by J G Cressey
Cal winced. He loathed those bloody awards. “It’s true, Eddy.”
“But how come?”
Cal thought for a moment then said, “My commanding officer was a bit of an arsehole… Did a bit of arse kicking myself.”
Eddy snorted in a particularly unladylike laugh and was still snorting when a jittery Toker bounded up behind them carrying a small backpack. “Sure we should be moving?” he said. “Couldn’t we just sit tight in the ship ‘till help arrives?”
“There’s no help coming, Toker. I’m not going to lie to you, the fact we’ve ended up on Mars means something on Earth’s gone seriously wrong, and if that’s the case, there’s no chance anyone’s going to waste time looking for a lost reject raft or its occupants.”
“Buggers,” Toker muttered, sitting himself on a nearby log and burying his hands into his tangle of blond hair.
Cal wished it was an exaggeration, but in truth, he couldn’t think of a single reason why the reject raft would have been redirected to Mars. Even in the searing heat, the thought left him feeling cold.
“Permission to climb on top of the ship, Cal, sir?” Eddy asked. “Just whilst we wait for the kid. I could keep a lookout for hostiles an’ all that.”
“Sure, Eddy. Might be a good idea to tell the boy to hurry up though whilst you’re over there.”
“Right you are, sir… I mean, Cal,” she called over her shoulder as she scampered off towards the ship.
“She’s a bloody lunatic,” Toker blurted as soon as the girl was out of earshot. “Can you believe it? Punched me square in the face.”
Cal shrugged. He had to disagree; the girl wasn’t nuts, just highly strung. He’d had plenty like her under his command. “It was an impressive punch though, you have to admit.”
“Just caught me off balance is all.”
Cal nodded. “So what’s your story, Toker? You don’t strike me as the soldier type.”
“You got that right. I’m more lover than fighter.”
“So how’d you end up on a Class One Military Starship?”
“To be honest, it’s kind of a long story,” Toker said then quickly grinned. “Actually, that’s not an exact truth. It’s not long, it’s just, shall we say, kind of embarrassing.”
Cal raised an eyebrow. “Well now you’ve got me intrigued.”
Toker paused a few moments as if weighing Cal up. “Okay, I’ll tell you, bro, but you gotta promise not to tell little knuckles over there.”
“She won’t hear it from me.”
“Okay, I’m trusting you, but only because of that posh English accent. You sound like a bloke that honors a promise.”
Cal nodded and smiled in reply.
“You ever watch the holo-show, Nine Lives Nutters?”
“No, not familiar.”
“Really. Oh, man, you’re missing out, and I’m not just saying that because I’m in it. It’s truly a…”
Toker’s voice trailed off, his eyes suddenly widening as they fixed on something over Cal’s shoulder. Whatever had attracted the young man’s attention seemed to be preventing his mouth from closing. Cal twisted around and instantly understood. A strikingly beautiful, six-foot-tall blonde woman had emerged from the wrecked ship and was making a surprisingly successful attempt at walking through the mud in high heel shoes and a skirt that was little more than a belt.
What the…
Before Cal could make sense of what he was seeing, Eddy had leapt from the top of the ship, scalpel clamped dangerously between her teeth, and landed on the blonde woman’s back. It was an assault that should have smashed the unfortunate woman face first into the mud. But instead, the girl bounced off the woman like a deflected pin ball and hit the ground hard. Undeterred, Eddy quickly scrabbled to her feet and leaped once again onto the tall woman’s back, this time wrapping her left arm around her neck and holding the scalpel to her jugular. The woman didn’t scream. In fact, she barely reacted at all.
“Who the hell are you?” Eddy growled into the woman’s ear.
Cal began moving towards the pair cautiously. “Take it easy, Eddy, everything’s fine.” Shit, maybe she is a little nuts. “Carefully slide off her, put the scalpel down, and slowly back away.”
“Yeah, what the hell are you doing?” Toker added. “She’s obviously off the ship, just like us.”
Eddy showed no sign of obeying. “Yeah, where the hell was she then? There’s only four cryo-capsules. She’s a big, blonde, unanswered question, an’, until it's answered, she's bloody well a hostile.’
“You ever heard of innocent ‘til proven guilty? Or how’s about anger management? That’s one you should look up,” Toker said, taking a brief moment to shoot Cal a grin.
Cal shook his head, hoping it would shut him up, then continued moving slowly towards the two women. “Trust me, Eddy, it’s in your best interest to get off her, and do it carefully. She’s not a hostile, she’s a—”
“Melinda, a hand please?” Viktor’s voice echoed from inside the ship, cutting Cal off mid-sentence.
The blonde woman reacted immediately. Swinging back towards the wrecked craft, she snatched Eddy’s scalpel-wielding arm and, as if simply ridding herself of a bothersome cobweb, flung the girl away.
Leaping forward, Cal managed to break the worst of Eddy’s fall while narrowly avoiding a scalpel in his ear. Having already grasped a fairly good understanding of how the girl’s brain handled information—or didn’t, as the case may be—Cal restrained her as she made an attempt to jump up and pursue her unanswered question.
“But, Cal, sir, she could be a danger,” Eddy said, struggling against his unyielding grip. “Let me go an’…I’ll handle this.’
“I’ll let you go, Eddy, but how’s about I answer your unanswered question first.”
The girl’s struggling eased but didn’t stop.
“Now, I don’t know where the hell she was hiding or why, but she didn’t require a cryo-capsule because she doesn’t breathe or feel the cold. She’s a synthetic, a military synthetic combat soldier.”
Eddy shook her head. “No disrespect, sir, but I’ve seen pictures of synthetic combat soldiers. I even seen one for real once, and they sure don’t look nuffin’ like the bimbo over there.”
“Granted, there seem to have been a few less than standard adjustments,” Cal reasoned, “but think about it, Eddy. The synthetics are always female, she’s the right height and build, and call me crazy, but the biggest giveaway was the way you bounced off her back like a rubber ball off concrete.”
Eddy stopped struggling. “She did seem weirdly strong.”
“She sure kicked your ass, soldier girl,” Toker said, obviously amused by the turn of events. “A synthetic, eh? Who’d’ve thought a friggin’ android could be so…well, attractive. They always make them that hot, Cal?”
Cal looked over to the ship where Viktor was passing a large, apparently broken, hovercase down to the blonde synthetic, who it seemed was named Melinda. Cal knew he could keep a cool head longer than most, but he was seriously starting to doubt his grip on reality. Eddy was right about one thing; unanswered questions could be dangerous. He got to his feet and pulled Eddy up with him. “No, Toker, they never make them that hot. But the questions are going to have to wait. It’s time we started moving. Viktor, we’re moving out. Best tell your girlfriend to lose the high heels and follow us.”
“Okay, we’re right behind you. But she’s not my girlfriend, she’s my wife.”
Cal led the way into the jungle and, for the sake of his sanity, pretended that he hadn’t heard the boy’s last comment.
Chapter Five
BOY GENIUS
The jungle remained as lively as ever as Cal and his new companions made their way through tangled vines and over massive, twisting tree roots. A huge variety of God’s creations—and some that were more likely the result of human genetic tinkering—were flying, crawling, hopping, slivering, and occasionally squelching all around them. Fortunately, none of the local
wildlife encountered so far was particularly large or vicious or indeed taking the slightest interest in them.
It had been many years since Cal had spent time on Mars, and he was finding the diversity of plant and animal life astounding, far more than he’d seen as a boy. Another startling difference to the Mars of his memories was the heat. The jungles of the Big Game Zone were always intended to be hot, but the sizzling rays penetrating the gaps in the jungle’s canopy seemed excessive. The atmos-tweekers were undoubtedly malfunctioning just as the landing beacon had been. Cal didn’t like to think what could have caused such malfunctions. The running systems for both were fortified with a large number of backups and a similarly large number of skilled staff. Something or someone had majorly screwed up, that much was clear, and he and his companions were paying the price. He looked up and wiped his brow with a damp sleeve. If it weren’t for the mass of foliage above their heads, that price would be a severe roasting.
Cal made a point of regularly looking back at the oddball convoy he was leading. The girl, Eddy, was close behind him, hacking away with her tiny medical scalpel at branches that weren’t even in her way. The young blond man, Toker, trailed a few paces behind her, snapping his head around nervously at every sound. Then, bringing up the rear, was the buxom blonde—who Cal had to keep reminding himself was one of the most sophisticated weapons the military had ever developed—and the pale, skinny kid stumbling along beside her. Cal noticed that the boy still looked a little unsteady from the effects of the pain patch. Despite the ominous situation, he couldn’t help but grin at the sight of the pair.
As he battled on through the tricky terrain, Cal tried to think of the possible reasons why the reject raft hadn’t made it to Earth. Scenarios came and went, but each one seemed more ludicrous than the last. Frustrated, he eventually decided to concentrate on a mystery closer to home. Taking a quick pause, he instructed Eddy on their direction and nominated the young girl to lead the way. She may be bordering on psychotic, but she was at least alert. He then waited for Viktor to catch up.
“How’s the shoulder, Viktor?”
“I’ve had worse,” the boy replied.
Cal smiled, impressed with the duration of the pain patch’s effects. “Good chap.” He looked over at Melinda. It was incredible how human she looked. He’d always thought the real giveaway with the synthetics was their lifeless eyes and lack of personality. Melinda, however, was different—strikingly so. Her gender was the norm; all of the synthetics were designed in the female form, the military’s reasoning being that the enemy would find a female less threatening and therefore underestimate her in combat. Despite meeting some pretty lethal women in his time, Cal in general could see the logic in this. Where the logic evaporated for him, however, was in the decision to make these passive, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly females six feet tall and, due to hair being considered an encumbrance during battle, completely bald. In contrast, Melinda had beautiful long locks, and more importantly, Cal could see life in her eyes.
“Mind if we talk whilst we walk?” He asked the boy.
“Fine by me.”
Cal glanced again at the synthetic. “Do you think Melinda would mind if we talked in private?” He asked the question with an air of caution. He knew all synthetics were fitted with behaviour inhibitors to prevent them harming a human without a direct order from a suitably ranked officer, but he couldn’t be sure if Melinda’s remained intact. He definitely didn’t want her to take offence.
“Would you mind dropping back for a bit, M?”
“Of course,” Melinda replied in a soft tone. She then stood perfectly still as Cal and Viktor continued on.
“She’ll decrease her hearing capability and follow us once we’re out of earshot,” Viktor said confidently.
Cal nodded. “So, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I’m a little confused as to how you ended up on a reject raft with a synthetic soldier.”
“She’s not a synthetic soldier anymore,” he replied defensively. “She’s nothing like those mindless drones.”
“Yes, she’s quite a beauty,” Cal agreed.
“Isn’t she just.”
Cal thought for a moment how to broach the subject then decided to come right out with it. “So, um…wife?”
The boy reddened. “It’s not impossible, you know. I heard about a woman who married her AI companion once.”
Cal shot him a wry smile.
“Yeah, I know. Stupid, eh? I had to say something though. They’re gonna try and take her away from me and after all the improvements I’d made.”
“You made?”
“Yeah, I worked quite a bit on her facial features, see, especially the smile—the smile’s the most important thing—and the eyes. And she’s got the most perfect nose you’ve ever seen, right?’ the boy continued, hardly stopping for a breath. “Those damn Military designers have no clue what makes a good bone structure. They put no love into their work, Cal. Plus, they set the facial muscles all wrong, and they wonder why the hell they don’t have realistic expressions. And the lack of hair, bloody hell, and don’t even get me started on the personality programming. I’ve seen toy dolls with better personalities. I don’t own toy dolls, you understand—’
“Viktor, sorry to disrupt your flow, but I think you might need to start your story a bit further back so I can get the full picture.”
“Uh…sorry, yeah, I go off on one sometimes. They’re just so stupid though, you know, these military guys. Not you, but some of the others, you know what I mean?’
“Yep.”
“So I guess you wanna know how I got on a military starship?”
“Sounds like the perfect place to start.”
“I was invited. I’m what they call gifted in the world of science. I mean, I don’t like to brag, but they call me a genius.”
Cal suspected that the boy did like to brag, but a little bragging where bragging was due was fine in his book.
“When I was twelve, I designed and built a synthetic dog and entered into Earth's most prestigious science fair, the…er…fifth Quantum Star Science event. Pretty sure it was the fifth. Can you believe that some idiot woman in the entries office tried to put me and my dog into the junior competition?”
After a brief pause, Cal realized that the boy was actually waiting for a response. “What an idiot,” he replied, trying his best for genuine sincerity.
“Too right. Wasn’t a problem though. Quick little hack into their entries system, and me and Rex, that was the dog, were in with the big boys. Just as well too cos I only went and bloody well won it.”
Cal smiled. “Congratulations. So the military took a keen interest in your talents?”
“Yep, they’re always hanging out at the big science fairs. Kinda like scouts at the college spike ball games I guess. So anyway, they sent me to the best science college to develop my skills, which was a load of crap by the way. Those professors really don’t have a clue. Still, I s’pose I got all the best equipment to mess around with. Then I turn fourteen, see, an’ they offer me a crap ton of credits to work on one of their starships, fixing up their battle robots ‘n synthetics ‘n stuff.”
“Huh. You ever work on a battle robot called Max? He was part of my team.”
“Sure, Max. I worked on him quite a bit. Made a few alterations. He was a good bot.” The boy looked up and shot Cal a smile. “The job they gave me was a bunch of crap though, see. I wasn’t destined to fix things. I’m an inventor, see, Cal. I like to create things, not play around with stuff or fix up some dipshit’s shoddy designs. I mean how’s science meant to advance if they don’t let guys like me open their minds and think outside of the box, eh, Cal, eh?”
Cal rubbed his face. He felt his own mind was being opened a little too wide for comfort. But at least a few of the pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together. “So I guess they didn’t take kindly to you thinking outside of the box?”
“I’m not too good with rules, see, Cal. They were pissed when I
introduced them to Melinda. What they were too dim to realize, though, was that I was doing them a favor. They kept going on about the bigger boobs and the blonde hair as if all I’d done was alter her looks. If they’d let me put her in the ring with one of their stupid drones, like I suggested, they’d have seen that my Melinda could destroy those pathetic synthetics with one arm tied behind her back.”
Cal looked back at Melinda whilst Viktor struggled over a cluster of particularly large, slippery tree roots. The cybernetic woman was standing stock still about twenty meters behind them, waiting dutifully for Viktor to continue forwards. The boy undoubtedly had talent; unlike her counterparts, Melinda could easily pass as human. Cal wondered about the extent of her combat alterations. Considering their location, he doubted he’d be wondering for long. Although the synthetics were still relatively new within the military, Cal had already seen them in combat many times, and he had to admit, he was glad she was with them.
“Can’t keep your eyes off her, eh?” Viktor said, sounding triumphant at having finally made it over the cluster of roots.
Cal smiled. “Just curious.”
“They were sending her back on the reject raft cos none of them on the starship could work out what I’d done to her. Bloody dipshits were confused to hell.”
Cal could sympathise. “Probably best to call her back over now, Viktor. And do me a favor, will you?”
The boy looked at him questioningly.
“Keep her close.”
Chapter Six
JUNGLE BRAWL
It was beginning to get dark. Cal and his new companions had been trekking through the dense jungle for two long days with little rest. The previous night had been spent in the relative safety of a large tree, precariously perched among the high branches. None of them had achieved much sleep that night, and with the fierce heat during the day, they were near the point of exhaustion.
Wiping the sweat from his eyes, Cal turned and ordered a pit stop. After pointing out some edible fruits and picking a few for himself, he took a much-needed seat on a tree root and regarded his companions. Eddy was looking wobbly on her feet but showed no sign of quitting. She had a seemingly inexhaustible grin on her face, and Cal had to wonder whether her body’s exhaustion had even registered in her somewhat unhinged brain. Toker, despite clearly still suffering anxiety as he peered around at the surrounding jungle, was obviously a fit guy and was managing to keep pace. Of all of them, Cal expected that Viktor would be the one suffering the most from the hard slog, but fortunately, this wasn’t the case. Since the middle of the first day, the boy had opted to walk arm in arm with the synthetic, and Cal suspected that his feet had barely touched the ground since.