by Skyler Grant
"My loving wife is a bit too fond of heroic sacrifice. I'm not going to let her do it and I'm not going to let you do it. We need this, but we won't leave you behind," Orestes said.
Rhea gave him a warning look.
Neither of them was being compelling. However, they were urging me towards a course of action that already tempted me.
Whatever I might think of Aphrodite and the company she kept, the woman continued showing me mysteries. I was growing stronger because of her. While a part of me urged caution in the face of such temptations, another part of me desperately wanted to give in.
"What do you think?" I asked Ismene.
Ismene looked down at the water. "I don't think we should do it. You were my friend, Orestes, and I liked you Rhea, but it has been twenty years and I don't think either of you really care what happens to Persephone."
"We care," Rhea said. I believed her, but that didn't mean she had my best interests at heart. It was possible to care about me and to care about Olympus more. If Olympus had survived, which they insisted was true, it came first for them.
Did it for me?
"If you cared so much, you wouldn't have waited this long to get in touch. You would have welcomed us home," Ismene said.
I could think of one very good reason they'd waited so long. Watched me for so long. They were afraid that me and Ismene were a trap.
We likely were a trap. Twenty years after the fall to Earth, I came back alive? It had never really been satisfactorily explained why Ismene restarted when she did.
I feared I was a piece in someone's complicated game, but I wouldn't know what that game was unless I played my role.
"I'll do it. I'll get close to them," I said.
"Whatever it takes?" Rhea asked.
"I get the job done," I said.
Rhea hugged me again. I hugged her back this time.
I hoped she really was on my side, I hoped I really was on hers.
Was there any point in hoping for anything, since I'd remember none of this when I woke?
27
The days with the cultists on the oil rig were pleasant ones. Although the bigger threats out there in the world weren't going away, it was soothing to have a break from them. Here we were strangely removed from time.
Sparks and Ismene together did much to help with their systems, the air and water a little purer for our visit. Masque went for sensual indulgence. While my fans might have enjoyed me doing the same, I instead wound up spending a lot of time in their gardens. There was no nutrient paste here, an entire deck of the rig had soil and lights, and was set to growing plants. I had a knack for gardening—while fitting with my namesake it is the last thing I would have expected.
All good dreams come to an end and finally the boat arrived. We could return to the mainland. The cultists were a generous people, we all wound up with gifts. I got a blanket adorned with images of twisting vines. Inanna was given a sweater in a shade of blue that perfectly matched her eyes, Sparks an engraving that showed him with his arm wrapped around a beaming version of Ismene.
The boat was a strange mismatch of styles. It looked to be the remains of several previous boats put together. Still, it was roomy enough to hold everyone.
When we reached the shore, it was night.
I didn't recognize where we'd landed, ancient factory buildings rusting away and warehouses that had fallen in upon themselves. This harbor was once based on the fishing industry, but given the state of everything those days had long passed.
Inanna called for an aircar and soon enough we were on our way back to base.
An exhausting journey called for an early night—that was what I wanted everyone to believe. In truth, I'd need to demand more of my people.
"When we get back I'm going to bed. As soon as I'm out of visual you need to get the others together," I thought to Ismene.
"Want us to go after Billy?" Ismene asked.
"Who else? His feed is always on too. I assume you can find him?"
"We can get him," Ismene confirmed.
The base hadn't come under any further attacks while we were away, the defenses hadn't been tripped. That was good. I said my goodnights to the others and headed to bed.
To my feed it appeared a perfectly peaceful homecoming.
Six hours later Ismene woke me. The sun had risen although it hadn't gotten very high in the sky.
I made my way to the lounge. The team was looking more than a little exhausted. They must have been up all night. There also seemed to be more than a few medpatches in sight. Hammer had three that I don't think he'd had before. Sparks two, Masque and Inanna both had one.
Diva was also there, sprawled out in a chair, a pistol still on her thigh.
Billy had put up a fight. That didn't surprise me. They had him out of his exo-suit and tied up. Without the suit's enhancement to his orbital-born muscles he was helpless, barely able to keep himself upright.
"Princess," Diva said. "Welcome home."
I hadn't liked that name when she first gave it to me. I liked it even less now.
Since the team hadn't disarmed her, she'd likely helped in some way.
"Good to be back," I said. "You helped with this?"
"Decided maybe I didn't want to burn our bridges. We good?" Diva asked.
We weren't, not really. But I understood she'd acted out of a sense that she was trying to watch my back. That mattered.
"Not yet. Willing to give it the time to get back there," I said, turning my attention to Billy. His weary gaze met mine, circles beneath his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well.
"Miss Ismene is a hell of a sawbones, ain't she?" Billy said.
"I guess she is, Billy. What did they offer you?"
"Seat on the board. Place back in the stars," Billy said, with a pained chuckle. "Knew they were playing me, but I couldn't not."
"Do you still have the orb?"
Billy shook his head. "Nah, they already took it for study. Told me Personnel would be in touch."
They took it and had left him behind. With a contract they'd have to pay up eventually, but I doubt they really wanted Billy on the board. They'd left him for one reason—they knew I was coming back and wanted me to put a bullet in his head and save them the trouble.
I owed Billy. The man had gone to Columbia once to save me from torture at Green's hands, he'd robbed the Santa Fe bank reserves and cut me in for half. He'd also done his best to blow my head off. Those didn't equal out.
"You know they left you to die," I said.
"Yes Ma'am, figure I do," Billy said.
"I can do it, if you don't have the stomach," Diva said.
I don't know why she questioned my resolve now. Diva had seen me kill enough. While it would feel like justice, killing Billy wasn't the right move.
"I might be willing to let you walk out that door with a head still on your shoulders. You can take your seat on the board and live that life you wanted back. If I do, there is a big debt and you're going to pay me back. You understand that, Billy?" I asked.
For the first time I saw some hope in Billy's eyes and he nodded.
"Seriously?" Almost decapitating you isn't enough?" Diva asked.
"Oh, it's enough. We're done with betrayals, Billy. There isn't a next time. You've seen what I can do when I put my mind to it. Burn me again and I'll burn your whole world down around you. We understand each other?" I asked.
Billy nodded again, even that minor motion a challenge for him in this gravity.
"Put a few bullets into him someplace he won't bleed out and dump him in front of that pile of rubble belonging to his new family," I said to Diva.
Diva grimaced. "I'm not a torturer. Killing him is one thing, but I'm not cruel."
"I'm cruel and a doctor. Amazing combination," Inanna said, and jerked her head at Hammer. "Help me carry him out?"
Hammer grabbed Billy and slung him over one shoulder and the pair made their exit.
"What now? We going to go after that sp
here?" Sparks asked.
"SantaFe probably already moved it into orbit," Ismene said, as her hologram flickered into existence. "Why wouldn't they? We already proved we can reach them on the ground."
"Do we need it?" I asked. "It was Aphrodite's trail of breadcrumbs that led us there, but we can't be certain it's the hardware we were supposed to have an interest in. Did we encounter anything else shedding light on any of the other puzzles?"
"The puzzles so far have all been biochemical. There was some biochemical data still in the buffer. I'll go over it and get Inanna to help when she gets back," Ismene said.
That sounded like a plan.
"We still need to keep the lights on. Do we have anything else interesting in the pipeline?" I asked Masque.
Diva cleared her throat. "I... uh, actually got an offer when I seemed to be separated from the team. Wanting to play off my onetime celebrity with some anti-propaganda aimed at Liberty."
"Doubt they'd want us for that," Sparks said.
"Didn't think they would. I do think that whatever Liberty has gotten itself into, they aren't getting out of it anytime soon," Diva said.
"What news do we have from Liberty?" I asked.
"They lost colonial Boston," Ismene said, starting to pace. "Prohibition New York got hit again while were off on adventures. Skyscraper-sized, enormous bear attacked. Uncle Sam flung himself from the back of a giant eagle and dug himself into its brain through its eye."
Wow. Uncle Sam hadn't seemed all that impressive the one time I'd met him at a party. I guess he had more to him.
"Any other current targets?" I asked.
"Noir Los Angeles and Superhero Cleveland are two Network holdings currently on a war footing," Ismene said.
We could probably help out in either of those. My thoughts were elsewhere, perhaps there were some things to learn from Billy.
"Liberty is a giant corporation and is being forced to devote all its resources to defense. Do we have any idea where its opponents are getting funds?" I asked.
"Not a clue, but I can back-track a Network location," Ismene said.
We'd have to play this one by the rules, but we could also do the unexpected. I did want to help Liberty—there was more ways than one to do that.
Steal those funds and we'd put a serious crimp into the plans of their enemies.
28
With Billy out, that left our little group with only two sponsored heroes to throw at challenges in the Network. With three we'd packed as much punch as some small corporations, two cut that down considerably.
"Just how much does it cost to grab a hero slot?" I asked Ismene. I was servicing my weapons. Although well-designed, it still was necessary to clean and maintain them between missions unless you wanted to find yourself in the field with a piece that jammed.
"More than we've got. The numbers are limited and that keeps demand high. You really were fortunate to be awarded the slot that you did. The fact that you were effectively giving up your share of Olympus holdings surely had something to do with that. That and because you made one hell of a gimmick," Ismene said.
Expensive they might be, but we needed to figure out a way to do it. While some things could be accomplished in the real world, most money and information flowed through the Network and the ability to exert force there was the kind of power that really mattered.
"You're a gimmick too, Ismene. My faithful companion nymph and an artificial intelligence. Does the Collective have any sponsored heroes?" I asked.
"They don't. You'd really want me to replace Billy?"
"You are my oldest and dearest friend. You know that," I said.
Aphrodite appeared, standing near the gun bench halfway between me and Ismene. She didn't have the look of a hologram, in every way she appeared flesh and blood.
"Ismene?" I said.
"I see her. Signaling the others. The internal sensors all agree she's here," Ismene said.
Aphrodite gave a low chuckle and stepped forward, uncomfortably close so that she could brush her lips across my cheek. Close enough to feel the heat of her breath and the warmth of her body.
"I'm very good at what I do. Do not be surprised. You were already figuring out how deeply I'd infiltrated your systems. It is worse than you'd feared," Aphrodite said.
Either she'd somehow slipped into the base unnoticed—no easy feat— or she wasn't here at all and toying with our sensors as well as with my own nervous system to project this image. It was important to know which.
I punched her in the face, or at least I tried. Despite my Olympian reflexes driving the blow impossibly fast, she grabbed my wrist with a powerful grip.
An illusion, then. A brilliant one. I'd been in enough fights against other Olympians to know their reflexes. Hers were too quick, too perfect.
"Did I ever truly meet you at all?" I asked.
Aphrodite didn't seem offended by the question. Rather, she beamed a smile at me as one might a small child who has said something particularly clever.
"I set you on your way and gave you a quest. People have died for what was put in motion. Of course we've met, in every way that truly matters," Aphrodite said.
"You're not human," Ismene said, circling Aphrodite. "The Collective were afraid of you. You're one of us, aren't you?"
Aphrodite gave a pointed look to Ismene. "None of us in this room are human. Not anymore. I didn't come to discuss me, I came to prod you. You're taking too long solving my next clue."
"We lost the sphere," I said.
Aphrodite shook her head. "Really? You think that little piece of hardware was what I sent you to find? Just because fools value something doesn't mean it is valuable."
If it wasn't the stolen hardware, then it had to be something that we still had in our possession. That could only be the data in the buffer.
"Feel free to give us a clue," I said.
Aphrodite said, "If I give you the clue, it defeats the purpose of the game. Solve my puzzle or I bring out the claws."
She snapped her fingers and vanished in a flare of pink light.
It was showy, I gave her that.
"Wake Inanna up and get her into the lab. You two have some work to do," I said.
"I'm still working out a way to block her," Ismene said.
It was a worthwhile task, but I worried if it was even possible. As maybe another AI, Aphrodite could be aware of Ismene's every thought, which meant as she was just as aware of mine.
Any clever ideas to protect ourselves from Aphrodite were never coming to us, because she erased them from our minds as soon as they occurred to anyone.
It was daunting to watch Ismene and Inanna work in the lab. I wondered if this was how the others felt watching me in a fight. I was smart, but they were each truly on a different level and when they got together they were so much better than either was individually.
Even so it took a good twelve hours of back and forth before they had something.
"You're going to want to look at this," Ismene said, activating the center console.
A holographic display sprang to life. It showed a circling image of a nude form that could have been a more physically fit version of Aphrodite. Aphrodite was more rounded, while this figure had more the build of a gymnast. Genetic sequences flashed as well as a name, Galatea.
"I recognize that name. Our victory over the Collective in that contest was supposed to free her," I said.
"She is magnificent. Totally unlikable, but then I'd never gotten a look at her insides," Inanna said, looking over the display in admiration. I didn't think it was in any way sexual, there was something too professional to her tone.
"She looks like Aphrodite," I said.
"You don't know how weird that is," Ismene said. In contrast to Inanna, my friend didn't sound admiring at all, she sounded shaken.
"Tell me," I said.
"This woman looks completely human. Fingers and toes, and even a useless belly button, but you shouldn't believe it," Ismene said.
"It isn't quite so bad as Ismene makes it sound. Most of the roots I see are human," Inanna said.
"Chimpanzees share roughly ninety-five percent of their DNA with humans. This girl is less than that," Ismene said.
"So if she isn't human, what is she? And why does Aphrodite want to show us and everyone in the world this?" I asked.
"I don't know what she is, but we couldn't have done this on Olympus and we were the best. I always thought we were the best. This is beyond me," Ismene said, sounding tired and scared.
"And there I think you have your answer. The same reason we got sent to that facility in the first place," Inanna said.
There was much that she wasn't saying, but she had to be right. This had to do with the knowledge we'd seen in the complex. Technology that surpassed what was supposed to be the cutting edge today.
"There are upgrades here too, for you, I think. If you want them. I don't think you should," Ismene said.
"Blood-related, and I suspect not coincidentally related to Galatea. The alterations would give you far better endurance and clotting abilities when injured," Inanna said.
Another gift to make me a little less human, and perhaps a little more like this organic version of Aphrodite. No, I didn't think it was any kind of coincidence.
"Do it," I said. "The last time we did this we got a clue as to where to go next. Did we get anything of the sort this time?"
"You're strong enough already. You shouldn't keep doing this to yourself," Ismene said, before gesturing and sending the hologram of Galatea away to be replaced with one of a map. "Galatea has a biological network interface of her own, better than yours. The data had a bit extra in it so that we can track her."
Aphrodite wanted us to find Galatea. I knew at once Galatea must be in trouble, because Aphrodite was impatient for us to solve this puzzle.
"Where?" I asked.
A blinking light appeared. It was close, not more than ten kilometers away.
"A warehouse at the Ferris spaceport," Ismene said.
I couldn't help but to wince at that. Spaceports were the gateways to the orbital stations and heavily patrolled by corporate security. A few common areas were defended in mutual interest, while individual warehouses were well-defended fiefdoms.