Antagonize (From the Logs of Daniel Quinn Book 2)

by Thomas R. Manning

  “This is a lot of information, but I needed you to know how grateful I was as soon as you woke up. You honored the memories of all the council who lost their lives.” Burns kissed my forehead before she left the room.

  I passed out minutes later. When I opened my eyes again, Scott was gone. I made some sounds with my throat and managed to form a couple of words, namely “help” and “water.” I felt more now, which meant I wasn’t paralyzed. My left arm throbbed, but medication must have been drowning out the pain. When a smaller, much softer hand touched my right one, I turned my head to see Autumn. She gave me a teary grin.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hey.”

  She held a cup of water as I sipped. I choked on some of it and coughed. The sensation ignited pain in my chest.

  “Easy, Daniel,” she said, caressing my chest with her hand.

  In slow, sluggish words, I asked her to explain what happened in space after I last talked to her.

  Autumn, the defiant woman she was, took my ship straight into the middle of the two fleets. Tress and Al worked together to send an open message to every ship, and the council made their final plea to end the war. Commander Scott corresponded with them and sent his own message, detailing all events about General Ambrose working for an outside faction and pitting the two planets against one another for mutual destruction. Al communicated reports, graphs, and plans that proved the council’s words.

  “And then,” she said as she wiped another tear from her eye, “we saw the cannon blast. Al pinpointed its location and detected that the defense grid around Tristain was destroyed. Daniel, it was like a beacon of hope. The Terrans and Gaians halted their advances and each sent a handful of ships to investigate Tristain. When they found the warehouse and the weapons, things changed. Many were hesitant. Gaia had lost its military commander so they had no one to lead them, but the council stood up for the people, told them the time for war was over, and peace and prosperity were required to usher in a new era.”

  She finished the story by describing how a common enemy can be the greatest motivation for change. After seizing Ambrose’s records and interrogating captured soldiers, the two planets learned about Infinity.

  “Any rational person knows that survival is more important than conquest,” I muttered. Now that Terra and Gaia knew what they could lose compared to what they could gain, did that mean the peace treaty would be signed? Technically, all they had now was a ceasefire—an agreement to leave each other alone while a thorough investigation was conducted about Infinity, Ambrose, and the Sentinels.

  “What about the atmospheric distortion device above Gaia?”

  “When the warehouse was assaulted, all computer systems were shut down. The wireless control for the device failed and it fell from the sky. All conditions on the planet have stabilized, but it’s going to take years to regrow all the plants and crops on the planet.”

  But they would grow back. Gaia and Terra would grow and evolve with their people. As long as both planets agreed to share their resources, the healing process would begin.

  Two weeks passed before I could move my upper body. I wore a brace from my wrist to my bicep. Granak shattered the bone and I was told that the doctors had a lot of trouble setting it.

  Granak. I often thought about him. When they found me, they also found him. One of my first requests was to see his body.

  “Daniel,” Autumn said as she looked away from me. “Granak is alive.”

  At those words, my breath caught in my throat. He lived. She must have seen my anxiety because she held her hands up.

  “He’s in a coma! It’s okay! He’s in bad shape and his vitals are low. He hasn’t woken up since we found him.” The Leondren son of a bitch lived through the cannon’s exhaust, but his condition was apparently far worse than mine. Still, I wanted to see him, whether for closure or just to confirm his status. When I tried to move my legs, my left one responded, but not my right. Under the bedcovers, I saw the leg move, but something kept it from lifting up.

  “Autumn, what’s wrong with my leg?”

  She hesitated, but placed a gentle hand on my chest and gave me a soft, reassuring smile.

  “Autumn?”

  “You’re okay, Daniel. You’re alive. Let me go get the doctor and we’ll talk about everything that happened.” she said, then walked out before I could say another word. That’s when I remembered the searing pain I felt when the exhaust went off, killing . . . no, rendering Granak comatose. I pressed my hands on the mattress and tried my best to ignore the pain. Soon, I was sitting. My stomach roiled and I wanted to lie back down, but I didn’t listen. I grabbed the sheet covering my leg and threw it off the bed.

  Stars above.

  My leg . . . ended right above the knee, or at least, where my knee used to be. A crude contraption of metal gears and piping composed the rest of my leg.

  “You would have bled out if the cannon’s exhaustion blast hadn't cauterized your wound,” the doctor said as he walked into the room. He studied the charts and bleeps from the computer station. My nausea increased.

  “Where did this leg come from?” I asked.

  “Mr. Quinn, in order to provide you with the best motion—”

  “Tell me where this leg came from!” I screamed, the pressure in my head exploding into spots in my vision.

  “Daniel,” Autumn whispered as she held my hand.

  Tears escaped down my cheeks. The doctor released a sigh.

  “Mr. Quinn, this leg came from General Ambrose.”

  I had a bad feeling that would be the answer—that I now carried a monstrous device used by Sarah King. After hearing it out loud, I leaned over the side of the bed and vomited. Nothing came out but water. Autumn let go and backed up as I convulsed. Three nurses had to force me down while the doctor gave me some kind of sedative.

  I succumbed to sleep, and in my dreams I saw the cyborgs being created. Their grotesque bodies outfitted with the bionic machines dropped into the empyreus lake, emerging reborn. Now one of those bionic parts was a part of me.

  Twenty Six

  I spent almost every waking hour staring at the leg, watching it as if it would come alive at the command of Sarah King. In the back of my head I knew that was ridiculous, but in my mind, I felt that every memory and every encounter now housed themselves within the leg, like some kind of permanent disease. Unless I did something about it. When the nurse came in to check on me, she ran to the wall and smacked her hand against the alarm button. Three other nurses came in to see me attempting to tear into my flesh to remove the leg myself. For the second time in a day, or maybe two—I wasn’t really keeping track of the hours here—they had to sedate me.

  There were no nightmares this time, but a soft, awkward voice woke me from my sleep a while later. I opened my eyes and turned my head to find Tress sitting in the chair beside me, reading a book out loud to himself. My bionic eye, a device I chose and accepted to install into my retinal socket, scanned over the book and read the title: Even An Alien Can Learn English.

  Tress saw me and closed the book, giving me a nod and soft smile. “Morning,” he said in English, though it sounded more like “Mooing.” which made me laugh. It felt good to laugh.

  “How is your planet doing?” I asked him, and to answer he switched to his native language.

  “They are sending out sweeps of messages throughout the surrounding solar systems, beckoning our people to come back. I last heard that 200,000 Restrans returned.”

  “Your parents?” He looked down and shook his head.

  “There’s still time,” I said, and then looked around the room, careful not to make eye contact with the monstrosity attached to my leg. “Have you seen Autumn?”

  “She is taking care of her father’s estate, and meeting with the council.”

  Now that the war had ended, it looked like she took the mantle of her father’s job. I wondered if she came back to visit me at all while I slept, or if I scared her when I lost control ov
er my new leg.

  I didn’t get an answer for another three days. In fact, in that time, no one came to visit me, except for another doctor who claimed to be a therapist. He wanted to talk about my leg, tell me how it was okay, that now the technology could be used for good. I wanted to tell him he could shove it, but I held my tongue. He did speak a certain truth with some of his words. Since the leg had been coated with empyreus, it was the most compatible device for me. But I still felt tainted wearing the damn thing.

  On that third day, Commander . . . no, General Scott walked into my room wearing his Sentinel gear, weapon at the ready.

  “Let’s go, Captain,” he said.

  “Where?”

  “The doctor told me that your injuries are no longer life threatening, nor do you require any critical medical attention. You’re free to leave.”

  My eyes shifted to the leg. In order to leave, I would have to stand on it and use it.

  “Captain Daniel Quinn. By order of the Sentinel Guard of Terra, on behalf of the Genesis council, I hereby order you to stand up, walk on that leg, and move your ass.”

  I blinked and my eyebrows shot up, creating ridges in my forehead. Scott moved to me and grabbed my arm. I protested, but he pulled hard and I fell off the bed onto the cold, tiled floor. My left leg, back, and chest all throbbed in pain.

  “Up on your feet, soldier. You have an appointment to keep.”

  “An appointment? What the flux are you talking about?”

  “Let’s go,” is all he said as he knelt down and wrapped his arm around my chest. I watched him struggle trying to lift me.

  This is ridiculous, I thought, but it wasn’t Scott’s actions that led me to think that—it was my lack of them. People are always going to fall, lose themselves to despair, but a pit like that isn’t infinite. There’s always a stopping point, and most of the time, we fail to realize that we control it.

  I pushed Scott away, turned over on my knees—or knee and metal—and reached up to the bed, pulling myself up into a standing position. Even standing still, my balance failed me and I fell backwards, but Scott stepped behind and caught me. After I managed to keep myself balanced, Scott picked up a pile of clothes from the chair in the corner of the room. He helped me get dressed in a long sleeve blue shirt and black combat trousers. I felt pathetic as he knelt down to lace up a pair of boots. The lack of feeling in my new leg made me sick.

  “This will take time, but remember that the first step is always the most important,” he said. He threw my arm over his shoulder and we began a slow trek down the hall. I had no idea where we were going, but in truth, it felt incredible to be up and walking, even if the bionic leg wasn’t responding to me, or maybe it was I who didn’t respond to it? Like Scott said, this would take time.

  Nurses and doctors, some I vaguely recognized, applauded as we passed them. I rolled my eyes.

  “Seriously, all this just because I’m up and walking?”

  “Or maybe it’s because you saved their planet,” he said. I turned to look at him, and he met my blank stare with a warm grin. “Believe it or not, Captain Quinn, but to a lot of these people, you’re a hero.”

  I didn’t respond. Not out of ignorance, but a lack of anything clever to say. I just kept pushing forward, using Scott as a crutch while I tried to get used to the leg. At the same time, a part of my mind still wanted to rip the damn thing off.

  He led us to the elevator, and once we hobbled in, he hit the arrow pointing up.

  “Why are we going up? Aren’t we leaving?”

  Again, a warm grin. “No Daniel, we are not leaving.”

  The doors cracked open and a radiant line of sunshine welcomed us. We took a step out and I saw a massive form in front of me, but the sun was too bright, even for my bionic eye. When my eyes adjusted, I saw the Kestrel Belle. She never looked more beautiful to me than in that moment. I took her all in—the dull colors, the elegant falcon shape, and even a dent on one of the wings, which reminded me of an old friend.

  Two rows of men and women dressed in Sentinel uniforms lined the way to the cargo bay. A number of people stood in front of the ship, waiting for us. Tress, Samantha Burns, and Autumn Derringer. My eyes glistened and I couldn’t hold back the tears.

  Burns was the first to walk up to me.

  “Captain,” she said, extending her hand. I took it and held it firm. “You have the thanks of both Terra and Gaia. Your actions prevented a terrible war from being unleashed on billions of people.”

  “I can’t take credit for that, Ms. Burns,” I said, and she directed me to use her first name. “Samantha. Everyone on this roof right now is a hero, all acting together to stop the war. You yourself helped save my life.”

  She seemed pleased by my answer, but leaned in to me and placed her other hand over our joined ones. “Yes. General Scott, Ms. Derringer, and this wonderful Restran, Tress, all played their parts, but are you familiar with the Earth game called dominos?” I nodded.

  “The pieces all fall together only when the first domino is pushed forward. You were the first domino, Captain Quinn. Damon Derringer was the finger that pushed you into action, causing the cascade that saved our worlds.”

  Samantha Burns left me speechless. Her words were . . . beautiful. I wished I could think up something just as clever and wonderful, but all I could do was kiss her check, and say two words.

  “Thank you.”

  She gave me one more smile, then nodded to General Scott and walked back toward the elevator. I waited for Tress or Autumn to step forward, expecting this to be a line of goodbyes, but they held their ground at the base of the cargo bay door. Scott helped me approach them. For the first time, I saw the object they stood in front of—a large container with a thick oval window at the top.

  “Is that?” I asked, but my voice cut out.

  “Granak.”

  Tress and Autumn stepped to the side so I could get my first look at Granak since we fought on Tristain. His hair, the thick mane that covered his head, had been singed to nothing. Over half of his skin had been scorched black by burns, but in all the horror and goose bumps that crawled on my skin, I couldn’t help but think of how peaceful he looked.

  Granak was my enemy, but his course was charted the day Sarah King launched an attack on his people. His thirst for vengeance reminded me of the feelings I had toward the woman, and now those feelings spread out to her faction. The alien asleep in front of me wanted justice for his race, but his answer for that was the extinction of ours. Granak scared me, and he had to be stopped, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel sympathy for him now. And I did.

  “We collect bounty,” Tress said in broken English. His words broke me from my trance.

  “We?” I said.

  “My people back. Family back. All well on Tristain.” He smiled wide, I assumed because of his family, but a silver glimmer in his eyes also told me he felt proud. “You want to come with me?” he asked, but Autumn was the one who answered.

  “Yes, we do.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “I mean, I don’t exactly live a calm life. In the last two years—”

  “In the last two years you helped save three planets,” Autumn said, resting one hand on my shoulder, the other taking my right hand. “Daniel, you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

  “What about your father’s work? What about the council?”

  “I’ve been meeting with them all week. I gave them all of my father’s data. It’s in good hands.”

  I looked at her and Tress, searching in their eyes for something that would convince me they were hesitant in joining me, but both looked eager and ready.

  “And you,” I said to Tress, just to be sure. “You are willing to leave your home and family now that they’re back on your planet?”

  He nodded. “I want be like you, Captain. I want make difference.”

  Behind me, General Scott laughed. “If that’s not the sign of a good officer, I don’t know what is.”

&nbs
p; From the inside of the Belle, the speaker crackled in static for a moment, then it cleared and a voice spoke.

  “Captain, I feel it appropriate to mention that by having two additional people on board, it will give you a chance at social interaction, not to mention the body language you and Ms. Derringer emanate toward each other shows that there is some se—“

  “Al, do not finish that sentence!” I yelled before he could embarrass me anymore. Tress, Scott, and Autumn laughed, but her face turned red. I felt the heat in my own as well.

  “Shall we board our ship, Captain? Like Mr. Tress said, we have a bounty to collect.”

  General Scott ordered two of his soldiers to push the containment case onto the ship and lock it into the cargo bay. Coincidentally, they placed him close to where the Karthans put Damon when I brought him home.

  The first time I traveled to Karth, I was alone. I had Al, but otherwise I just tried my damnedest to stay under everyone’s radar. Now I had an actual crew, and the thoughts of isolation were at their lowest. This began change, and the more I thought about it, the more other things needed to change as well, not just the number of people on my ship.

  With Granak secured in the cargo bay, we all stood in front of General Scott and his men. He gave an order and the dozen soldiers saluted us. I nodded at them and extended my hand.

  “It’s been an honor, General.”

  “The honor is mine,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay? We’re going to need a Space Fleet Administrator once the treaty is signed.”

  “I’ll have to pass. I’m just a lowly mercenary.”

  He looked at Autumn and Tress. “I thought mercenaries worked alone?”

  “We not merc then,” Tress said, unable to pronounce the full word. “We be . . . pirates!”

  Where the flux did he learn the term “pirate”? I suppose I’d have enough time to find out now.