
dea, but our plan works better if I keep the tracking chip where it is.” Roe sat down in the captain’s chair.
“But Slade will use it to track you,” Izabel said. “What are you going to do? Drop me off here? Then dump Vi’s body some place else and then just run away?”
“No. Our tracking chips will be together when Slade finds them.” At first Roe’s words didn’t make any sense. She searched his eyes for answers and the mixture of resolve and sadness she saw in them hammered his words into comprehension.
“No! You can’t do that!”
“The only way this works is if Slade thinks we’re both dead,” he said.
“No! Fenixborn or not I refuse to let you kill yourself for me!” Fresh tears spilled from her eyes and down her cheeks. She could live with the fact that she might die during detox or be discovered and sold into slavery. But how was she supposed to live with Roe’s sacrifice on her hands?
“Let me tell you something,” Roe said, gripping her shoulders. His hands were strong but comforting. “For as long as I could remember all I’ve wanted was to die. But you saved me in that alley and now we’re here. Now, my head’s full of all kinds of things that I don’t want to forget. Now, I know a secret about morphagen addiction that most of the galaxy doesn’t have a clue about. Now, I know an elf that’s the bravest damn girl I’ve ever met and she’s about to do something that’s going to change the universe. But in order for her to succeed, I have to die and like you I have accepted that. But, I need you to promise me something. Are you listening?”
“Yes,” she said through blurry eyes.
“I need you to promise me that when you emerge from your cocoon that’ll you go back to Aquila and tell Shardae everything that happened. She’ll know how to find me. Can you do that?” he said.
“But you won’t even know us.”
“That’s right, I won’t. But you persuaded me to help you once. You can do it again. Is that a promise?”
“Yes.” she nodded.
“Good.” Roe turned to the console and flipped a switch that lowered the ramp. There was a loud hiss as a pressure seal broke and a section of floor lowered down towards the frozen ground at a sixty degree angle. Izabel stood motionless at the top of the ramp. The frayed edges of her thermalskin flapped in the cold breeze.
“You better get going,” Roe said. Izabel nodded and started down the ramp. Then she spun around and wrapped her arms around Roe. She hugged him fiercely as a fresh wave of tears spilled down her cheeks. He hugged her back.
“Thank you,” she cried.
He placed a talon under her chin and gently tilted her face up to his.
“Come find me,” he said.
“I will.” She nodded fiercely.
“Now go make your old man proud.” He released her. She turned and ran down the ramp before her mind could stop her. The ramp started to recede the second her feet touched the snow. She felt the ground rumble beneath her feet as the large transport lifted into the air. The glass elevator was directly in front of her and she could see the reflection as the carrier passed through the barrier of the fake mountain side. She knew that she should lock herself in the storage unit as quickly as possible but she turned and ran after Roe. She passed through the barrier and was assaulted by a blast of arctic wind. Her exposed flesh went numb. The sun bouncing off the white snow was blinding. She squinted her eyes and looked up into the sky. She found the carrier. The tallest mountain peak on Arktikus was to Izabel’s left. Roe had turned right upon exiting the barrier. She watched as he banked around to the left and prepared to come back towards the mountain. Roe was thorough. He was getting a flying start so that the crash was as spectacular as it could be. The large transport finished its turn and was lined up with the mountain. The engines whined as Roe hit the gas. A lump formed in Izabel’s throat. She wanted to cry out. To warn him off. To tell him to turn back. But deep down she knew Roe was right. This was the only way their plan was going to work. She watched in the freezing cold as Roe flew the carrier head on into the mountain. The transports were designed to survive collisions with other ships not immovable objects like a mountain. The front of the transport crumbled like paper. The force of the impact caused the carrier to snap in two. There was a bright explosion and then the pieces of the transport tumbled down the side of the mountain amongst a swirling avalanche. Izabel turned away before her tears could freeze on her cheeks. She passed through the barrier, leaving one wreckage for another. To operate the glass elevator she would need Jedrek’s key ring which meant sifting through the ashes of his exploded hover sled. The explosion broke the hover sled in half. The two sections had come to rest twenty feet apart. The floor was littered with hundreds of charred pieces of metal. Poor Jedrek had attempted to leap to safety but he hadn’t made it. He was lying dead on the floor. His lower half was burned beyond recognition. Half his tail and his left paw had been incinerated. She found the key ring still attached to his belt. She unclipped the ring and inspected the keys. They were blackened but none appeared to be broken or chipped. The amount of lives that had been lost in pursuit of the truth was a weigh that threatened to crush her. But she forced herself over to the elevator and began trying keys. There were eight keys on Jedrek’s ring. She found the right one on the fifth try. The elevator doors slid open and she stepped inside. She punched the numbers 1,1,3,8 on the control panel and waited. The doors closed and her stomach rose into her throat as the elevator descended to her destination. The doors opened and she crossed to the control panel and placed her hand on the touchscreen. The Arktikus Storage logo gave way to the image of her father.
“Greetings, Welcome to my storage unit,” said Phaelan Lennox’s image. “To begin, open the drawer located below this screen.”
Izabel touched the drawer and it slid open. She stared at the electric Orville guitar as the image of her father began to talk. She remembered what to do. But this could be the last time she might ever hear and see her father and she wasn’t about to waste it, even it was on a video screen.
“ To gain access to my storage container, you must perform the song 'Guts Over Glory’ using the musical instrument before you,” explained Phaelan. “ You must play the song in its entirety without a single mistake. Any erroneous cords will result in automatic lockout for 48 hours. Only proper use of the instrument will grant you entry. The instrument is hardwired directly to the door. Tampering of any kind will result in automatic lockdown of the entire facility and the authorities will be notified immediately. If you still desire entry, pick up the guitar and begin.”
Phaelan’s image disappeared. She lifted the guitar out of the drawer and slipped the strap over her head. She checked to make sure the guitar was still tuned to an open G chord. It was. Recalling that the pick lying in the drawer was a ruse. She reached into her pocket and retrieved the coin that Jedrek had given her. Exhaling deeply, she began to play. Again, she was thankful that the intro to “Guts Over Glory” was slow and fairly easily because her fingers were a hundred times colder than they had been the first time. Just like before she closed her eyes and begin to sing along. All she had to do was relax and play. He face was burning with frostbite and so was her leg where the thermalskin had been torn. But she did her best to ignore the pain and keep playing. After striking the last chord she released the guitar and let it hang by the strap. She opened her eyes and waited for the sound of her father’s praise.
“I know it’s you,” her father’s smiling face said. “Because by design, only my daughter could open this unit.”
Izabel watched the video of her father, knowing that no matter what happened this would be the last time she would ever see him.
“…Reveal a shocking truth,” Phaelan continued. “A truth I believe that the Morphagen Order has been hiding for hundreds of years. I tried to reveal this truth to the galaxy but I failed…but I believe that you will succeed where I didn’t.”
The container doors opened and Izabel strolled purposefully inside.
“Y
ou’ll find what you’re looking on the guitar wall. It’s in the belly of the third guitar from the right,” she heard Phaelan say. But that wasn’t true this time. This time she wasn’t looking for a guitar. This time she was looking for a mirror. She spied one hanging on the back wall. She closed the container doors and strolled over to the mirror. It was a full length mirror with a gold frame. Izabel stood where she could see her entire body in the mirror and then she began to peel the thermalskin off. She started with the hole above her knee. She wiggled her fingers in between the suit and her skin. Once she got a good grip she pulled. A large rubberized chunk broke off in her hand. She tossed the piece across the room and started in on the next piece. Grip. Pull. Toss. She continued in the three step manner until she was standing naked in front of the mirror. She was shivering so violently that it traveled all the way to the tips of her fingers. It wasn’t from the cold. The temperature inside the container was a comfortable 72. Izabel couldn’t remember when her last meal had been. The burger on Terra Gigas maybe? And that had ended up on the floor outside Atilla’s dressing room. She also couldn’t remember when her last morphagen dose had been, which was a good thing. The sooner she went into detox the better. She stood naked in front of the mirror and looked at herself. If everything went according to the plan this was the last time she would be an elf. She wondered how different her human self would be. Judging from how Harbinger and General Pax looked she knew she her ears would be rounded instead of pointed. Her pupils would be tiny round points of black instead of long vertical slits. Her irises were violet. Did humans have violet colored irises? What about the rest of her? Her extremities were long and thin. Her stomach was flat and her breasts were small. Would any of that change? She was excited and terrified at the same time. She ran a trembling hand through her black hair and a large clump fell out. Hair loss was a side effect of detox shared by every single race. She could always dye her hair so it didn’t matter to her what color her human hair turned out to be. But what if she didn’t have any? Her shivering progressed into a seizure so violent that she dropped to her knees on the floor. Her stomach twisted into knots and she cried out. She tried to curl into the fetal position but her body fought her every inch of the way. Her flesh started to ripple like water. It was like having a terrible itch that you couldn’t scratch covering your entire body. Izabel screamed! Large boils began to appear on her back and chest. These boils grew until they burst, squirting yellow pus into the air. Several globs spattered the mirror. She could feel the wet sticky ooze under her as she rolled uncontrollably around on the floor. Izabel’s body continued to seize as her skin rippled and stretched into a large cocoon. She was exhausted and her eyes became heavy. She watched helplessly as she was swallowed by her own flesh. The seams of the cocoon closed, sealing her inside. She closed her eyes and drifted off. To sleep or death she didn’t know. Only time would tell.