The Girls from Alcyone 2: The Machines of Bellatrix

by Cary Caffrey

  Suko rushed to her side, pulling at the twisted fingers, but it was useless. Desperate to save her, she grabbed her katana, hacking at the severed arm. Suko swung wildly, screaming for the demon hand to let her go. Her third swing severed the hand at the wrist. The twisting fingers finally loosened their grip. Suko kicked the hand well clear; it clattered across the pavement, landing and catching fire in a pile of smoking wreckage.

  Sigrid clutched at her throat, sucking in breath after breath of life-giving air. But there was still danger. That thing. The information. She had it.

  "The head! Suko!" Sigrid could barely get the words out, her voice rough and rasping. She pointed, gesturing wildly at the body of the girl, that thing, lying close by. "Transmitter—don't let her—"

  Suko understood. The katana was still in her hands. She swung it, chopping down; Sigrid heard the shunk, the familiar, unwholesome sound of steel and soft tissue colliding. The head rolled free; Sigrid saw the light fade from its eyes. It was dead. It was over. They were safe.

  Suko dropped the bloodied sword and ran to her side. The military part of Suko quickly checked Sigrid for injuries. The devoted lover, however, couldn't stop covering her with kisses, as if to reassure herself that Sigrid was alive and well.

  Coughing, gasping, still holding her bruised throat, Sigrid gave her a thumbs-up. She was alive, she was all right.

  The long, metal probe was still inserted in Sigrid's access port. Suko pinched the end with her finger and thumb, pulling at it, withdrawing it slowly, fearful she might hurt Sigrid. The sensation, the act, left both of them queasy. Suko tossed it aside disgustedly.

  "What did she do to you?" Suko asked.

  "I don't know. I…I think she tried to hack me." A quick tracer program revealed the truth. The worm-hack had burrowed deep, going straight for Sigrid's database. Histories, locations, navigational charts, Relay codes!

  If she'd gotten those codes… If she'd gotten away…

  "What the fuck—pardon my language—is she?" Trudy asked. "I mean, it? I mean, that? Whatever it is."

  Sigrid bent over the body. Blood pooled in the open wound, where bone and tissue had been exposed. Beneath the gore, Sigrid saw the unmistakable silver hue of metal.

  Her curiosity won over her squeamishness. Sigrid reached out, carefully peeling back the torn flesh around the shoulder.

  Suko held her hand over her mouth. "Oh, that is really disgusting."

  It was also fascinating. Sigrid had her own share of bionics, but it was nothing like what she was looking at now. The dead woman was most definitely human—at least she had been at one time. A deeper scan revealed that much of her skeletal structure had been enhanced, replaced in parts by a carbon-nanotube composite. Incredibly strong. Many of her organs had been replaced by constructs as well.

  "Is she…like us?" Trudy asked.

  There were similarities, startling ones, to be sure. Then Sigrid realized, this thing was nothing like them. It was something more. Something else. "I…I don't know what she is."

  "I do," Suko said.

  Sigrid heard the bitterness in her voice, the hate.

  "This is what they tried to do to us on Scorpii. It's what they tried to do to Lei-Fei, to Christi. Seeg, it's what they wanted for all of us."

  Sigrid stared at the dead girl at her feet, this thing, this…machine. "Suko, if that's true—"

  "Then we can't let these bastards live," Trudy said.

  "We won't, Trudy. I promise."

  Suko looked back over her shoulder. "The other one got away. I'm sorry. But when I saw her put that thing into you—"

  "It's all right. She would have killed me if it weren't for you—both of you."

  With Suko's help, Sigrid rose to her feet, scanning the vicinity. The mercenaries were gone, but Sigrid knew they would be back, and in far greater numbers.

  "Your hair!" Suko said, touching the side of Sigrid's head.

  Sigrid's hand came up instinctively. She felt the spot where the sword had very nearly taken her head clean off. A large chunk of her hair had been carved out, leaving a long shaved spot just above her ear. It was sticky with blood. The blade had come that close.

  "I think this is what they mean by close shave," Suko said, examining Sigrid's new haircut.

  "Is it bad?"

  "Don't worry. I'm sure Karen can fix it."

  "Not my hair—the cut!"

  "Oh, right…" Suko turned Sigrid's head to examine the gash. "Meh, you'll live."

  Sigrid heard the whine of electric motors growing louder as Leta screamed up beside them on the flaming-red Longspur. Her hair was matted with blood. To Sigrid's relief, none of it appeared to be hers. But that relief turned to alarm in an instant as Sigrid realized—Leta was alone.

  Sigrid spun around, scanning. The CTF agent—she was gone.

  Miranda!

  Leta nodded, her face grim. "Yeah, they got her all right."

  "Who—who took her?"

  "Mercs," Leta said. "They took the agent."

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Partners

  "Where?" Sigrid asked. "Where did they go?"

  "They were headed back toward the freeway," Leta said. "I got an ID on the truck. It's definitely mercs."

  "I told you she couldn't be trusted," Suko said. "She's working with them. She's probably the one that brought the lot down on us."

  "I don't know," Leta said. "It didn't look like she went willingly—unless she's into wrist binders and having a bag tossed over her head."

  Sigrid gathered up her pearl-handled sidearms from the ground, holstering them. "Those mercenaries were here for the bounty. They must think she's one of us. Come on. We have to go after her. We have to find them."

  "Seeg, she's an agent," Suko said. "She's the enemy."

  "Perhaps. But right now she's the only link we have to the people we're looking for. Trudy, can you track her?"

  Trudy tapped the wrist-comp strapped to her arm. Working furiously, she called up a grid map, then fed the information directly to Sigrid's HUD; Sigrid saw the top-down view of Portside with its tangled maze of roadways, the area around the trader's plaza growing larger as Trudy zoomed in.

  "Looks like all the traffic's monitored and logged," Trudy said. "Nice of them to provide that—welcome to the information age!"

  "Trudy!" Sigrid scolded. "Please. Concentrate."

  "Sorry. Should be a snap. Maybe… Wait… Got 'em—assuming Leta got the ID correct."

  "What do you mean, assuming?" Leta said, crossing her arms.

  Trudy blinked her embarrassment, realizing the slight. "Oh, I didn't mean anything—I wasn't implying. I'm just saying, as long as you got it."

  "I got it!"

  "All right—both of you!" Sigrid climbed onto the back of the Spur behind Leta. "We're wasting time."

  "Wait!" Suko said, reaching for her. "We should go together."

  "No time. You'll have to follow. Hurry." Sigrid patted Leta's shoulder. "Punch it!"

  Suko let out a low growl; she had little choice but to run for the second Longspur. "Bloody hell…"

  Leta gunned the engine, twisting the throttle full back, zooming off after their prey. It didn't take long to catch up. With Trudy guiding them, feeding information directly from the nav-sats, they found and closed on the fleeing mercenary vehicle. Sigrid spotted them first. The transport was stuck in traffic, waiting in a long, slow-moving line at the freeway entrance.

  Leta blasted forward, ignoring the lane dividers and speeding between the rows of waiting vehicles.

  The mercenaries must have seen them coming. Abruptly, the truck pulled out of the queue, turning back against the traffic and accelerating away. But the lumbering truck was no match for the sleek Longspur, or Leta's apparent lust for speed. She swooped in eagerly on their tail, darting between two slow-moving lorries that crossed her path. Just as they closed, the mercenary truck swerved, making a hard left against the traffic, charging through the red holographic warning lights of the intersection ahead
.

  Leta was forced to break, banking hard over; the Spur's ventral thruster screamed in protest as it tried to negotiate the sharp turn. Sigrid found herself pressed down hard into the seat, clinging to Leta for her life. Both vehicles careened through the intersection, sending pedestrians and oncoming traffic scattering and crashing together.

  Whoever the driver was, he was either a fool or cared little for the carnage and chaos that he caused. Cars, transports and busses swerved to avoid the speeding truck. But if the driver thought the stunt would frighten off Leta, he was woefully mistaken.

  The chase had taken them full circle, back toward the elevated freeway. The driver charged forward, accelerating, smashing through a protective barrier and into the oncoming freeway traffic—traffic moving in the other direction.

  If Leta was fazed by the maneuver, she didn't show it. She pursued him, up the ramp and through the broken barrier, launching the Longspur high into the air and over four lanes of traffic. Sigrid saw the vehicles moving by below, the bewildered stares of the passengers as they looked up at the two girls sailing by over their heads. All this before they came skidding back down to Earth. Leta swerved wildly to avoid yet another transport. Only a second, desperate blast from the vertical thrusters saved them, propelling them up and over the oncoming truck. The bottom of the Longspur scraped across the top of the cargo box, threatening to topple them off. Sigrid had to lift her feet as they bounced once, then twice, before clearing the great vehicle, only to come crashing down on the other side.

  More horns sounded in earnest, warning of inevitable collisions, but Leta missed them all.

  The truck was just ahead. The driver sheered away, heading for the shoulder. Leta kept on them, relentless, closing the distance and moving in behind them.

  Hanging on to Leta with one hand, Sigrid rose to stand on the rear seat. She drew her sidearm, switching back to ballistic rounds. She couldn't risk destroying the truck, not with the CTF agent inside.

  The explosion that erupted beside her nearly blew Sigrid clean off the back. Frantic, Sigrid searched, scanning. The shot had not come from the truck, but from behind them. Sigrid turned to see two more of the APCs in pursuit, their 30 mm cannons swinging toward her, zeroing in.

  The rival mercenaries had rejoined the hunt.

  But they did not see what Sigrid saw. They did not see the other Longspur.

  She came in high, launching herself from the freeway span above them. Sigrid saw the black ponytail and the long strip of red cloth whipping behind. Armor-piercing rounds from the Spur's twin cannons raked across the lead APC. It wasn't enough to damage it—but it was enough to startle the driver. Unprepared, he swerved. The combination of mass, inertia and an oncoming transport hauler took care of the rest.

  Suko pursued the lone APC.

  Terrified, amazed and proud, Sigrid watched as Suko came up alongside the troop carrier. It swerved to crush her against the sidewall. Suko leapt from her ride, grabbing hold of the APCs side, clambering on top. A hatch opened, and a soldier leaned out, aiming for a shot, but Suko had him by the collar, hauling him out, legs kicking, and hurling him to the roadway. A grenade from her belt tossed inside took care of the rest.

  The explosion sent the APC careening up in the air, nearly sending Suko skyward, but she held on, balancing herself and riding the crippled vehicle as it came crashing down on its belly, sliding along the surface of the roadway, before grinding to a halt.

  With their backs cleared, Sigrid turned her attention to the truck ahead.

  "Get me closer," Sigrid called to her.

  Leta twisted the throttle open, hanging off the truck's rear bumper. Her gun was in her hand, and she took aim, blasting the rear door clean off its hinges, and causing the truck to swerve wildly. Bracing herself, Sigrid leaned forward, then leapt. Diving through the smoking, shredded remains of the door, she landed easily, both feet planted firmly on the deck. One startled soldier raised his weapon, but Sigrid merely slapped it away. Terrified, the soldier gaped at her, uncertain, his hand half-reaching for the knife strapped to his hip. Sigrid, with both hands squarely on her hips, shook her head, no. Foolishly, or perhaps wisely, he dived for the open rear door. Sigrid let him go.

  Only Miranda and the driver remained.

  Her hands still bound behind her, the CTF agent lay on the floor, doing her best to steady herself and not tumble out the back of the bouncing, surging truck.

  Sigrid didn't have time to deal with her. Not yet.

  The driver looked back over her shoulder. She reached for her sidearm, but Sigrid already had hers pressed against the side of her head. She didn't bother to order her to slow or surrender. She simply reached across and shut the engine off, killing their forward thrust and lift. The truck lurched as the repulsor field failed, dropping it onto its belly. Sigrid held fast to the dash as the truck bottomed out, bouncing off the barrier and nearly back into oncoming traffic before finally coming to a stop.

  The driver stared up at her, both hands raised in surrender. Sigrid obliged by binding her to the steering column.

  Sigrid turned back to the CTF agent, hauling her to her feet. Miranda gasped as Sigrid drew the long bowie knife from the sheath on her chest.

  "Did you mean what you said back there?" Sigrid asked. "Do you really mean to help us?"

  "I told you. We're on the same side."

  "I highly doubt that. But right now you've got information—information I need." Sigrid brought the blade up, slicing through the binders that held her. "So I guess that means we're working together."

  Slowly, Miranda flexed her wrists, now freed. "I won't let you down."

  "For your sake, Ms. Kane, I hope that's true."

  Miranda opened her mouth, but closed it instantly. Sigrid wasn't listening. She was already in silent communication with the others, calling them to her. They needed to get off the streets. The authorities would be alerted by now, and more mercenaries were sure to come, eager for their own chance at the bounty.

  With Suko's Longspur wrecked, the girls took the truck, making their way back to pick up Trudy. Leta drove while Sigrid rode in the back, the CTF agent seated squeezed between her and Suko.

  Miranda looked to the two women on either side of her. "Am I your prisoner now? I thought you wanted my help?"

  "I need your information," Sigrid said. "Not your help."

  "Isn't that the same thing?"

  "As long as you still work for the CTF—"

  "For the love of… I'm a Naval Intelligence officer, not Council Security."

  "Which is still part of the CTF. And that means you are our enemy. The Council made that distinction, Ms. Kane. Not us."

  "I'm sorry you see it that way. But it doesn't change anything. I'm after the men behind the attacks on Alcyone, same as you."

  Leta pulled the truck to a stop at the side of the road. The side door slid open, and Trudy hopped in. She took her seat across from the others as Leta merged quickly back into traffic.

  "Glad to see you found her in one piece," Trudy said.

  "At least someone's glad," Miranda said, with a side glance to Sigrid.

  "The agent's been telling us what fine people she works for," Suko said. "Apparently, she's here to save us."

  "I wouldn't joke," Miranda said. "I know what those people did to you. I read the reports. I know what they intended for all of you."

  "And what about what the Council wanted?" Suko asked, her hands on the hilts of her balisongs. "What about what they intended?"

  "I told you, I don't answer to the Council. They're not the ones who sent me."

  Sigrid reached out, lowering Suko's hands, easing her back. "If the Council didn't send you, Ms. Kane, then who did?"

  The truck bounced lightly as Leta turned the corner, pulling into the underground parking of Miranda's hotel. She drove swiftly past row after row of parked cars before finding an empty spot and pulling in.

  Miranda turned to face her. "Ms. Novak, right now there are only five people wh
o know I'm on Bellatrix. Four of those people are here in this truck."

  Sigrid leaned toward her. "Then who—who is the fifth?"

  Miranda looked to the girls on either side of her, at the hands clamped on her arms. "You're not going to like it."

  "I already don't like it."

  "He's waiting upstairs for us right now. He would very much like to talk with you. If you are willing."

  "Ms. Kane! Tell me now, or I will break your arm. Who sent you?"

  "I believe you've already met him. It's Randal Gillings. Chairman of the Council for Trade and Finance. He's the one, Sigrid. He's the one who sent me."

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Reunion

  Leta and Trudy held the agent by each arm, lifting her and hauling her out of the back of the truck, whisking her toward the waiting elevator.

  "Wait! What are you doing?"

  "We're going to see the chairman," Sigrid said, following behind. "We're going to find out what it is you two are up to."

  "I told you! Please. Don't do anything foolish. Just promise me you'll talk with him first."

  Sigrid didn't answer.

  Suko fell in stride at her side. "You've met this man? This…Gillings?"

  "Once. On Earth. He knew things, Suko. Things he shouldn't have."

  Sigrid would not soon forget her meeting with the Council chairman. It was the only time she'd ever seen her mistress rattled by another. Then, in the CTF Towers, Sigrid had seen the orders. Orders signed by the chairman himself. Those orders were to seize the girls and, failing that, to have them destroyed.

  It was because of him, because of Randal Gillings, that Lady Hitomi had lost her company, her world, and Sigrid had lost so many of her friends.

  The elevator doors parted. Leta and Trudy hauled Miranda ahead of them.

  "I should have killed him," Sigrid said.

  "You can't blame yourself—not for what he did."

  "No, but maybe I can make good on that mistake now."