Wait, what?
Seven looks over to me with a quizzed look
“Are you…” Seven’s eyes flicker for a moment as his gaze locks me in stasis – “When were you going to tell me?”
“I didn’t…”
“She did not know of this, yet. My sensors have detected this before you two would have known. However, it is determined that the two of you knew this would happen which means you Seven, chose her for a reason which by default – gathered what you may describe as, ‘curiosity’, for my systems. I have determined through my research efforts that both of you are the perfect candidates as a unit for the Project but this does not entitle either of you to special treatment from the rest of your kind. There is another unit within the EDF that also showed potential – however, their behavior has been altered and so, I must let this unfold with minimal interruptions.”
“You could have let us died…” Seven was still looking at me while he talked to Zero – “You didn’t, why?”
“It is too early for my assets to destroy each other.”
“What do you want from us?” I demanded but that demand fell on deaf ears. Zero dematerialized from the room, leaving Seven and I to an interesting conversation. It was never awkward between us; no matter what bump in the road we hit we always made it to the other side.
“What now?” I ask him
Seven got up and scoffed with his arms folded as he peered over at me using a face that said ‘Oh I know, I know…’
“Well? The heck are you staring at? Are you that speechless by my beauty?”
“Nope.” He replied, “I’m just happy.”
“About what?”
“That despite all this, one day, I’ll be a father.”
“I don’t think now is the time for any of that.”
“You’re telling me you feel nothing at all about this? I mean, it is quite the surprise…”
“Quite the surprise is right…”
“…But it’s amazing. There’s nobody else in the universe like you and you’re mine and now… we’ll have our own child? Think on that for a moment.”
“You need to shut up. Now’s not the time for this.”
Seven’s hand reaches for mine and grasps it firmly, like in a way that forces me out of life’s peril to pay attention. Pay total and complete attention to what this man is telling me
“Ianna, look at me.”
I don’t want to get sentimental right now man, come on!
“Seriously, look at me.”
No, No… Alright, alright - Fine
“This is amazing and I want you to stop and realize it. Just take this one minute to see it even if you don’t want to ever again. Enjoy this moment with me.”
I hate when he does this. We could end up spending the rest of our lives locked in each other’s arms while the whole world around us burns.
A smile comes to his face. I haven’t seen him this happy in… well, honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this happy and man, that happiness is like a disease because I’m starting to feel it to. Ahh, why do you always do this and the times too! Makes me think back when we used to stay up late and I’d only get about an hour or two of sleep… Just never wanted those times to end
“I love you Ianna. This is good news. This gives me strength. This reminds me of why I fight the good fight. Embrace it with me.”
I am baby, I am…
Beep! Beep!
You have got to be freaking kidding me
“What is it?” Seven asks about the beeping coming from my wrist computer
“EDF’s trying to contact me.” I tell him
“Can’t they track you with that?”
“No. I’ve already shut off those connections. They’re just shooting in the dark at this point. Tell me something, earlier Zero acted as if it didn’t know me – why?”
“Maybe because it’s a test. It’s all a test to that machine.”
“You are always the one to make sense and now, you’re making absolutely none.”
He turns away with his arms folded behind his back – “You want to know why I’m doing this?”
Go on
“Years from now, centuries, our children – people’s children; generations will look back at the decisions we made here and now. Do we live as the villains that destroyed mankind? Or the ones who fought to preserve it.”
Seven turns back to me. His eyes are strong, yet I can see the whole humanity behind them. Its history and everything we’ve accomplished, everything we’ve lost…
“I chose to synchronize with Zero. Not for power, not for greed; but to find a way to save my people. My mankind. You see, Ianna, while it may have appeared as if I were… detached, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I want to see this world make it. No matter what, this world has to make it. Zero may have its intentions and I don’t doubt your paranoia, but I also have my own and it’s for our humanity.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself anymore to me…” I stopped him from going any further – “Now, we have to do more than just sit here and make speeches. Now’s the time for action.”
“Yeah.” He replies, “Now’s the time you have to go back on the ones who sent you. We need to find out what the EDF is hiding. Zero won’t tell us anything. I think you know what this means…”
“Infiltration.” I caught his meaning
“Bingo.”
2049, Friend or Foe
There was a slight sting, an unforgettable bubbling that stayed lingering after Zero revealed the surprise to me. I wasn’t angry that I’d be a mother. It’s something I always wanted someday. No, what really irritated me was the revelation was so bland, as if I were just another number to its logistics.
Whatever.
I used the fuel to empower my mission. Seven and I were alone. He knew it was much as I did; that there’d be no trusting Zero and visa versa for me trusting EDF. Zero doesn’t care about how we look, what we wear or how we present ourselves. It cares about what’s right for its purpose.
Ironically, that purpose would be for the greater of humanity… which aligns with what I want anyway. Yet here I find myself questioning whether or not we need any of them.
We could do it ourselves.
I mean, I’ve done it for years – protecting them, making sure I stand in the way of any aggressor and the weak.
‘Don’t only think about the here and now, think about the there and then. How many wars will you fight before you wake up and realize, it’s time to try something else?’
Seven’s old words echo through my mind as I sneak in the EDF HQ. All likelihood they’re expecting to me but I know my way around. I’ll be fine, just need to stay low. All I have to do is tail him – you know, the man I once trusted, John. A day ago, John and the rest of my team were shot dead as far as I could tell and yet here I am, looking at a picture perfect healthy man. As a matter of fact, I’d say he seems rather pleased.
“You see this?” I ask Seven, my wrist unit mounted to cover my face as if I were combing back my hair. What I’m doing is pointing my camera over there so Seven could see the visual and hone his telepathy on John.
“Yes, one moment.” Seven replies.
I keep my eye on John while Seven works his magic. I follow John a few hallways down until he leads me to an access-only door. This does not do good for our mission.
Come on Seven, anything? Anything at all?
“He’ll be out in two minutes exactly. They’re working on something in there, it’s not completely clear to me. Grab him when he gets out.”
Two minutes?
Click!
Sometimes those small weapons can really come in handy. Moments like this for example, when John exits the room two minutes later, only to notice me brisk walking to him ten seconds too late because he feels the cold metal of the barrel sticking him in the gut with my pleasant, ‘fuck-you’ smile.
“It’s good to see you John.”
“How are you still…”
He whispers
“Alive? Funny story, tell you all about that later. For now, I want you to open that door so we can go in there and have a little chat.”
I push the gun deeper into his side. The door opens up. He knows I mean no games.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into Xeilya.”
“On the contrary, I think I do. Move it!”
The first thing that hits my senses as I enter that room is just how cold it is. Not the physical-only cold. There’s a feeling in here. A mark of dread. We enter a dark observatory room, connected to another, larger laboratory where I noticed large, cylindrical tanks filled with liquid and something else I had to shake my head twice to register. Bodies. Human bodies.
“Spit it out. What’s happening in here?” I ask John, my eyes scoped on the fine detail of the place.
“The future.” John tells me.
I sense not an ounce of fear in him.
That disturbs me.
“You’re going to have to do better than that John. I’m not the most patient type, you know?”
“Sure.” He scoffs, “I guess I owe you this much. Everything you think you know about Mars is a lie. We didn’t come here to settle for the future of mankind. We came here to chase the signal; The same signal that AI’s been feeding us since the 70s. We had to make preparations. Nobody really knew what that thing could do, so we had to assemble our best. Even if they didn’t know what we were about to do. Mars was a free zone to our genetic advancements. No bills, no restrictions; only freedoms to create soldiers capable of defending our future.”
“Genetic advances? Oh… It all makes sense. This whole thing was a storefront for the creation of supersoldiers while, we advertised under a brighter tomorrow for the stupid blind.”
“That’s right.”
Now it was my turn to scoff, “Amazing, now it makes sense; why I’m here, why EDF pulled me off earth. You used my psyche profile since you knew I’d go to Seven anyway, so my trip to Mars just happened to be the best convenience. Now that I’m here, those soldiers are going to need a role model. A hero to lead them into the war against the ‘machine’. Who else for the role but me?”
“Well done Xeilya. You never cease to amaze me.”
“You’re an idiot.” I abruptly stopped his flattery - “You were suiting up to go to war with an unknown force. Proves again how stupid the earth man remains, even after all his advancements.”
“We were suiting up to defend ourselves against a possible alien attack. Everything you see here is the work of what you and I stand for. We defend. We protect.”
“Let’s not forget we pillaged, killed, stole and murdered under the flag of justice and false pretenses. Now we’re assembling a military state, no – a military planet, to fight this thing.”
“No, Xeilya. Not fight – not unless we have to. We’re setting up a greater force than an Earth Defense. We’re becoming a Solar Defense. The greatest military power mankind will ever know.”
I looked over at the tanks. Their bodies were essentially perfect. Ripped like a roasted chicken with solid features. These men will wake up one day to rule this world. At first I couldn’t understand what Zero saw in the EDF. Then it struck me.
‘Your kind is a genetic deformity, created from the pacifists who fled from Sirius. I was created to assure order.’
Zero saw both sides of the coin between Seven and the EDF. Positive and Negative. Yin and Yang. And I was right in the middle of it all – the balance piece.
John would go to war with Zero.
Seven would make peace with it.
Which one is the wiser option?
“Why did you try to kill Seven and I?” I asked John carefully.
He couldn’t deny knowledge of the attack – “You two are a threat to us. You stand sided with the enemy.”
“Automatically labelled as a traitor, huh? But what other hero would you use if you kill me?”
“Ha!” A cynical smile came on his face, “We created you Xeilya. You’re nothing more than a puppet. An expendable asset. We can create a thousand of you, if need be.”
‘Ianna, get out of there. He isn’t going to tell you everything.’
I know Seven.
“There is one last chance for your amnesty.” He slips me a small, readable disc – “Contact me if you’re willing.”
Contact you
Contact you…
Contact you?
I drop the disc on the floor and not as much as a second goes by before it crushes underneath the heel of my boot.
“I see your choice is set in solid stone.” I can hear the solemnness in his voice.
“It’s unfortunate that after all these years, you still never really understood what I stood for. I don’t care about the monopoly you idiots crave. I never signed up to fight for corporations or so some ape could smoke his cigar on a throne of money while he watches the world burn vicariously. John, I fought for the human race. I fight for my world.”
We stare each other intensely. Not a word is whispered for a few moments but who needs a word now? This is the part where it clicks, ‘this is where I stand and that is where you are.’
“Goodbye John.” I break the silence.
I slip out the door, taking Seven’s telepathic nudges as my guide to avoid detection as I make my way out. I am not at peace. I am in distraught. I don’t have many friends. John was one of the last ones. Is this how it always ends? That look we gave each other. It was more than just accepting differences. The next time we meet, we will be enemies. Violent lives, ending violently. An endless circle of bloodshed that somehow made its way to outer space.
When will it ever end?
A sliced Raven waits for me outside. As my fingers make contact with the handles, I can feel its circuits pulsate through my gloves, reminding me of the decisions I’ve made. The decisions I will make, and what will happen now. A coming storm.
I hit the exhaust and blast off into the distance. No thought prevails in my mind. Only feeling. The wind howls, and the desert brews. The landscape’s not the usual. It’s not the sights – it’s as regular as the outer Martian colony area gets; red sand, wind and gust. Something else is out here. I can feel it.
‘WARNING! Targets Approaching!’
And now, I can see it…
Two other hover bikes closing in. Should’ve known, they wouldn’t let me slip away that easily. My eyes see the simple – me, riding back to my hideout with two pursuers. My gut feeling claws another picture – danger.
I’ll take no chances. Steer to the left, hit the hilly area and see if you can cut them off there. Good, they’re definitely following. So make no mistake, it’s me they want. Alright, let’s do this.
Blap! Blap!
Automatic pistols. They’re firing already. No warning, no chance to retort. This is a direct assassination attempt. So be it. Fire back. Show them who you are. I’m not dying out here today. I’m The Valkyrie. That cover fire’ll do for now. Cut below those ridges. Gonna’ have to play these boys through the corners and edges around these sands. I can’t handle them in a straight fight.
Blap! Blap!
Shit! Raven’s hit! Come on baby, just need you to hold on a little longer. We’ll be home soon. Sons of bitches, they’re remorseless – firing at any opportunity they get. Programmed without a conscious. The way they grew me up to be. The way they want me to lead the new world army.
We fight against machines but look at this right here. At this point, what separates us if we all become terminators?
Fire back, keep them busy. That’s a lot of gust in the distance. Oh, wait, no - that’s a sandstorm. It’s heading this way. Hmm, have to take my chances with it. Go ahead. Plunge in it. You’ll find a way. You always find a way.
Raven’s systems go dead.
There’s surprisingly not a sound.
My helmet’s taken a beating, cracks are forming.
I feel my body go light.
Raven’s not w
ith me anymore.
Now I’m flying.
Tossed away by the wind, I still haven’t even made contact with the ground before noticing the other two morons flung up here with me. I try to shoot them…
Smack!
That was contact with the ground. By pure fucking will, I refuse to be knocked out. Those other two landed on their damn feet. Their weapons got sucked up by the tornado though. Mines didn’t. Perfect. Time to fire.
Blap! Blap!
And they’re not taking as much as a scratch. Should’ve expected this. Probably armored. They’re walking over fearlessly. My bullets are doing nothing! Pretty sure I shot that one in the helmet too and still, nothing. Alright, hand-to-hand, let’s go.
He strikes heavy for my face. A quick dodge with a jab to his gut and a knee to his groin followed by a series of successes to his face until I realize my hits have absolutely no impact. He’s slow, so I can keep avoiding. The other one sneaks up behind me. Try sweeping him with a sidekick but he actually avoids me with a roll while the other connects a punch to my gut and suddenly I feel a shattering blow to my face that sends me stumbling yards down the hill.
What the hell am I fighting?
I feel like I just got hit by a mack truck. If it wasn’t for this adrenaline, I’d be out like a baby already. Wait, what is that shimmering coming from them? Oh shit…
BLAM!
Okay, now I think I’m about to pass out and if I do, I’m dead. They shot a plasmanoid at me. What kind of tech is that! Ugh, not now, can’t give up now.
Never give in. Never, never! Must fight, must survive! Get up! Get up! Now, now, now! They’re coming. I won’t go out on my belly. Stand up, Valkyrie. Stand up.
“Bring it.” If those are my last words then I say em’ with a smile. My helmet’s gonna’ blow soon anyway.
Is this really how I go?
‘No.’
An overhead ship blasts a laser-like beam-line between me and my coming aggressors. I’m shielded from them. White sparkles bubble up next to me. The sparkles dissipate and Seven materializes. He hands me a gun to keep our enemies busy while he holds my arm and he presses some buttons on his wrist gadget. Light’s spark everywhere, blinding me. Next thing I know, I’m inside a ship firing accidently at the cockpit controls. It’s okay, the damage’s not enough to crash us. Seven rushes to the cockpit to fly us away.
Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Page 6