Aeolus Investigations Set 2: Too Cool To Lose: The Continuing Evolution of Lexi Stevens

by Robert E Colfax

  Both Meat and she had Colts strapped to their thighs. Ron and Urania, crouched on balconies on either side of the street, alert for more of the thoroughly confused and largely ineffective pirates who reappeared in this sim, created based on a 1985 film of America’s Old West. The pirates already proved to be thoroughly inept at reloading their antique six-shooters. Ron and Urania, from their positions above the street, armed with Henry repeating rifles, easily dealt with four of them but knew the others should be around somewhere. Although they may have simply fled. Then again, they might be inside the saloon, drinking heavily.

  Meat called out to Lexi. “You’re providing me with the most fun I’ve ever had. Still, my desire to end you is increasing. You can’t win, you know. I can do this forever. I’ll kill you in the end.”

  Lexi called back, “Maybe not. I changed the rules. You think I’m still in your simulation. You’re wrong, buddy. You’re in mine.” And I’m faster than you.

  Meat went for his gun. It never cleared his holster. Lexi’s bullet took him between the eyes. He took the beginning of a step, twisted, and fell face-first into the dust of the road. She took the few steps necessary to stand over the body as the simulated citizens of Silverado began to come out of hiding. One old man who could probably best be described, well the term ‘geezer’ fit nicely, spit in the dust of the street and said, “Damn fine shooting, Paden.”

  A younger man asked, “Do you think you could have taken him if he hadn’t been under the weather?” Lexi looked at him, eyebrows raised in question. He added, “He was looking kind of greenish even before you shot him, Paden.”

  Chapter 17

  Plan B

  Ron and Urania joined Lexi on the street a moment later. All three remained alert to the possibility of lurking pirates. Looking bleakly at her two friends, Lexi said, “I knew I could outdraw him. Unless his brain isn’t in his head that should have killed him. His heart isn’t in the same position as a human’s or my sword would have killed him when I thrust it through his chest. I know he’s not human, but he is humanoid. His brain should be in his head.”

  “He doesn’t seem to be very creative on his own, but he also seems to be learning from experience. He killed your sim in the equipment room. It looks like this time you killed his sim,” Urania observed, looking down at the body. “Since one bullet between the eyes took him out, I think it’s safe to assume his brain is where you’d expect it to be. Sadly, his avatar wasn’t in there.”

  Lexi nodded agreement. “He’s killed two of us already. And he’s right, if we don’t kill him soon, he can do this forever.” She paused, reviewing the plan she had been contemplating since the death of her sim. “It’s time to try a different tact. I’ve been thinking about this despite the other foolishness we’ve been stuck with. Ron, I want you to transport back to our ship. Use the tractors to pull it as close to the derelict as the other two dead ships. Urania, I want you to go with him.”

  “Sure, Lexi, but why?” Ron said. “There’s no point in trying to get me out of danger. Red tunic, you know.”

  “It’s complicated. Sadly, it’s just a theory rather than anything I’m sure about. I hate gambling with our lives but I just put a bullet in his head and we’re still trapped in his playground. We’re out of options. The two dead ships out there are both within a thousand feet of Meat’s hull. I think he either used tractors to pull them in or they moved in close enough of their own volition. Then he hunted and killed their crews like he’s trying to kill us. I can see them maneuvering in on their own. Who wouldn’t want to claim salvage on this prize? Once we retrieved Vankovia’s biologicals, we would have done the same thing if Urania hadn’t been able to reach him from a greater distance. His educator field, for want of a better word, apparently extends some distance beyond his hull. I’m guessing it extends at least a thousand feet.”

  Both Ron and Urania nodded. Urania said, “So it’s a sloppy design.” She looked around the town of Silverado and added, “Effective, though.”

  “Sloppy or intentional,” Ron said, “I get it. Once inside his field, he pulled the crews on those ships into a sim as avatars and killed them. So if we get out of this, we should find bodies on those ships. Dammit, yes, I can buy that. Urania parked us outside of his range.”

  “Yes,” Lexi continued, “that’s what I’m thinking, too. We’re stuck in here now because both Urania and I opened a loophole for him to reach us at a distance. We came to him. It seems likely I created a new scene in the sim to include our ship, you, and Geena. I’m not sure how I’m able to manipulate the simulations, but I have no doubt I’m doing it. I set up the last two hoping to get the upper hand by disorienting him. I pictured the scenario I wanted and we were there. But it just isn’t working.”

  “Yes, under the circumstances, all of that sounds reasonable,” Urania agreed. “I was literally inside his mind and you jumped in through my connection using our educator. That’s probably where your control is coming from. Might mean I could do it too.”

  “Yes, OK, again, this all sounds plausible,” Ron agreed, “but this time I’m not following you, kiddo. You want to bring the real Ron and Geena over as avatars? I doubt that bringing sim-ship in close will make any difference because they’re still on the real-world Urania and I honestly don’t see what good having them here would do anyway.”

  “No,” Lexi said with a small shake of her head. “What I’m thinking is that you, Ron, have demonstrated knowledge of things only the real-world Ron should know. That suggests there must be a connection between you and real-world Ron that I can’t explain. Frankly, despite the evidence, I don’t think it should be possible. Yet, there it is. Once you’re back, moving our ship, I want you to concentrate on how important it is to move Urania-ship into range.”

  “Do you see what I’m getting at?” She sighed. “I’m gambling that the other you will pick up on that and do the same even if he may not know why it’s important. My sim suggested a last-ditch tactic to beat Meat as she died. For that, I think I’m going to need the real-world me to be physically inside Meat’s field if we’re to stand any chance of surviving this. I need him to think he has the upper hand and come to me as his avatar. This avatar I’m wearing doesn’t have any Rose or Channel related abilities. I need to do what Urania did and get inside his mind and I’m going to need to be in both his field and our educator to do that.”

  “That’s really a stretch, Lexi. It should be my job anyway,” Urania suggested.

  “No,” Lexi said. “I don’t think so. Your minds are too much alike in that you’re both computer-based intelligences. That could be a liability.”

  Urania gave a small chuckle. “You’re thinking he won’t know what to make of you?”

  Lexi smiled back. “I’m counting on it. Sometimes I don’t even know what to make of me. If I fail, it’s your turn. If between the two of us we can’t finish him, I’ve killed Ron and Geena with this plan. On the other hand, there is no evidence that his tractors are disabled and circumstantial evidence suggesting they may be operational. Both those ships are pretty much exactly the same distance from his hull. Once he kills the two of us, there is a good chance he can reach the Samues anyway. We need to end this.”

  Chapter 18

  Spock

  Her friends summoned the gravity-transport, taking them back to Urania-ship directly from the street of Silverado to the immense consternation of the simulated townspeople. Lexi even smiled about that while she wondered, How much control do I have over these simulations? It seems like it’s almost total. Lexi closed her eyes. Sure, why not? Glancing down at herself, she observed that she was again clad in her black leathers, rather than the over-the-top-sexy, see-through Fleet uniform. At least that much worked.

  This time though, the stands of the arena were empty. That worked too. I’m still controlling the simulation, at least to a large degree. Nearby, two female bodies lay unmoving on the hot arena sand. Geena-sim and Lexi-sim. Geena-sim was laid out face down; Lexi-sim
was sprawled on her back, flies buzzing around and crawling in and out of the ghastly wound in her abdomen. Lexi certainly hadn’t put the bodies there. Not complete control then. Our minds seem to be interacting. Meat was waiting for her, watching her lack of reaction from his cubiculum. She glanced up as he leaped down to the arena floor. He lumbered across the sand until he was within about ten feet of her.

  He smiled, showing his teeth. He had a mouth full of them. And his mouth was significantly wider than a human’s. They stood a moment, staring at each other. “You’re not the least bit afraid, are you?” he marveled. When she didn’t answer, he went on. “You are quite different, even from the others of your species I have played with. I’ve never encountered anyone like you. And you’re full of surprises. Using your own sim as you did was clever. It never occurred to me that you could do that. I truly thought I had you in that moment. What surprise have you planned for me now, I wonder?”

  He paused a moment as Lexi stood, watching him. “You were right, you know. I was in your sim. I didn’t even realize you had taken control. I didn’t know that could happen. At least now I will know to watch for that as I play with the rest of your crew. What is it you call them? Oh, yes, your friends.”

  He laughed. “What you can’t know is that in the real-world, your ship has pulled itself closer to me. Foolish of them. It is now fully within my Klaavaanit field, putting you back in my sim. That is why we are unarmed. The swords were cute, intriguing even, at first, but I enjoy killing more this way.” He gestured broadly towards the bodies on the sand. “I decided it would please me to finish this in the same venue where it started. I even decorated for you.”

  The fact that his guest remained standing motionless, doing no more than watching him with an unwavering gaze was beginning to unnerve him a bit. Surely she knew she was soon to die? He shuffled his feet slightly, and then said, “What am I going to do with you? You simply won't… die. Are we so different, you and I? You take life when you have to... as I do.” Lexi recognized the line as a direct quote from Gladiator. Appropriate, considering where the two of them were standing. He was channeling Urania’s movie experiences again.

  Meat knew this human he faced was planning something; she must be. And this one was dangerous. Best to end this. He could take his time playing with the others. Meat was fast; Lexi believed she should be just as fast if not more so and just as strong, but still, Meat was larger. She needed to set this up carefully.

  She ran the risk of him killing her here. She had killed before, and yes, it wasn’t always the case of she didn’t have any other choice. If she lived through this, she would almost certainly kill again, waging her own personal war against pirates and other criminals. But this being, Meat, was a sociopath. If she couldn’t take care of him here and now, he would go on killing, without remorse, for the thrill of it. But if she wasn’t careful, he would simply go away and perhaps next time not provide her with the personal combat opportunity she needed.

  Lexi sprang at him, as before her speed practically a blur. Her blow caught him underneath his chin, hard enough to rock his head back. His counter caught her in the chest. It hurt like hell even before he threw her six feet across the arena, doing no serious damage thanks to the body armor she wore over her leathers. She turned her slide across the sands into a backward somersault, bringing herself to her feet.

  She immediately launched herself at him a second time, dropping at the last second to slide past him, below his swinging arm, to deliver a slashing blow behind his right knee. His right leg collapsed, but he was back on two feet as quickly as she was. Meat charged her. She nimbly dodged to the side, delivering a brutal kick to that same knee. He managed to reach behind himself with one of his overly long arms and catch her ankle in a viselike grip as he went to the sand. As he twisted, he dragged her around, pushing her into the sand, holding her there by placing his other hand firmly on her hip.

  He looked to savor the defeat, perhaps the terror in her face as he held her in a grip she couldn’t possibly break. This was the part he enjoyed most. The helplessness of his guests. He felt a strange sensation at seeing the grim smile playing on her face. It was uncertainty he was feeling. Her expression didn’t change as her hands reached up, her spread fingers touching his face. After all, looked at realistically, this ship is an over-powered educator helmet. His Klaavaanit field was designed for this, the merging of a biological mind with a machine mind.

  Geena called her a super genius. Lexi knew that her use of the educator had done more than just etched knowledge in her brain. There were other changes she couldn’t describe. Then there was the Rose of Light, imprinted in there as well, still burning, evolving changes to her neural pathways. The Barossa Channel had its own way with her, layering telepathy on top of everything else. And four hundred million of the Grammin telepathically sending their thanks at her all at once should have broken her. It didn’t. It strengthened her. She knew Urania couldn’t succeed with what needed to be done now. She wasn’t sure she would either. But she wasn’t fighting a computer. She was fighting a mind that lived in a computer. She spoke for the first time, borrowing her words from an American TV show that originally aired more than three decades before she was born. “My mind to your mind; our minds are one.”

  Chapter 19

  Checkmate

  Lexi blinked once and yelled, “Urania, now!”

  The armed Vankovian-built scout ship WA32198389-18-32405, now known as Urania to her friends and associates, executing the fire patterns set by Ron and Geena, opened up on the Wraixain warship with the full power of the dual primary Zappers. The amazingly tough hull resisted breaching for almost twenty seconds before succumbing to the assault. For the next several minutes, as she punched hole after hole through the hull, Urania followed up by pumping a missile into every other one until her limited supply was exhausted. Lexi removed the educator helmet. Along with Ron and Geena, she watched fascinated as explosions rocked the huge ship. The weapons abruptly ceased firing. On the monitor, the derelict was gone. “It dropped into normal space,” Urania explained. “A missile took out the gimmicked hyper-generator.”

  In a relieved voice, Geena said, “You guys are back? What happened?”

  Almost at the same time, Ron asked, “Shouldn’t we follow it and finish the job?”

  “I’m not sure that would be safe, Ron,” Urania advised. “I’m pretty sure its power plants are in the process of going critical. If it blows, it’s going to be really impressive and I don’t want to be anywhere near it. We might even feel it here, in hyperspace.”

  “I agree,” Lexi said. “It isn’t going anywhere. The crew has been dead for centuries. Its sentient command-comp is dead. We can wait a few hours before dropping to n-space to check on what’s left of it.” She stood and stretched. Taking the few steps separating her from Geena, she reached out and pulled the older woman to her in a strong embrace.

  When she released her, Geena asked, “What was that about?”

  “It’s a long story,” Lexi said, “but I lost you in there.” She gave Ron a hug, leaning into his strong body for a couple of minutes.

  “I need to check something guys. I’ll be right back.” Alone in the cabin she shared with Ron, she took the Borgolian King’s Marker out of a drawer. The medal was presented to her by a grateful royal family for her part in the rescue of its kidnapped members. Ron, Geena, and Jis each had one too. Removed from its bezel, it was round and had a nice heft to it. Holding it upright on a countertop, she flicked it with her finger to start it spinning, nodding to herself as it began to wobble and eventually fall over.

  >>> End of Part 1: Gladiator <<<

  Part 2: Marshal

  Species Seventeen, an insectoid race responsible for the extinction of the Wraix, is about to swarm. If Aeolus can’t stop them, they’ll soon be eating the Accord. Starting with Earth.

  Chapter 20

  Honeymoon

  Something wasn’t right. Lexi just couldn’t quite put her f
inger on what was bothering her. It wasn’t the Boeing 777; the plane was fine. Well, even in business-class it was uncomfortably cramped, true, but that was to be expected. She and Ron didn’t have the cash for a first-class upgrade. Even first-class might have been a little cramped for Ron. He didn’t have an ounce of fat on his body, but still, he had to wedge all six-feet-seven-inches, two hundred seventy pounds of masculinity into a relatively small airline seat. She made sure to reserve an aisle seat for him. She wasn’t comfortable, either, but her six-three frame fit more easily than his.

  No, it wasn’t the plane. It was her life that wasn’t right. Not that she was depressed, quite the opposite in fact. Her new husband, Ron Samue, was engrossed in the movie he was watching. She watched Inception with him months ago and didn’t care to see it again so soon. She liked the plot. The special effects were totally amazing and the actors were definitely great, but still, having an overly competent memory was inconvenient at times. She could recite most of the lines verbatim.

  Married now for three wonderful months following a terrific two-year romance, she loved her husband dearly. Parents from both their families paid for this, a two-week honeymoon in Hawaii. Both she and Ron were looking forward to surfing again. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had been riding a wave, which was certainly an annoying memory blip. She wondered if maybe she should make an appointment with somebody to be checked out.