Homefront

by Scott James Magner

  Serene didn’t understand what Katra was saying at first, but then she saw it. A stray image of the Gamma rolling into the room with her weapon firing—not to kill, but maim.

  She means to punish him. Good. But if I’ve learned anything from Mira, it’s that punishments must be tempered with mercy, and we’ll need to keep him alive long enough to figure out everything he’s done.

  Besides. Mira always liked Tommy Watson. At least, I think she did.

  A quartet of new minds came to life behind her. They were hard, and cold, and Carlton was more than a little afraid as he spoke the words she’d heard after emerging from deep sleep.

  "MAR-G250698-I. YHS-G267980-I. HJR-G259612-I. KAR- G262234-I. I am CRN-B3410-T. What are you called?"

  This more than anything made up her mind. Today, everyone would live. The newly awakened Gammas needed to see the best of humanity in action, and a revenge murder, however justified, did not exemplify the life in the Colonies she remembered.

  Maybe the ones that exist today are different, but I think we lived better lives when I left Colony B. And Mira has certainly shown us how to make more of ourselves than our genetics.

  Mira stood up and slapped a device with red and green lights to the side of the door, and an energy field Serene hadn’t seen dissolved into a shower of golden particles as it opened. Serene picked that moment to run forward, just ahead of Katra’s grasping hands. Jantine tried to stop her, but Serene dropped to the floor and slid feet first under her arms.

  Once inside the room, Serene rolled up to her feet and ran at Tommy’s legs. She felt, not saw, Mira standing in the portal’s empty entrance, more from the flashes of anger given off by Jantine and Katra as they were forced to lower their weapons.

  Tommy was half turned around when she hit him in the knees, and the expression on his face was more tired than anything she’d seen in Mira’s mind. He was a decade removed from their walks along the river, and the lines around his mouth and eyes spoke to a life lived not in happiness, but despair.

  Tommy went down in heap, interrupting whatever had been mumbling into his throat recorder. Even though he outmassed her considerably, the moon’s gravity had clearly taken its toll on his muscles, and Mira’s memories painted him as more wallflower than warrior. He bounced hard both against his workstation and the floor but remained conscious enough to gasp out two words:

  "Help . . . me . . ."

  The lights in the room started flashing, and an alarm sounded. But she was close enough now to do what she wanted, and aided by Mirabelle and Doria, she slid easily into his dazed mind and turned it off.

  ~Sleep.~

  It took her only a few seconds to find what she needed from his brain, and another to figure out how to make his mouth work.

  "Alarm off. Secure from containment. I slipped, nothing more. We have enough people here to handle things."

  ~What are you doing?~

  Mira’s thoughts were relieved, incredulous, and shocked. Serene turned toward the doorway and saw Jantine and Katra push Mira to the side. Jantine won the skipping footrace to Tommy, and she hauled him up by his uniform. She shoved him roughly into his console, but Serene’s mental hold on him was absolute.

  And although the Gamma shards as a whole were aghast at what she’d done, Serene caught the slightest glimmer of approval from several of them.

  Looks like I can do something right on my own, at least for now.

  Though Serene was expecting questions, she didn’t expect Jantine to shout at her.

  "What did you do? What were you thinking!"

  Serene stood and took several steps away from Jantine, who was trying to shake Tommy awake. He was aware of what was happening to him, but unable to react in any way.

  "Jantine, please stop. I’m sorry if I disobeyed, I just didn’t want Katra to shoot him. Not in front of Mira."

  Jantine’s furious thoughts quickly returned to the cool, neutral state she worked so hard to maintain. But before the Beta could speak, Mira’s voice reminded Serene there was still a lot about humans she didn’t understand.

  "Oh, honey," she said, "you have no idea what he’s done. Not just to the mods, but to me personally, and to the people I love. Tommy is nothing to me but a handful of good memories and several I wish I could forget."

  "But, the river. . ."

  "Was a long, long time ago. And while you think you understand that memory, you’re far too young to really know what . . . "

  ~Katra, NO!~

  Mira’s ability to control others was not as precise as Serene’s, and Katra was fighting her every step of the way. She raised her rifle slowly, and Serene knew that even though it might destroy her, the Gamma was prepared to kill all of them for a clean shot at Tommy’s unprotected head.

  "He has . . . to pay . . ."

  Everyone seemed to move in slow motion, and the lights dimmed a second time. There were no alarms this time, and Serene felt another four minds join those in the sleepers’ chamber.

  What have I done? And how can I stop it before it goes too far . . .

  Jantine

  JANTINE STARED AT THE WHITE SUIT OF EARTHER armor containing Katra, more specifically at the weapon in her shaking hands. She’d never seen a Gamma this far out of control, and if Jantine couldn’t bring her back from the edge it was unlikely either mod would live long enough to see anything else.

  Is it too much to ask for just one thing on this mission to go according to plan?

  "He has . . . to pay . . . for what he did."

  Katra’s voice over the suit’s speakers was ragged, as if she were fighting herself for each word. Given Mira’s fixed stance, outstretched hand, and abrupt mental silence, it was reasonable to assume Mira was somehow holding her in place.

  "Katra—"

  "No. Mira. No more forgiveness. He and his captain have declared war on my entire people. He will kill all of us, and that includes you. We have to stop him!"

  Jantine saw herself and Mira mirrored in Katra’s faceplate, and she realized that Katra was staring down a reflected image of herself in Jantine’s. Whispering inside her helmet, Jantine hoped things had settled down enough in the landing bay for someone to come to her rescue.

  "Jason, Artemus. I need you."

  As soon as she spoke, she regretted not including O-6913, but it was hard to think of the Omega as an ally at the moment. That he cared for Serene was plain enough, but his loyalty to the rest of the mods was more than a little suspect. sJantine raised her hands to the suit’s neck seals and released them. The inrush of cold air was just what she needed to help focus, and she turned back to face down her de facto second-in-command.

  Mira and Katra hadn’t moved, though the Gamma’s rifle was still struggling upward. Before Jantine could move forward and disarm her, Serene padded forward in her ridiculous Earther shoes and pulled the muzzle of the slugthrower up until it was pointed at the center of her forehead.

  It was exactly the distraction the newly awakened Gamma infiltrators needed to swarm Katra and immobilize her. Unlike Serene, they’d entered suspended animation fully mature and in peak physical condition, and the more modern sleeper units had been conditioning them for Earth’s gravity for nearly a month. Even if she’d had complete control of her body, Katra was no match for eight other combat Gammas in their primes, especially when they picked her up and held her off the ground.

  Mira slumped against a metal table that looked a lot like the one in Captain Kołodziejski’s transmission. But Jantine had little time to wonder if it was the same surface, as Katra was now in full control of her mind once more.

  "Release me at once! I am Senior Scout KTR-G245980-I. That human is a war criminal, and he must be executed immediately."

  The Gammas holding Katra were a mix of genders and crèches, and though they were older by a few years, several reminded her strongly of Jarl. But while Jantine didn’t know all of their faces as intimately as Malik would have, they certainly knew hers.

  One of them worked
the seals on Katra’s helmet, revealing her wide eyes and snarling expression. The Gamma’s hair was slick with sweat, and Jantine thought she detected a faint odor of bile.

  The Gamma who’d removed Katra’s helmet looked up from the disheveled mod in front of him, meeting Jantine’s eyes from across the room. Ignoring Katra’s curses and threats, he spoke in a strong, clear voice.

  "Commander? I am MAR-G250698-I, called Marius. Carlton tells me that we are inside a hostile Lunar base. What are your orders?"

  "Put her down. I have the prisoner under control. Serene, how long will he be like this?"

  "He’ll wake up whenever you want him to. Hello, Marius. Hello Yesha. Hello Hajira. Hello Karen. Hello—"

  "You stupid girl, there’s no time for this. He has to die!"

  Katra surged forward, this time using her full, suit-assisted strength. But Jantine was prepared, and she met Katra’s charge not with strength, but leverage. She grabbed a wrist in one hand and caught her under the shoulder with the other, using her own momentum to spin the Gamma into Mira’s waiting arms. Mira reached down and touched a control on Katra’s belt, and its gauntlets and joints locked into place.

  Katra had knocked Serene to the floor as she passed, and it took all of Jantine’s self-control not to backhand the Gamma. But the memory of Janbi’s ruined face was enough of a reminder of how ragged her own emotions had been over the last few days.

  Mira’s voice sounded in Jantine’s head, and for a second she shared in the entirely righteous rage that had consumed Katra. She felt her hand tightening on the Earther pistol in her hand and decided to return it to the holder on her chestplate.

  ~Katra. Katra. Listen to my thoughts. Let your anger go. This is not our way. I’m here with you. It’s going to be all right.~

  Jantine returned her attention to Marius and the awakened Gammas. One of the new arrivals was helping Serene up from the floor, and Jantine was about to thank him when she noticed his face wasn’t quite right.

  It was a mature face, not a fresh-faced mod just out of deep sleep. A human face, pressing a very human device against Serene’s neck.

  "You are a very bad man, and soon you will be dead."

  Serene’s words were calm and controlled, but Jantine could feel fear rolling off her in waves.

  "How sweet. You gennies always say such nice things. I’ll assume this is my missing test subject, and that’s Harlan over there in the sealed suit, yes?

  Horace Kołodziejski was as loathsome in person as Jantine had imagined. He was a thin, shifty-looking man, who’d somehow acquired a Colonial jumpsuit identical to the ones the Gammas were wearing. Given the transmission he’d sent out, it didn’t take much imagination to figure out where it had come from, and as he pulled Serene close to his body Jantine saw a designation on his chest that made her blood run cold.

  DRN-B34316. That would make the mod in the vid one of Carlton’s sibs. . .

  Jantine’s jaw clenched, and she silently cursed herself for putting her weapon away. Marius turned at the sound of the human’s voice, and Kołodziejski startled at the motion and backed himself into the wall. As quietly and with as little movement of her lips as she could, Jantine mouthed, "Not yet. Wait until she’s free," and the Gammas took a step back.

  Now that she could see Kołodziejski’s face, she wondered what his plan really was. Despite his stolen garments, no one would ever mistake him for a mod. His face was too angular, his eyes too close together. In general, he gave off the impression of a skeleton trying to push its way out of an ill-fitting suit of skin.

  Is he trying to escape? To free the other human? What’s his play here?

  Mira must have been thinking along similar lines.

  "You won’t get away with this, Captain," Mira said. "Commodore Maranova is—"

  "A cloud of expanding atoms by now, I expect. When last I checked, she was flying blind straight into the teeth of my best two ships. And don’t you lot get any ideas, you’ve seen my new T-virus in action, and I’m more than a little curious to see what it does to your little Alpha here."

  Kołodziejski couldn’t have frozen the mods in place more effectively if he’d used liquid nitrogen. Even Jantine was afraid to act, and she had no doubts whatsoever that the human would kill Serene anyway if he felt he had the upper hand.

  But for now, she’s alive. And he’s not going anywhere.

  The scenarios she could see resolving weren’t at all to her liking, so Jantine decided to consult with her more level-headed advisors.

  ~Serene. Mira. Can you hear me?~

  ~Yes.~

  Mira’s thoughts were tinged with pain and fear, but Serene’s were as cold as ice.

  ~Yes. Don’t worry, Jantine. Help is on the way.~

  ~What?~

  Before Serene could answer, Kołodziejski started sliding along the wall toward the portal to the sleeper chamber. To her dismay, the crowding Gammas parted and let him pass. Katra gave out a strangled moan, and Jantine’s heart raced.

  Then Jantine heard two clicks in her left ear, followed by Artemus’s breathy rumble.

  "Commander, I’m sorry. He got away from me and Jason. We’re almost—"

  The scattercom squealed in her ear as a competing frequency came into range. She spared a look around the room to see if anyone was using an Earther comm, and in the split second her eyes left the doorway, O-6913 appeared crouching on the other side.

  The Omega’s face was a mask of fury. Jantine’s eyes widened, and she was opening her mouth to scream when she heard the hiss of the injector.

  "I warned you gennie freaks, and now this is on y—"

  Kołodziejski’s head exploded in a spray of bone and blood as the Omega’s hands came together. Serene slumped to the floor, and it was Katra who voiced the scream in Jantine’s throat.

  O-6913’s mouth was open, and the interference in her ear climbed beyond her ability to register it as anything other than pain. Jantine felt her heart skip in her chest, and denied the double protection of SDF armor and Colonial encounter suit, her exposed face grew uncomfortably hot.

  She dove behind the instrument console the dark skinned Earther had been working at, pulling his unresisting form after her. On the floor and out of the direct path of the Omega’s ultrasonic scream, she felt its effects subside. It felt like a fire was burning inside her left ear, but her vision was unaffected and unblocked, giving her an ant’s eye view of the very messy end of Captain Horace Kołodziejski.

  Not satisfied with simply beheading the murderous human, O-6913 seized his corpse in his large orange hands and squeezed. Blood fountained from his neck and bounced off the ceiling, and when the Omega pulled his hands apart, what was left of Kołodziejski separated with them.

  Katra’s screams continued, and Jantine turned to look at the Gamma. Her face was red and flushed as well, but Jantine could do nothing to help her.

  ~StopstopstopstopStopSTOP!~

  Whether Mira relayed her order, or the Omega heard it himself, O-6913 slumped to his side and closed his mouth. Katra’s screams became sobs, and fell to her knees as Mira deactivated the suit restraints. Mira’s own suit fell away from her as she raced to Serene’s side, and Jantine recognized the emergency release system Mira had shown them during their suit training. Hard plates bounced off the floor as she took two short hops across the blood-drenched room.

  Jantine returned her eyes to Serene’s still form. The child was covered in human blood, her chest wasn’t moving, and an angry red welt was spreading on her neck.

  Jantine heard two voices rise above the growing confusion. The first was Mira’s, calling for Carlton. But the second was a stranger’s, and it took her a moment to realize it had come from behind her.

  "What happened?"

  A cold rage built behind Jantine’s eyes, and she drew the pistol on her chest as she rolled over to face the scientist. He was still groggy from Serene’s mental control, but he recognized the muzzle of a weapon pressed into the back of his neck well enough.r />
  "Shut up, human. Or you’re next."

  Mira

  MIRA KNELT DOWN NEXT TO O-6913, WATCHING Carlton work furiously to transfuse a barely conscious Serene with a device attached to his arm. That Serene wasn’t dead already was a good sign, and the lack of black veins or exploding organs meant that either Kołodziejski was lying about what was in the injector, or that Tommy and his team of mad scientists had developed more than one T-Virus variant from the captured Alpha’s blood.

  Damn you, Tommy. Damn you for ever making me believe you cared about anything but yourself.

  "Get back. All of you."

  Artemus’s basso rumble drew Mira’s attention, and she saw him push through the group of Gammas crowding around Carlton while he worked. The Delta’s voice was enough to deter most of them from interfering, but more than a few were offering to help, and the confusion over what had really happened was whipping them into a frenzy.

  I can’t do this. There’s just too many of them.

  "Mira . . ."

  Serene’s voice was barely a whisper, and from the scowl on Carlton’s face, her brief return to consciousness wasn’t what he’d hoped for. There was an SDF emergency kit open beside him, and the Beta was filling an injector with a green liquid of some kind. Mira had vague memories of an emergency medical seminar during which the instructor had warned about certain compounds that were only to be administered as a last resort.

  The noise of the crowd intensified, as did their thoughts. Mira closed her eyes against the pain, but if dealing with a double handful of mods over the last few days had been stressful, several dozen was overwhelming.

  "Mira . . . help. . . him . . . You need . . . to—"

  Carlton pressed the injector to Serene’s upper arm, and the child’s fear spiked. Serene’s eyes widened, and her unfocused panic was stronger than that of the crowd. Despite the pain, Mira reached out and brought both of them into a link. She regretted it instantly, but she borrowed some of Carlton’s impossible calm to help her through the worst of it.