by Drew Avera
To my surprise, nothing happened, and I could see the concern on his face at my lack of compliance. I had finally broken through their programming. "Not today, Pollux," I hissed, pulling the gun from my belt and firing at the hologram. The bullet disappeared in the bluish light and struck the drone, merely causing it to jostle above us. The weapon felt heavy in my hand and it took all my strength to hold it up.
I watched Halem draw his own weapon from the corner of my eye. "I don't think these weapons are very effective against them," he said.
"Yeah. I think you're right." I took a step back as the drones repositioned themselves, this time the hive spread out and each unit split down the middle, revealing their own weapons.
"Are those lasers?" Halem asked.
They hadn't been field tested yet, but I knew enough to know what I saw, and it wasn't good. "As much as I'd like to have a final showdown with you and these drones, I think we need a better plan," I said, the thud of my heart making it hard to hear.
"What do you have in mind?"
I hesitated to act, knowing my body was in no position for heroics. If Halem was lucky, I could buy him time. That's all we needed to get through this last mission and right the course my life had taken. I tightened my grip and lifted my weapon again, aiming for the lead drone again. Two breaths later, I fired and shouted to Halem, "Run!"
27
Halem
I wasn't as prepared as I should have been when Castor yelled for me to run. Despite the rounds in our weapons being designed not to be strong enough to harm the dome, they proved effective on the drone's inner assembly. His bullet struck a weak point in the frame and sent the lead drone crashing down. Unfortunately, that did little to lessen the threat as it fired in my direction from its perch on the ground.
As a blue laser blasted past me, singeing my jacket, I rolled to the side and ducked behind a faux wall nearest me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Castor do likewise, moving beyond what he should have been capable of given his injuries, but when it was kill or be killed, the human body had a way of surprising you. Of course, it could have been another adrenaline spike for all I knew.
"I meant to run out of the tunnels, not hide," he shouted between shots.
"And leave you to this?" My voice carried and sounded like a whine as I gasped for air, feeling as though someone turned down the oxygen in the space. Somehow the laser blasts didn't penetrate the low wall, but the room did fill with smoke as they tried to burn through the other side. The smell of burning tiles wafted under my nose as I glanced in Castor's direction.
Castor groaned and repositioned himself to fire from a crouched position, making himself a smaller target. But it also made it more difficult to aim at the drones as they increased their distance apart, forcing us to take longer to assess their positions. Obviously, that was a calculated maneuver.
"What's the plan?" I asked. The only sound was of the rotors of the drones whirring at a high velocity. It clashed with the ringing in my ears from the gunshots in the closed space.
"How about we start with not dying and see where it goes from there?" He grimaced, checked his weapon, and rose from his position, firing while the drones shot back relentlessly. I did likewise, distracting some of the motion sensors on the machines and drawing some of the fire away from him. A ricocheted bullet erupted the faux wall before me, sending porcelain shrapnel into my face and chest. I fell back, worried I'd been hit before realizing exactly what happened. A saw a smirk on Castor's face as he knelt behind his position and gawked at me. At first, I thought it was sarcastic until he spoke. "Good job. I thought one of them was going to hit me. If we divide and conquer, maybe we can get out of here."
I nodded, replaced the magazine in my weapon, and eyed him for the next offensive strike.
I read him as if we'd been working in tandem for years. Within a breath, we were both up and firing at the drones. They returned fire, the beams of blue light flashing to the point the lit room appeared to go dark between bursts. A scene made eerier as the smoke grew thicker. Another drone dropped from the ceiling in three pieces, neutralized.
Castor screaming obscenities as he fired his weapon drew my attention and I would be a liar if I said it did not stoke the flames of my contempt and motivate me to destroy everything in our path. I narrowed my eyes and took aim, not caring about the laser fire headed towards me. I merely wanted to conquer my enemies and spit on their graves. The laser struck my weapon mid-fire, and threw it from my grip, burning my fingers as it did.
I winced and fell back, looking at the reddened skin already bubbling with blisters from the momentary burn. Another second or two and my flesh would have been gone, exposing muscle and bone.
"Are you all right?" Castor called out to me.
I glanced over, watching him replace his magazine from a crouched position, his jacket draping over him as debris rained down in a cloud of dust with heavier chunks of porcelain and grout. When I looked at my weapon, it was destroyed, having taken the brunt of the laser. "I'll live, but my gun is toast."
He nodded and reached into the duffle I had carried into the tunnels and tossed a rifle in my direction. I caught it and racked it, ready to unleash hell on the remaining drones.
Jumping from my position, I fired two quick shots, the recoil of the weapon slamming into my shoulder. I hadn't realized the ammunition in the rifles were that much larger, making them all the more effective. I watched as drone debris rained down in a shower of sparks and metal. The hive retaliated with a burst of blue lasers singeing the air around me as I jutted from side to side, narrowly missing them while the heat from the beams radiated inches away.
"Get topside!" Castor called out as I ran for the stairway leading to the library.
I racked the gun again and fired, this time the cartridge slammed into the belly of the drone directly above me, slamming it into the ceiling where it exploded. I cracked a satisfying grin as I released my fury on these machines. It was more than Marada's death fueling my rage. It was a lifetime of pent-up aggression and recognizing the great lie told to us all for the sake of peace and prosperity. The truth was we were human cattle, sacrificed on a whim to appease our overlords.
I had enough of it.
I fired again, each pull of the trigger lessening the threat from above, I resolved myself to end the charade by any means necessary.
My primary target was dead, but still, the entities of our government were after us. That meant our true enemy still lived, and I would turn over hell to destroy them.
I rounded the corner, sliding to a stop as I turned and fired at the drone now chasing me. To my surprise, its defense mechanism allowed it to learn, and the machine tilted out of the way of the cartridge, leaving the drone unscathed. I racked the rifle again, but it was empty.
"Oh," I muttered, looking down at the useless hunk of steel in my hands. When I glanced back at the drone, I could have sworn it smirked as the nose lowered slightly, aiming its little laser weapon at my chest.
It fired.
I ducked to avoid the blast as I spun on my heels and ran up the stairs, using the handrails to help guide my ascent. The drone hovered in place, silently tracking me as I scaled upward, looking down at it and waiting for it to give chase. Once it began, I knew what I had to do.
I stopped on the next tier and backed up to the wall, letting the tiny light on top of the drone give away its position. As the halo of blue light came into view, I leaped over the railing and drove the machine towards the floor with both feet. Five meters, and all my weight later, the drone was nothing more than a metal waffle on the ground, sputtering like a dying machine drawing its final breath.
I stepped off of it, looking down at it stoically, like a warrior satisfied with its kill. As the propellers whined to a halt, a hologram appeared, the flickering of it startling me in the process. I expected the agent Castor spoke to earlier to be the face I saw, but it was someone else.
A face I was far less surprised to have greet me came i
nto pale luminescent view.
"Why won't you die?" Tetrim said, his voice high and desperate.
I crouched to get closer, wanting to read the features of his face in every minute detail as the ultimate truth, and my suspicions were confirmed before my eyes. "You made a mistake showing your face, Tetrim. It's going to cost you everything."
A smirk formed on his face. "Do you know the difference between us, other than social class?"
"What's that?" I asked, giving in to his need to unload on me, stalling me from the death I was intent on delivering.
"When you experience a setback, it cripples you. When I experience a setback, I resort to the next plan. Have a nice death." With his words, a holographic image of a timer appeared where his face had been. The sound of it ticking drew my attention and I immediately realized C4 was attached to the drone, effectively turning it into a mobile claymore.
With three seconds left and nowhere to run, the inglorious bastard gained the upper hand and I was powerless to stop him.
From the corner of my eye, movement stirred as if in slow motion. The wave of darkness hit me hard in the chest, driving me back towards the bathroom door a second before the explosion shook the floor beneath me. It took a moment before I realized I was lying on a disgusting bathroom floor, with the smell of sewage wafting under my nose, and a heavy weight pressing on my chest.
A second later I realized the weight was Castor.
28
Tetrim
A sigh emanated from across the room and I looked up to see Gosney with his arms crossed. "I wish you hadn't have done that, sir. The implications are too high. If anyone discovers the feed, it could derail everything we've worked towards. I told you these drones are not secure and cleared for use. We just risked exposing this technology, and your involvement in the conspiracy by doing this."
His whining grated on my nerves. I dropped the transmitter, the housing of it loudly clacking on the glass desktop and rose from my high-backed office chair. Sleep deprivation made it difficult to keep my balance, especially in the dark room after having the bright light from the transmitter shining in my face, but I made my way to the window without incident. From my vantage point, I could see the emergency crew still cleaning Cherum's remains from the pavement and it made me nauseous.
"I told you and Agent Pollux that I wanted the situation handled. Somehow, Castor is no longer controllable. He's gone rogue and is helping my enemy. Yet, you want to stand there, arms crossed, with a scowl on your face as if I were the one failing this mission." I turned just as he lowered his arms nervously. "I expect results. I knew if the drones failed, then my presence would be distraction enough to give Halem pause. It was a calculated risk. Now, I need you to send your men into the tunnels and bring me his head."
"But the tunnels could have collapsed. It's risky to go there. We shouldn't put the Guard in danger for one man," Gosney stated. I almost pitied his position.
"Perhaps you can't count. Castor was far from dead. If the poison is killing him, then that would be one thing where you have yet to fail me, but so far all I see are disappointing results to a plan you helped create."
"Under duress," Gosney replied stoically. His boldness to counter my statement jarred me.
"Perhaps, but you knew how important this was when you signed on. Get your people down there and fetch me their bodies. I must prepare for the World Council gathering in memory of Pontiff Cherum. They will expect me to speak and I haven't the faintest clue of what to say about a man who so willfully betrayed me in his final hour. This was supposed to be a meeting for the future, not the Council lamenting on the past." It was true. Each time I sat down to think about him my heart began to pound, and I turned flush with rage. His betrayal bothered me more than I had expected. Now, his death pushed back the forward progress I sought to achieve after Marada's death.
I couldn't get ahead without another step back.
"I'm on it, but this will be the last thing I do for you. You can expect my resignation following this disaster." Gosney spun on his heels and stalked out of my office in a huff. I didn't give him the time of day to halt him and try to sway his opinion. He was already lost to my cause. Once I passed the Artificial Atmosphere Project, I wouldn't need anyone to work on my behalf. The people of Mars would bow to me for releasing them from the dome prison they have endured for so long. I will be untouchable then.
A genuine smile stretched across my face at the thought of the bright future I envisioned. With those warm thoughts, I realized what I wanted to say to honor the man I once called a friend. Cherum ultimately sacrificed himself for the greater good. The suicide note Gosney left on his body revealed more than enough details to incriminate him for Marada's death. Many would be shocked by this revelation, but what the future held would be the light for them to pursue.
I sat down at my desk and pulled a sheet of paper from the drawer. The old ways of writing always felt more personal. I took a deep breath and released it slowly as I scrawled across the page. My eulogy to Cherum would begin with a joke, completely fictitious, as was my grieving. I would reveal secrets he never shared of his aspirations. Next, I would include his political victories before glancing over the current events that took him "too soon" from the people of Archea.
To my surprise, I had little more than half a page dedicated to a man I had known most of my life. I wondered what that meant at a psychological level. Perhaps one would say I never really cared about him. Or another would say he lived a boring life trying to stay between the lines and never overstep his boundaries. Those people were never interesting enough to find compelling.
My thought was that it was a little bit of both.
I folded the paper and tucked it into my breast pocket, happy to have the anxiety-ridden task done and over with.
As the sun rose, gleaming through the top of the dome, rays of light shone through my window. It was a new day of mourning for Archea, but it would come and go. Eventually, the people would forget about Marada and Cherum, and begin to set their eyes on the demolition of the dome as humanity breaks out of its Martian prison.
It would be a satisfying day for all of mankind, and I would be there leading them into the future, my legacy fully intact.
A knock at my door stirred me and I turned in time to see Meldona open it. "Councilman Rine," she said.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry for your loss. Pontiff Cherum was a good man and I know you cared for him immensely. I just wanted to give you my condolences."
"I appreciate that," I said, stepping over to her and wrapping my arms around her.
She returned the gesture and soon backed away. "I hate to bother you with this, but the media is calling and asking for a statement. Do you have anything for me to pass along?"
My lips tightened. I hated coming up with something to relay to the media off the cuff, but surprisingly, having just written the eulogy, a thought came to mind. "Yes. Tell them the World Council is mourning the loss of its figurehead, but as dark as today may be, the future is primed for a brighter tomorrow."
Meldona sniffed and nodded her head. "Yes, sir." She stepped out, closing the door behind her and leaving me once again alone with my thoughts.
As I walked back to my desk to wait for the gathering, I kicked my foot up on the desk and grinned as the morning light beamed across the shiny surface of the desk. "A brighter tomorrow indeed."
29
Halem
"Get up, Castor," I said, wincing as I tried to push him off of me. Every part of my body hurt, which sat well with the high-pitched ringing in my ears, and blurred vision. I wasn't certain, but I thought I may have been concussed.
Castor groaned softly, giving me hope the blast hadn't killed him, not that death hadn't been knocking on his door all night.
I shifted to the side, trying to alleviate the weight making it hard to breathe. The rain of dust and grime from the ceiling, falling onto my face didn't help in the least. I coughed, and a cloud of nasty debris
flew from my mouth. I felt the grit on my teeth and it tasted foul. It was all I could do to not think about what kind of nastiness was mixed with the dust particles and to focus on getting us out of the tunnels. I needed to compartmentalize and push through. I could dwell on this later. If there was a later in my future.
I sucked in a deep breath, careful to keep my mouth closed, and shifted to the side once more, readying myself to move Castor off of me.
"I'm just going to set you aside. I'll try not to hurt you," I said, my words sounding like a whisper as I tried to climb out from underneath him. Rubble littered the area surrounding us and I was shocked to see the wall separating the bathroom from the stairwell was completely obliterated. Not only that, but the water pipes were compromised as old, dirty water spewed like a nightmarish fountain.
"Ugh."
Castor was hardly conscious but appeared to be in one piece once I laid him out on the floor. Not even five meters away, bits of drone smoldered, electric blue smoke wafting towards the ceiling, disappearing where the light from the platform failed to penetrate.
"I'm going for the weapons and I'll be back. Do you understand?"
Castor didn't respond. Only the slow, pitiful rise and fall of his chest let me know he was still breathing. I left him and limped towards the platform area, searching for the duffle with the weapons. All around me, pieces of crippled drones spread across the ground. I supposed all of them blew at once based on how the scattered remains littered the platform. There were holes and cracks all along the floor as I walked. This was the closest thing to a battlefield in Mars' history.
I found the duffle on the other side of the faux wall, near the electrical box. I grabbed it and slung it over my shoulder, feeling my muscles ache as I hefted the heavy load. My shoulder fell slack, almost as if the burden tore away at it and it was then that I realized it was out of socket.