by SD Tanner
“Dunk, CaliTech, the Guild…all of them have it wrong.” Parker spread his arms widely. “Boms are our future. Without them we’re all dead.” Pointing at the men lounging on the dirty tables and broken chairs, he said, “Not just you. The human race is dead. Boms are a step up. They’re stronger and so invincible they can survive in space, plus no one even knows how long they live.” He slapped his broad chest with both hands. “I’m strong for a human, but I can’t beat a Bom unless I’m in nav gear and probably not even then.”
Eric nodded at his gesture. “I hear that, but didn’t you fail the psyche profiling?”
Turning to face Eric, Parker nodded enthusiastically as if failing was a compliment. “Yeah, I did, but think about the criteria. Dunk Two doesn’t want anyone capable of standing up to him to become a Bom. He knows they’re dangerous, so he cherry picks people who are brainwashed into believing he’s right.”
“Or maybe you’re just crazy,” another man said.
Had it not been for Parker he would have been dead more than once, so he was crazy in a good way. Raising his hand, he walked from the doorway to stand by his side. “Parker has been taking care of our interests from behind the wall. Cut the man a break.”
A few in the group nodded, showing Parker a grudging respect. The man who’d suggested he was crazy shrugged. “I hear ya, but you’re asking us to break into CaliTech and become Boms. I don’t even know if I wanna be one much less risk my life getting behind that fracking wall.” Glancing at the men and women around him, he added, “We’ve all got families that need us. If we die who’s gonna take care of ‘em?”
Parker shook his head, giving the men a worried look. “You don’t get it, do you?” When no one replied, he sighed. “Since Ark Three attacked CaliTech there’s been a change in policy, or rather Dunk Two is strictly enforcing an old one. He doesn’t want any enemy DNA on Earth. It means the renegades have gone from being a nuisance to becoming an enemy.”
“Then why aren’t we dead?” Eric asked.
“Priorities. Navigators stepped up their training for space travel, but now Dunk Two has them cleaning up the city and suburban areas. The city folk have access to CaliTech so it was decided they were the greater risk. Once he’s finished cleansing the city, he’ll focus on the next problem which is you.”
Sitting on the edge of a table with peeling edges, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Ark told me Dunk Two has a virus that destroys enemy DNA. Why hasn’t he released it?”
A voice called out from the group. “Maybe he doesn’t want to kill us. Otherwise he would have done it by now.”
Parker shook his head. “Don’t be naïve. If you ever want to understand why Dunk Two does anything then look at what best serves him and CaliTech. In this case, he’s wary of releasing an engineered virus into Earth’s ecosystem. He’ll send BattleDroids and drones to deal with you. The droids are remotely controlled, so they can kill your entire families without anyone leaving the barracks.”
The coldness with which Parker delivered his warning was met with a grumble of complaints. He’d never seen a BattleDroid, but if they were as dangerous as Parker said, then only a Bombardier stood a chance against them.
Another man shook his head. “There’s no way they’d kill the kids.”
Stepping forward, Parker gave the man a hard look. “I wouldn’t and I know a lot of navs who wouldn’t, but by using a droid to kill remotely the operator has a degree of separation.” Shaking his head, he added, “It’s not the same as doing it yourself plus it’ll come with rewards, so don’t assume no one will do it.”
The mood of the room shifted from one of disbelief to outrage. Parker was getting to them, finally making them understand just how close to death they all were. Loud voices, all of them anxious, began ringing across the room.
“We should move further away. Maybe head north. There’s not much up there.”
“We can’t do that. We don’t know what’s there. How are we gonna keep everyone fed?”
“If we leave, we die. If we stay, we die.”
“I’m not leaving. They already make us live like dogs. I’m not taking my family somewhere even worse.”
“What are you gonna do? We can’t fight CaliTech. Even if we got inside, what then?”
As the hopelessness of their situation sunk in, their angry voices grew louder. From the moment he’d met with Ark Three and Tank he’d understood just how screwed they were. He’d warned the renegades what was coming, but few had chosen to believe him. Now they were hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. Their life, poor though it was, was over.
Stepping in front of the group, he raised his hand for them to be quiet. One by one, they looked across at him, waiting for him to speak. “Now you know what I’ve known for a while now. Our life has changed and not for the better.” Forming his hand into a fist, he fixed them with a fierce glare. “Together we’re strong. We have to decide. Do we fight or do we run?”
Eric stood, turning until he faced the group. “We’ve all lost family out here and we always expect to lose more. My sister…” His voice broke a little, but the group waited for him to reclaim his composure. “My sister was killed by a nav on a hunt. She didn’t deserve that. I can’t do anything to bring her back, but I can help her kids.” Turning to face him, he asked, “What do you want us to do?”
When all of the faces in the room turned towards him, he nodded to Eric, grateful the group were again focused. He didn’t have a ready answer to Eric’s question, so he began speaking without knowing what he would say.
“I…I think we’re dead either way. If we run then we’ll die of hunger and disease, or we’ll be prey to whatever animal life is up there. If we stay then we’ll be killed by droids or navs, it won’t matter which. It just means staying alive isn’t an option. I guess we’re just deciding how we wanna die.” He paused, waiting to see if anyone wanted to argue. When no one spoke, he continued, “Dunk Two can crush us without even bothering to leave his office, that’s just a fact. We can’t stop him, but I don’t see why we make it easy. If we run or do nothing then we’ll be no more than an order. He’ll tell his navs to get rid of us and then we’ll be gone.”
A fury was building inside of him. They had a right to speak and to be heard, even if it cost them their lives. Raising his fist, trying to give his rage somewhere to go, he clenched it tightly. “I accept death, but I won’t die like a dog. Dunk Two will not march his fracking BattleDroids into our territory and kill us like animals. If he wants me dead then he’ll have to do more than that.” With his fury reaching a peak, he almost spat when he said in a low voice, “I will die with a gun in my hand and a nav in my sights.”
“Too right!”
“Renegades are fighters!”
His short speech was turning into a war cry, bringing the group of men and women to their feet. As they raised fists, shouting their anger, a woman walked to the front of the room.
Raising her hands, she shouted, “Wait! Listen to me!”
She was tall, leaned and weathered, as if she’d lived her entire life outside. He didn’t know her, but she led one of the groups that lived on the border of the wastelands. Raising his hands as well, he shouted, “Settle down!”
Once the people in the room became quieter, he turned to her. “Go ahead.”
“I’m sick of this shit too. I’d happily take on CaliTech with you, but I suggest we…do a bit of both.” When the men and women looked back at her, clearly confused by her suggestion, she continued, “Look, we don’t have many women leading renegade groups, but there’s a half dozen of us. I know them all and none of them will want to abandon the children.”
Renegades could be rough and some single women had migrated to the female led groups. They were known to be fiercely protective, living closer to the wastelands where few people wanted to go. He’d been a little surprised to see one of their leaders at the meeting, so he was curious to hear what she had to say.
“Give us th
e kids and we’ll take them north. If by some lucky chance you don’t die then you can join us. If you can’t then at least they’ll be further away from CaliTech.”
Allowing a small glimmer of hope to burst through his anger, he asked, “Can you keep them safe?”
Her plain and weathered face creased with concern. “I…I don’t know, but we can fight well enough to deal with…” Flicking her head at the men, she said, “Some of your guys aren’t the best, so you know what we deal with.”
When the men in the group looked away uncomfortably, he knew she’d made her point. Nodding to her, he said, “Some of our women will want to go with you, but I’m sure some will choose to fight.”
“Tell them to go north. We have half a dozen fixed camps up there.” Turning to Parker, she said with an edge of contempt. “Navs don’t like hunting that close to the wastelands.”
Without waiting for Parker to reply, he looked across the group. “Anyone who isn’t going north needs to come down here. Tell them to bring weapons, ammo, food and anything else we can use.”
“When are we going to attack?” A man asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know yet. It depends on how long it takes to get everyone in position.”
Parker stepped forward. “When we get inside we need to transform as many people as we can into Boms. It’ll give us a fighting chance. If you achieve nothing else, at least you’ll be able to help the people moving north by being Boms.”
“How do we transform into Boms?” Another man asked.
“It’s a simple process. Takes less than an hour. You’re not fully cooked straight away, but you’re dangerous anyway. To do it we’ll have to take control of the medical area with the kit.” When even he gave Parker a questioning look, he added, “Once you’re inside of CaliTech the buildings aren’t defended. This is doable, believe me, otherwise I wouldn’t even try.”
Parker’s determination to become a Bombardier made him wonder if he was just being optimistic, but he wasn’t going to turn down any edge, no matter how dangerous it might be.
CHAPTER TWENTY:
Sleeping Beauty
(Dunk Three)
“He shouldn’t have taken her.”
Studying the motionless body, although she didn’t appear to be breathing, the doctors assured him she was still alive. Her automated pod had been picked up by one of Casey’s forward assault ships and towed to Ark Command. Inside had been the unconscious body of the alien Ark Three had insisted on rescuing from CaliTech. It was ironic he’d start a war to save a creature he couldn’t even protect.
The technician scanning her body gave him a quick glance before resuming her task. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Not much. She has a bleeder in the brain. Nothing we can’t fix.”
“Will you need to operate?”
Smiling to herself, the technician continued tapping buttons on the scanner in her hand. “I’m fixing her now.”
“How?”
“Ultrasound. We’ve put a lot of work into non-intrusive surgery. Cutting people open is an old and barbaric practice.”
He didn’t care what they’d been doing, only that he’d be able to question the alien before Dunk Two got hold of her. “How long before she’s awake again?”
Flicking him a surprised look, the technician leaned across the alien’s long body, lifting one eyelid and then the next. “Don’t you care how she was injured?”
It hadn’t occurred to him to wonder and he grudgingly asked, “Do you know?”
“No, but I should. She has a head injury without the impact that would have caused it. There are no signs of trauma. ”
Still barely interested, he shrugged. “So?”
“Bodies don’t break for no reason.” Straightening and half turning towards him, she gave him a puzzled stare. “This injury would have been caused by a very severe impact, possibly resulting in some damage to the skull and surrounding brain tissue.”
“Maybe it did, but it healed.”
Sounding as if she were lecturing him, the technician shook her head. “Firstly, even if it had healed she would have scar tissue. Secondly, the damage is bad enough that the jarring should have caused a severe swelling of the brain. Thirdly, even having survived the blow, without dealing with the bleeding she should have died well before her external injuries had healed.” Studying the alien’s face, she shook her head thoughtfully. “It’s as if the bleeding started spontaneously.”
“Maybe it did.”
“Nothing starts without a cause and she doesn’t seem to have one.”
“What does that mean?”
The alien’s eyelids were fluttering open, revealing deep purple colored eyes. With a wild mane of hair framing her features, the finely boned face appeared to floating on a golden halo. Snapping the scanner back into a carrier box, the technician turned to leave the room. “She’s all yours.”
Leaning over the body of the alien, he stared into her oddly colored eyes. “Why are you here?”
She struggled to sit up until it finally dawned on him to help. Unwilling to touch her, he pressed a button next to the bed until she was in an upright position.
Sitting on the tall stool next to the bed, he eyed her curiously. “Why are you here?”
“Damaged.”
“What happened to you?”
“Damaged.”
He’d ignored her when she’d arrived at CaliTech for the first time, preferring to wait for a medical report. Wracking his memory, he tried to recall what Ark Three had called her. An image of the medical report bubbled up in his mind. Subject: alien. Identity: Mariana. According to the report, they’d never completed their tests, but she was a carbon-based lifeform. Her internal organs were similar to a human, but her brain was constructed differently. There were dark patches spanning the left and right side that no one had ever seen before. Otherwise, she was taller and slimmer than a regular woman was, but that was about the only difference.
“Disease?”
She shook her head. “Attack.”
“Someone attacked you.”
“Not I. Other.”
Her answer didn’t make any sense, but he wasn’t interested in how she’d been hurt. “Where’s Ark?”
“Home.”
Her answer implied Ark Three was on Earth only he wasn’t. “Where’s home?” When her face became clouded with confusion, he tried rephrasing the question. “Do you know where he is?”
“Home.”
Talking to her was like trying to make sense of a dog. Rising from the stool, he prepared to leave the room, only she wrapped her long fingers around his wrist. “Stop.” Turning to look at her again, he raised his eyebrows. “Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop Dunk.”
“How do you know who Dunk is?”
“Sleeper.”
Dunk was sleeping in the cryogenics chamber, but there was no way she could know that.
“Tell me what you know about Dunk.”
She pointed at him. “Like you. Not you.”
“What does that mean?”
“You are same, not same.”
“I was cloned from his cells so I am exactly the same.”
The warm smile that spread across her face caught him by surprise. “Not same.” Reaching her hand to his face, she gently ran her fingertips down his cheek. “Not same.”
Her touch was more than the caress of her hand. Closing his eyes, a calming force entered his mind, blowing away the endless chatter of his thoughts. Usually his head was filled with competing arguments of one thought versus another, overlaid with worry that was only soothed by assurances he knew weren’t real. Emotion and intellect lived together in his mind as an untidy mess, where each one influenced the other until he didn’t know what he should do. He’d often wondered how anyone survived such inner turmoil, until he realized no one else felt and thought as he did. Ark Three was happy when he was busy or pursuing a woman. Tank was happy when he was with Ark Th
ree. Their joys were simple, not marred by endlessly conflicting thoughts and emotions.
With the voices silenced for the first time in his life, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. They were a burden the voices. Each one demanding his attention and never satisfied with whatever he was doing. When she took her hand from his cheek, the rumble of voices started again, making him look at her with what he knew must have been a pleading look.
Touching his cheek again, she smiled. “Not same.”
“How are you doing this?”
“You grow.”
“What does that mean?”
“Sleeper old. Not grow. You grow.”
Did she mean there was still time for him to be different? In his silent mind, free from all of his other selves, he knew she was right. A mind was something that started pliant, only to become rigid the longer it lived. He was still young whereas Dunk and Dunk Two were on the other end of their development, solidly molded until nothing would change them.
Taking her hand away from his face, the chatter started again, only now he knew the voices didn’t belong to him. If Mariana could make them go quiet then they weren’t welded deeply inside of his mind, not yet anyway. Dunk and Dunk Two had been alive for so long it was impossible separate their real selves from the noisy voices, but Mariana was offering him another way.
Holding out his hand with his palm facing upward, he said with genuine warmth, “Come with me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Fueled by Fire
(Ark Three)
In the end, he did wait for Tank to return with the fleet. The death of so many on both sides was already keeping him awake at night, not that he slept much. In some ways, he wished Bombardiers slept more, so he would at least then have some peace.
“What is it?” Tiana asked.
Power was again on inside of the city. He’d led the fight to clear the city with Tank and the tiny critters hadn’t stood a chance. In the end, a thousand Trachans and a hundred Navigators had survived the attack. Most had been holed up in various rooms in each city, holding out until they’d arrived. Had they delayed their rescue mission then eventually they all would have died.