Evelyn stood, her legs shaky. and the feeling of panic growing inside her. “I will not … I won’t take you to them.”
“Oh, Evelyn, I don’t need you to take us,” the president laughed, taunting her with a bemused look. “We are ready to go. We were able to piece together enough information from the records Philips left behind to almost finish the relativity drive. The only part we were missing was the programming … well, that and the coordinates for the world you found. Fortunately for us, we found everything we needed on your shuttle. In the few days you’ve been here—”
I’ve been here for days?
“…we have completed our preparations. The shuttles we are taking are programmed and outfitted. The fleet is ready to go, and I daresay a few hundred colonists won’t be much of a match for a regiment of rangers.
“And when we return, and I am able to share the news that we were able to find a new world for our people, one that can provide all of our people with the opportunity to thrive as they desire, then I will be the one to lead them there.
“So, back to the original question … How can you help? You are here to help us secure the space station, Vista. That is all. It will make a better command center as we move people to the new planet, and there are technologies on that station that we want to secure for the citizens. All of this will be made much easier with your cooperation. So, when we arrive, we will need you to deactivate the security protocols on the space station and transfer control to me. This will allow our fleet to dock, and I will be able to establish control of our operations in the command center.”
“And if I refuse?” Evelyn asked, her voice steady even though she was screaming inside.
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll refuse,” he said with a smirk that sent a shiver up Evelyn’s spine. Obviously, he wasn’t telling her everything, but the fact that he had Tate hidden away somewhere compounded her growing sense of dread.
“We’ll talk about it more tomorrow, though. Get some rest … We leave in the morning.”
As he finished, the president turned and walked out of the room in much the same way as he had entered—as a man who knew he had already won a war.
DREAMER
Scenario one: I refuse to help. Outcome … Coleson attacks Orsus … Vandergaast is dead … Joseph is dead … Tate is dead … I am dead … Everyone is dead.
Scenario two: I try to escape. Outcome … I get caught, and the rest is the same as scenario one.
Scenario three: I cooperate. Outcome … everyone may live, but they’ll wish they were dead … I’ll wish I was dead.
Evelyn’s machine-like mind ran through every alternative she could think of to try to stop what seemed inevitable.
Scenario seven: I kill myself tonight. Outcome … same as scenario one except I’m not around to watch.
No matter what scenario she ran, she always seemed to run them to the worst possible conclusion, especially knowing President Coleson’s history.
Scenario eleven: I play along and hope I get a chance to save the world. Outcome … probable death by a man who has seen fit to strap poison around my neck.
Evelyn found herself pacing across the floor, massaging her temples with her fingertips. Every scenario she thought through ended in death for her, Tate, Joseph, and usually hundreds of colonists. She continued to think, and then it occurred to her that there was one thing more important than all the others in every scenario. Evelyn blurted out a laugh of surprise and immediately stopped pacing, as if it had been clear all along and she just had her back turned to it.
Her responsibility wasn’t to protect any one person—not Joseph, not Tate, and certainly not herself—but the colony. As horribly as she had been treated by the council and a number of the colonists, and as much as she hated to even think about them after the way she had been run off, they were on Orsus because of her. She had been trusted to help them leave Earth, find them a new world, and to be safe in the process.
She also quickly realized that the reason the colony was in jeopardy was because of her—because she had been caught and because Coleson now had all the information he needed to conquer their little village. She had no choice. She had to find a way to save the people—to protect them—and as she thought through her choices, she also knew that anything she did to try to save them would likely come at an enormous price.
Tate had said it before. Finding her purpose meant figuring out what she was meant to do, and unfortunately, there seemed to be little chance that what she was meant to do and what she wanted could coexist. She wanted to run away with Joseph. She was meant to protect the colonists. Given her present circumstances, a scenario in which both could happen seemed beyond reach.
Evelyn sat on the edge of her bed. She rested her chin in her hands and felt the heavy cloud of sadness roll over her, penetrating her mind and making it hard for her to breathe. She flipped through the pictures in her mind of the life she had, realizing that the only images that lingered were her memories of Joseph—and one memory in particular.
It was the day after they had left Earth, and even though Evelyn had been around for a long time, she still hadn’t been seen in her new body by most people. She knew everyone, but everyone was seeing her for the first time, and their reactions were as varied as there are planets to explore in the universe. Most of the adults gave her a double take and said little to her, but the kids on Vista had less filter between their brains and their mouths.
Even when he was eleven, Titus was a big boy. He certainly wasn’t as interested in Autumn then, or Misha, or messing around with any of the girls on the space station for that matter, but he always seemed to have a sidekick with him, and he was known to bully many of the smaller boys. His propensity for only terrorizing boys changed, however, when he ran into Evelyn for the first time.
Evelyn was walking down a corridor on Vista, which led from the science labs into the great domed park in the center, and she was fondling a necklace Mr. Philips had given her. The necklace looked like a locket, but it was actually more utilitarian than that. Once Evelyn had a body, and the research team realized how taxing it could be for her to tie herself into the computer systems on Vista, they devised a way to minimize the discomfort. The locket actually contained a sensor and filter, and was programmed to allow her nanites to operate at a lower frequency, receiving less noise and feedback when she was connected to the main computer systems on Vista. Maybe Mr. Philips hadn’t realized it, but it was the first gift Evelyn had ever received, and even though it was utilitarian, she thought it was beautiful.
As she rounded the corner of the hallway, she fumbled the locket right in front of Titus and his sidekick of the day, a boy named Mitch. She started to reach down to pick it up when Titus slammed his foot down on top of it.
“Finders keepers,” he said as a smug grin crested his lips.
Evelyn didn’t know what to think. She looked quickly at Mitch, who despite being Titus’s partner in crime, also seemed to be looking at the side of Titus’s head, confused, like he had gone crazy.
“But, I just dropped that,” Evelyn said, looking back at Titus.
“I didn’t see that,” Titus said, stepping closer to her, still with one foot on the locket.
“But it’s mine.”
“But it’s mine, but it’s mine,” Titus taunted with a wicked sneer, pushing his face to within a foot of Evelyn’s.
“Give it back,” Evelyn said through clenched teeth. She was standing rigid, her fists balled. Her mind scrambled to think what she should do. She felt the tears forming in her eyes.
“No way.”
“Come on, T, just give it back to her,” Mitch finally said from behind Titus, obviously not feeling good about what was happening.
Titus whipped around, pointing his finger in Mitch’s face. “What are you gonna do about it?”
Mitch’s eyes opened wide, perhaps realizing his own life was in danger. He shook his head as if to say exactly what he said … “Nothing.”
&nbs
p; Titus turned back around. Not a second later, he shoved Evelyn in the chest with enough force to send her flying backward into the wall and slumping down to the floor. She scrambled to her feet, only to see Titus pick up the locket and put it in his pocket. Sneering, he lurched at her as if to shove her again, and then laughed as she flinched.
Evelyn could hardly see, her eyes were so wet with tears, and she tried desperately to wipe them away as Titus walked off with a snigger. She just barely caught the look on Mitch’s face, his head hanging down, and shrugging his shoulders as if to say “I tried.”
Evelyn didn’t know what to think, but rather than stick around where someone might see her, she ran down the hallway in the other direction, back to her quarters, and sobbed. It was the most horrible she had ever felt. It was the first time in her short life she had been made to cry, and in the moment, she was even less excited about having a body than she had been before. Being human was proving to be a lot harder than she imagined.
How long she sat there on the edge of her bed, crying and wishing she had said or done something different, she didn’t know, but after a while, there was a knock at her door.
Evelyn quickly wiped the tears from her ruddy cheeks and sheepishly opened the door. It was Joseph.
“I thought you might want this back,” he said, opening his hand and revealing the locket.
Evelyn didn’t know what to say.
Joseph placed the locket into her hand, and it was then that she noticed the knuckles on his hand were red and scuffed. She looked up and also realized the cheekbone below his eye was red and starting to swell.
“Thanks,” was all she managed to say.
“Sure,” Joseph replied with a crooked grin. It was the first time she had noticed the gold flecks in his mossy-green eyes.
Joseph didn’t offer an explanation about what had happened. He just turned and headed back toward the park, lumbering along and straining to walk, since the partial paralysis in his hips still hadn’t been corrected by the doctors on Vista.
Evelyn found out later that Joseph had seen what had happened from the playground, and even though Titus was a head taller, half a kid heavier, and didn’t have any physical problems below his neck, Joseph confronted him about it. The boys had thrown some punches—Titus also had bruised knuckles and a matching shiner—but when he realized Joseph wasn’t going to back down, he threw the locket at him and walked off in a huff.
Thinking back on that moment, Evelyn knew that Joseph hadn’t just stood up for her, he had stood up to the biggest bully on the block at a moment when he was not a match for him physically. As she sat on the edge of the bed, captive in her room, on the eve of watching the biggest bully in the known universe attempt to terrorize the person she cared about most, she knew it was her turn to repay the favor. Evelyn stiffened her back and clenched her fists. Doppelgänger Girl was going to find a way to save Joseph and the rest of the colonists, or she was going to die trying.
PASSENGER
A red halo on the horizon from the predawn sun, and the flashing red lights on the shuttles out the window were the only lights Evelyn could see. It was early, and she hadn’t slept at all. She hadn’t even tried. For most of the night, she had alternated between pacing around the room, lying on the bed, and staring out the window, but her mind was elsewhere. It was in the park on Vista. It was in the forest in Philips Landing. It was in Potter’s Field with Joseph and in the San Antonio Mission with Tate. It was everywhere but where she was, trapped in a compound, and it was wishing she could go back in time.
Evelyn watched the sun rise, casting its reddish then orange glow on the courtyard below, and as it did, it not only brought a new bustling of life as the rangers made their final preparations for the journey, but it also brought her and the colonists one moment closer to death.
There was a knock at the door.
Evelyn turned in time to see Dr. Pretty enter, and while she had a nurse with her the day before, she had two rangers with her this morning instead. Both looked similar to the rangers she had seen in San Antonio—they had the same aura about them that they were on the verge of exploding, figuratively and literally—but they were more appropriately dressed for a conquest, in all-black battle fatigues and body armor. Each carried enough firepower to demolish an entire shuttle, and if she could have calmed her nerves enough to have seen the moment for what it was—two heavily armed guards coming to escort a teenage girl—she may have laughed.
“Good morning, dear,” Dr. Pretty sang with far too much enthusiasm for that early in the morning. “It’s time to go. I’d tell you to pack your things, but you don’t really have any.”
Evelyn started toward the doctor and the guards. She felt the gentle squeeze of the collar around her neck as she slipped on the flight jacket she had pulled out of the wardrobe in the middle of the night. She knew her nanites would be screaming at her, being as close as she was to the rangers—if they could detect their signal—and for a moment, Evelyn was grateful they couldn’t.
“I trust you enjoyed your stay at Falcon’s Nest, Evelyn,” Dr. Pretty said, escorting Evelyn through the doorway into a long hallway. It was lined with doors on either side, presumably for other guest rooms, and had a door at either end. By all accounts, the hallway seemed as old world as the room she had been in and was noticeably devoid of technology. Evelyn wondered if Tate had been imprisoned in one of the rooms as well, and just when she thought she might do something stupid, like yell for him or run down the hallway, banging on doors, Dr. Pretty continued.
“You know, it’s not just anyone who’s invited for a visit. When we get back, maybe I’ll show you more of the place.”
“We’re coming back?”
“Sure, you don’t think we’re just going to let you wander off when we get to Coleson Prime do you?”
“Coleson Prime?”
“Yes, that’s what the president wants to name the planet you found.”
“So, you’re bringing me back to Earth.”
“Of course. We still have a lot of research to do, and I like my lab here just fine.”
“Wait a minute,” Evelyn said, unsure she really wanted to know the answer to her next question. “Research about what exactly?”
“About you, you silly girl.”
“About me?”
“Sure. You have a completely different generation of nanobots in your body, and we want to know what makes you tick,” the doctor said, giving Evelyn a wink.
“Yeah, I’ve seen what you do with the nanites,” Evelyn said, glancing at the rangers.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’re reprogramming the nanites to turn your soldiers into psychopathic killers.”
The guards turned, deviously grinning as if she had just paid them a compliment.
“Oh, Evelyn,” the doctor laughed, “we didn’t reprogram anything. The nanobots we use are exactly the same as what we confiscated from your labs.”
“How is that possible? The nanites I programmed were for healing, not killing.”
“But that’s not how the code you wrote works, dear. Really, I can’t believe you don’t know this. I’m beginning to wonder if you’re really as bright as they say.”
They came to the rustic wooden door at the end. Evelyn watched as it opened to reveal an elevator hidden away behind it, and they all stepped inside.
The doctor continued. “Sure, the nanobots repair body damage and make the body work more efficiently, but they also enhance the person based on their DNA and body chemistry. In our beloved rangers,” she said, patting one on the shoulder and giving him a flirty squeeze, “the nanobots naturally activate the adrenal gland and the production of testosterone because the rangers need to be in a heightened state of awareness. The nanobots pick up on that, and they respond.
“For me,” she continued with a flourish, “the nanobots … well, let’s just say I didn’t always have the figure I have now.”
Evelyn couldn’t believe what she w
as hearing. “You’re using the nanites too?”
“Sure. I was one of my first test subjects. And I was rather plump when I performed the test. The nanites sped up my metabolism, and most of the fat I had melted away in a few weeks … except, of course, the fat that matters most.
“You know, the president has them too. That’s why he looks so young. President Coleson is seventy-three, but physiologically he’s about thirty years younger. He really and truly is an amazing man. Brilliant … and handsome. Oh, we are so lucky to have him … and thanks to your breakthrough, we should have him around for many more years to come.”
Evelyn swallowed the bile burning the back of her throat, disgusted at Dr. Pretty’s fawning over a madman. “What do you want to know about my nanites?” she asked, growing more nervous with each passing moment.
Just then the elevator door opened, and they stepped into the lobby. Consistent with the rest of the building, the décor was twentieth-century French country estate, with more wood floors and carpets, a great stone fireplace big enough to stand in, and enough leather chairs and sofas for a hundred people to sit.
Evelyn had never seen such a display of wealth, and for a moment, she forgot she had asked a question when the doctor answered.
“Oh, I have a few things I need you to tell me when we get back, but most of my research is hands-on.”
“You want me to help you?”
“In a manner of speaking. I need to get at some of those little buggers you have inside,” the doctor said, pinching the air between them. “I’ll only need a few, at first. I tried to get them when you were sedated, but they seemed to be repelled by the needles. President Coleson didn’t want me to damage you before the invasion, so he asked me to put my research on hold until we return. But once we’re back, I just can’t wait to get started. I’m still not sure how to get the nanites out of you, but I’ll figure that out eventually.”
Evelyn felt the urge to vomit, and her knees wobbled, but she stiffened herself quickly. There was no way she was going to let this obviously demented woman play Doctor Frankenstein on her. “You can’t think I’m going to let you experiment on me,” she said, a tone of revulsion in her voice.
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