Raddocks Horizon (Godyssey Legacy Book 1)

by Duran Cross

  Something wet hits his face. He’s so surprised he doesn’t focus immediately, he backs up in some impersonation of a stagger until he hits the wall behind him. His gun is drawn. His eyes soon focus enough to see the dead trooper on the floor.

  Suicide.

  From Rennin’s viewpoint it’s all too surreal. White tiles, flickering emergency lights, a dead soldier and all too red blood all over the place. It is like something out of a nightmare. Rennin is still holding his gun on the downed soldier when Mia and Drake storm in.

  Mia glances at Rennin’s gun, relieved to note it’s not smoking. She looks to the rifle next to the dead soldier, evaluating. Clearly that amount of damage to the head could only be caused by a rifle shot. Mia’s attention is drawn to Rennin’s handgun as he’s holstering it. Something inside her hollows out as she sees a symbol on the handle in what seems like slow motion. Mia’s eyes are glued to the etching of a passion-nail piercing a heart on the grip, the Logan family crest. It’s Dan Logan’s gun. In Rennin’s hand.

  She watches him walk towards the body of the Clone Unit soldier, stooping to investigate. She draws her gun, training it on him without hesitation. Drake looks at her, shocked. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m looking at a dead man,” she grinds out through gritted teeth.

  Rennin’s back is to them, but he can see her vague silhouette in the glossy tile work in front of him. He can read her body language intuitively. He smiles, lightly shaking his head when he realises that he drew Logan’s gun instead of Killjoy by accident. “Am I under arrest?” he asks, standing and facing them.

  “What’s going on?” asks Drake.

  “Drake, get your gun on him, he murdered Logan, Gilles and Childes.”

  Drake looks to Rennin, his face riddled with confusion; the watchman isn’t sure if his fragile mind will stand the strain. Drake draws his gun but there’s no conviction in his aim. “How do you know?”

  “He’s got Dan’s sidearm, it was the only thing not found. ”

  Drake is stammering with disbelief. “No, n-no. That was Prototype. You saw Dan’s arm, the bones were completely crushed.”

  Mia’s eyes are fixed on the former watchman. “You’ve got a mechanical arm don’t you, Farrow?”

  Rennin nods. “I killed them. I broke Logan’s arm and threw him out the window. Then I went downstairs and killed the other two while they were coming up.”

  Mia bares her teeth. “You son of a bitch.”

  “Easy, Mia,” says Drake looking at Rennin. “Why did you do it?”

  Rennin’s eyes are like orbs of ice, and with his andronic eye glowing faintly it paints an imposing image before them. He isn’t sure how to say it. It is simple really, they were going to kill his wife. Well, at the time she was his girlfriend, but that just doesn’t have the right impact in his mind. It won’t change the situation. Though if he admits who he was there protecting it will implicate her somehow. That, he will not accept. He decides to kill them. Maybe not Drake, though. Play it by ear.

  With the flick of his wrist an EMP flashbang pops on his ammo belt. Drake and Mia avert their gaze as the flash blinds them, taking the lights out. Eyes shut or not, Rennin momentarily staggers at the sound. He still has the element of surprise considering he can still see; they are temporarily both deaf and blind. He makes a dash to the side, just as they both open fire on his previous position. He sees an opening between them, and runs for the door to the playing field but Mia takes a pot shot in the direction of his footsteps. His arm explodes in fiery splinters of pain as he is spun by the bullet to come crashing down on the floor.

  Everybody stops.

  There is total silence, for the moment. The room seems pitch black until their eyes adjust. The only illumination since the flashbang has been from their shooting. All of them shuffle around trying to change position but in the confusion Rennin is sure Mia and Drake mustn’t be sure which sounds are him, or each other.

  Mia lets off another shot, chancing to see Rennin’s position in the barrel flash. She hopes that Drake can get a shot into him but in the brief glimmer of light from the gun she sees Rennin is already right at her, knife in hand, eyes blazing. She moves the gun towards him in a futile effort only to feel his hand grip hers so hard that it could have been cast iron. She feels Drej’s knife against her neck beginning to slice as a pair of bright red eyes shine behind him. The cutting stops abruptly.

  The temporary power disruption from the grenade ends, and the lights flicker back on. Drake has his gun trained on empty air and is shaking like a leaf. Mia grips the cut on the side of her throat. One more second, and it would have been an ear-to-ear grin. The timely arrival of Arca Drej has saved her life.

  The HolinMech has Rennin incapacitated on the floor by kneeling on his chest with a forearm across his throat. Rennin isn’t looking at anyone and appears to be resigned to capture.

  Drej hoists Rennin to his feet keeping a firm grip on his arms. The HolinMech says nothing, acknowledges no one, while taking Rennin out of the toilets and back onto the field where the rest of the unified Raston Squad are waiting. They’re all shocked to see Rennin restrained; Carmine, Sabre and Jawa even more so when they see Drej’s face. “A HolinMech?” cries Sabre.

  Caufmann’s face is dark. “Why did you take your helmet off?”

  “It’s poorly crafted and interferes with my night vision.”

  “You’re Arca Drej,” exclaims Jawa.

  ◆◆◆

  After some very generalized explanations, the Horizon Military contingent are filled in well enough to understand that Arca Drej’s presence is to remain a secret. Antares remains concealed in her mask, for a CryoZaiyon would be impossible to explain.

  Rennin Farrow, in the meantime, is in serious trouble over the murder of the three Beta HolinMechs. He is handcuffed to one of the seats in the spectator stands.

  Caufmann walks over to him and stares at him for a few moments. Rennin looks up. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

  For another few moments Caufmann just looks at him. “What were you thinking?”

  “She recognised the gun I was carrying and knew it was me who killed her friends.”

  “No, Rennin, I mean with killing the three soldiers.”

  Rennin’s eyes don’t flicker, he doesn’t even blink. “They were there to kill my wife.” She wasn’t at the time, he knows, but it’s not like that makes much difference now.

  “It’s still senseless murder.”

  Rennin smirks, “Murdering murderers?”

  “The lieutenant wants to take you to their HQ in Whitechapel to answer for it. Mia wants you dead.”

  “And you?”

  Caufmann looks over to the others that are sitting together. Drej has his helmet back on. Del is standing a few feet away from the rest of them, sniper rifle at the ready. “If they were there to kill Del…” something cruel flashes over his expression just for a moment. “I would have done the same as you.”

  Rennin nods once. “That’s what I wanted to know.”

  “But I would have gotten rid of the damned gun.”

  Rennin laughs. “I’m a sucker for craftsmanship.”

  “You are in real trouble here, Ren.”

  “I know.”

  Caufmann stops looking at the others and fixes his scarred eyes on Rennin. “You were going to cut her throat for avenging her friends?”

  Rennin closes his eyes and frowns. “No. I was going to kill her because she pulled a gun on me.”

  “And Drake?”

  Rennin shrugs subtly. “Hadn’t decided. If he took a real shot at me I would have sliced his neck open when I rushed passed him to go for Saker.”

  “That answer will not help your case.”

  Rennin looks at Caufmann with more conviction than he has ever had. “Have a good look outside and ask yourself if I’m the worst this world has. I was defending someone I care about and I’d kill them all to protect her; I’d even kill you. Not in a straight fight against a
CryoZaiyon, maybe, but I’d find a way.”

  In all the times Caufmann and Rennin have talked throughout the years, this is the first time that the doctor has been genuinely shaken, and it takes him a moment to gather his thoughts. “Saker was only doing what you’d do, Rennin.”

  “She would have done exactly what I did that night. She’s more like me than I am.”

  Caufmann nods then looks to his forearm gauntlet. “Did you hear all that, Mia?”

  Rennin’s head shoots up and his eyes are wide with shock. There’s a pause but Mia’s voice comes over the small speaker in the device. “Yes, Doctor Caufmann.”

  Rennin’s head drops, resigned. “Oh you… you mechanical bastard.”

  Caufmann can’t suppress a smile. “What do you want to do?” he asks her.

  There’s a long pause. “You were going to unlock him anyway, so do it.”

  Caufmann closes his gauntlet then steps over to Rennin. He moves to remove the restraints but they’re already open. The doctor looks him in the eye, “Stand up.”

  Rennin does so. “You didn’t seriously think I was going to be ‘taken’ to Whitechapel, did you?”

  “If you’d managed to unlock them, why didn’t you just go?”

  Rennin smiles again, “Go where?”

  “Point taken.” Caufmann inclines his head and they start walking back towards the rest of Raston Squad. “Sabre will still want to take you in.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind next time he tells me he loves me.”

  Caufmann shakes his head and nods to Sabre when they get back to the group. “Anything you want to say?”

  Sabre looks at Rennin then to Caufmann and back to Rennin. “If they were my boys, I’d have your head.”

  “Noted,” says Rennin.

  “But I suppose we’d all do the same and we’ve got bigger problems waiting in the streets.”

  “He saved my life, he could have been killed but he saved my life,” says Carmine.

  Drake stirs slightly but his right hand is shaking. “I don’t know. Everything’s fucked up.”

  Mia is silent for a while. “You even saved my life, but I find it hard to believe you find value in anything, Farrow,” she says, accentuating the F in his name derisively. She walks over to him and takes his left hand. He doesn’t resist. She peels back the finger stub of his glove so she can see his wedding band. Mia is quite surprised that he actually has one.

  The Beta HolinMech drops his hand and walks away.

  ◆◆◆

  An hour passes. They’ve taken the body out of the restroom where the soldier from Gunship Genome committed suicide. Rennin has been given a wide berth by the human troops, but as he grazes around the playing field he imagines what it’d be like to be a sports star. He would probably have had a free pass out of the city.

  Del follows him around silently. Occasionally Rennin looks behind himself to see the android juggernaut seemingly mimicking his movements. Despite Del appearing rather docile at the moment, Rennin feels on edge when he realises all the impact craters around the ground must have been from Del’s Sunbreaker photon rifle.

  Rennin takes a deep breath of the fresh grass and Del imitates him. Rennin gathers that Del is probably trying to speak to him but without a screen he can’t know for sure. Del continues to copy his movements, stop and face him without moving at all, then move again when Rennin does. The android is pacing now, seemingly frustrated at something.

  Caufmann is over at the gunship monitoring more sieges springing up around the city. Raston Squad will be called in again soon. The silence within the eye of the storm is about to pass.

  Whitechapel has been under serious assault but the troops are holding them back for now. Some smaller fights have sprung up yet military losses aren’t anywhere near as bad as the first campaign. Caufmann is gladdened by the fact that the soldiers are adapting quickly.

  Rennin looks around Raston Squad. He can imagine that they are holding up the best of all due to their android advantage but even here there are serious problems. Unrest, an unpredictable deserter HolinMech, an untested eight-foot combat model, a suicide, a Beta HolinMech on the verge of a mental collapse, an unstable sniper and two CryoZaiyons risking discovery. He looks over to Drake, who is wandering near the edge of the field with Mia. Studying Drake he knows that some people, should they even survive, won’t ever truly leave this city.

  ◆◆◆

  Drake has just told Mia about the moment he shot his father. His eyes are closed and he’s leaning on the fence. He didn’t need to tell her about the night he shot the little girl, she was in the same building. Mia is shocked but is rarely short of words. “I know he was an arsehole but…” she shakes her head.

  “I don’t know. It made sense at the time. In a kind of clarity you only experience like…” his face is creased with a frown, “hitting a perfect shot in golf, or… or catching a ball that was travelling so fast you didn’t even see it.”

  “You said he had a pass to get out of the city?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you use it?”

  “I gave it to Samara.”

  “The maid?”

  “My friend.”

  Mia nods, “Did she get out?”

  “She did,” Drake smiles. “My father thought he was very clever paying more for a pass that had no name attached. ‘A Drake doesn’t run away’ I think he said once.”

  Mia is looking at Drake closely and the smile he has on his face mentioning Samara escaping compared to the reptilian one when he mentioned his father almost makes her shiver. “Rennin shake you up much?”

  “I’m scared to death of him. I feel the same when around Caufmann, too. Both of them are just…” he trails off but his hands move as if trying to will the thoughts together to produce adequate words.

  “It’s okay, I know what you mean,” she rotates her shoulders not really knowing how to be comforting.

  Drake’s dark eyes fix on hers. “I’m so sorry.”

  She frowns. “What?”

  “For shooting you. I’m so sorry,” the second apology is barely a whisper.

  She’d forgotten about that. Maybe it should bother her, but it really doesn’t. He is a normal guy, at least he was, and probably would never understand. “Try to forget about it.”

  He shakes his head. “Caufmann said-”

  She grabs his face firmly but not forcefully. “I don’t care what Caufmann said.”

  Drake’s hands are starting to shake a little. “The thing that really hit me when Rennin attacked us in the toilets is that we’re murderers too.”

  “Hey,” she moves her hands and grips both of his, “they were going to suffer far more if we didn’t do what we did.”

  “We didn’t know the others in the houses were infected.”

  “If you think about it forever you’ll do your own head in so far down you’ll be poked in the eye by the seat before you even sit down.”

  Drake huffs a laugh. “I think my head is crammed up the other way.”

  “Yeah, well don’t enjoy the view too much.”

  Being so close to her Drake notices the cut on her neck that very nearly took her life. He runs his thumb very lightly underneath and along it. “Jesus…”

  Mia tilts her head just slightly without realising it. “He cuts like a grandma.”

  For the first time since he’s known her he notices Mia’s blue eyes with flecks of brown and her dirty blonde hair tied into a bun that’s tighter than her grip on his hand. He’s about to speak but instead finds himself kissing her. Or she kisses him. He doesn’t know, and doesn’t care. Feeling her hand on the back of his neck turns all his conscious thought off and for one glimmer in time all he can feel is delight.

  ◆◆◆

  Arca Drej is sitting in a toilet cubicle with the door shut. He isn’t going to the toilet, he never has and never will need to. He’s staring straight ahead. The voice from under the city is still calling for help, but he doesn’t want to
think about that. He doesn’t want to think about anything. The more he thinks, the harder the tapping gets. It’s happening right at this moment, tap-tap-tap, right where his heart should be if he were human. He’s starting to think again already. The tapping gets harder. Drej tries to remain calm but feels his face briefly morph into a fierce expression as if he’s in a battle of wills with his own physicality.

  A heart beats. What this thing is inside his chest was never a heart.

  Not many have seen any assembly footage, not even those in the innermost circles of the Godyssey Company. Sergeant Joseph Yomak, Reaver-class HolinMech like Drej himself, showed him the footage of Regon Tirren’s conversion from man to the thing he became. Drej replays the images in his head in perfect clarity as if it were happening to him now.

  HolinMechs are discouraged from using their total recall very often because it can trap them within the memory, starting a cycle that invariably results in thought-spiral; an irreversible condition. It’s similar to catatonia in Standards. Unfortunately the thought line they’re trapped in becomes the sole focus of their existence and kill-code erases everything else in their mind. In many cases it fries the organic part of the brain rendering an android—once worth more than the entire economy of some countries—as useless.

  Drej’s eyes glaze over and as far as he’s concerned he’s back in his room on Iyatoya with the form of Joseph Yomak sitting in front of him.

  Drej was sitting on his bed, and Joseph at his desk fiddling with a monitor. The window above the desk showed a view out into space, with part of Earth peeking in at one side. Drej was mesmerised by the sliver of Earth and didn’t notice Joseph talking until a ball of synthesized paper hit him in the face. Drej looked at Joseph’s neon-blue eyes. “Are you paying attention?” asked the Sergeant.

  “To what?”

  Joseph smiled for some strange reason that Drej still doesn’t understand. “You’ll miss a great deal if you keep daydreaming.”

  Drej recognised the feigned emotion for what it was and imitated it perfectly back at him by willing the sides of his face up. “I can see what you do.”