2 Change in Management

by RJ Johnson

  Meade rolled with the punches and kicks, hoping to find some relief from the onslaught. Laszlo’s invisibility camo gave him an edge, but without a weapon, the warlord would be hard pressed to kill Meade outright. Unfortunately he didn’t have to. All Laszlo had to do was keep going until he was knocked out or otherwise made vulnerable.

  Meade took another solid hit on the chin and crumpled to the ground. He knew he had to keep moving and something had to change, otherwise he was going to be staring at the wrong end of a pine box. He felt Laszlo kick at him mercilessly and his training kicked in.

  Instead of relying on his vision, he decided to rely on the timing of Laszlo’s blows. He might have been invisible, but the warlord was a lousy fighter, never mixing up techniques or timing.

  Meade felt a sharp kick to his ribs that sucked the breath right out of him. He cried out in pain and knew that Laszlo was going to try and finish him. Meade heard Laszlo’s labored breathing and the scuff of his foot as he drew back to kick at his head again. Instead, he turned suddenly and grabbed Laszlo’s invisible foot, twisting the ankle sharply to the left.

  Laszlo shouted in surprise and pain as he was twisted unceremoniously down to the floor. Meade pressed his advantage, holding onto the ankle of Laszlo so as to keep track of where the man was. He struck down at Laszlo’s kidneys and was rewarded with several painful grunts. Meade kept punching and crying out in frustration until he felt his fist impact something solid. Laszlo reappeared in front of him, a bloody and bruised mess.

  Meade stood, and drunkenly walked towards Cassandra. He looked up at the monstrous machine and saw that the full algorithm was still displayed on there, waiting for him to write it down. He imagined for a moment, controlling the lives of everyone he knew, turning their lives into something better. No one would know what he did with this moment. He could control it all if he wanted. All he needed to do was take it.

  “Do it…” Corcoran whispered. Meade jerked his head back towards the Ambassador who was staring at him hungrily. “You know you want the power just as desperately as I did. How could you resist it? Imagine Mr. Meade, you could see everything about your future. Your lover, the pitfalls, the path of humanity, how you die… the questions of life are yours to answer should you so desire.”

  Meade glanced back at the machine and for a moment, considered what the Ambassador was saying.

  He looked up at the monitor and back at the Ambassador. He thought about what Captain Gonzalez looked like in Enzeli. He recalled what the devastating crash of the Madera looked like and all the civilians who lost their lives. He thought about the loss of Chau’s brother and the killing of a man whose only sin was loving a woman and expecting the Coalition to live up to its end of the bargain. He thought about all those things that the Ambassador did with Cassandra and he made a decision.

  He took off Sarah’s ArmBar and approached the Ambassador, she smiled, relieved. He leaned up and whispered in her ear, “Power isn’t a plaything Ambassador. It’s to be respected and used wisely, and from what I’ve seen about Humanity the last few days is that we just ain’t ready for this.”

  He yanked Corcoran’s ArmBar off her forearm and approached the woozy Laszlo. Meade kneeled down next to the prostrate Warlord and removed the bejeweled ArmBar from him. Laszlo tried to resist, but a baby would have been able to put up a bigger fight.

  Meade gathered the three ArmBars together and began typing quickly on Sarah’s loaner to him. He didn’t like damaging other people’s property, but in the service of destroying Cassandra, it was likely that Sarah would get over it.

  Besides, he’d get her a new one, just had to figure out how to pay for it first.

  He networked the three ArmBars together and wrapped them up. Meade pressed enter on Sarah’s ArmBar and tossed the bundle of overloading ArmBars into the middle of Cassandra’s server farm deep within the cavern’s reservoir of water.

  Corcoran saw what he was doing and began to struggle against her bonds screaming in protest. The high pitch whine began to echo through the cavern and Meade purposely walked back towards the Ambassador releasing her from her restraints. But after the torture Laszlo put her through she was far too weak to put up a fight. She couldn’t resist as he put her over his shoulder and began to run for the exit.

  Just as he reached the entrance to the underground server, a chime resounded through the room. Meade refused to look back. He was tired of hearing about the future.

  What he didn’t see, was the bright screen of Cassandra once again predicting the Ambassador’s future. Only this time, no one was listening.

  Ambassador Andromeda Corcoran dies in thirty minutes.

  The whine began to grow louder and louder behind him and he knew that was his cue. He dashed up the stairs taking them as quickly as he dared with the Ambassador jostling roughly over his shoulder. Thanks to the potent power cells they used, ArmBar overloads were extremely violent explosions and three going off at the same time would be the kind of boom no one who wanted to survive stayed near.

  Laszlo stumbled to his feet and saw that he was alone in the cave. He covered his ears against the loud whine that was now echoing through the cave. He stared down at Cassandra and saw the three trussed up ArmBars that were about to overload. He turned to run but was too late.

  The explosion expanded through the cave quickly, and the last thing Laszlo saw was a message on the huge display screen that he swore was meant for him.

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Meade emerged out of the Ambassador’s palace with Corcoran slung around his neck staring at a bank of drones and Coalition MPs all aiming their powerful weapons at him. He slowly raised his hands and Corcoran slumped to the ground.

  “Howdy fellas, did I miss anything good?”

  The MPs rushed forward and gathered the Ambassador off the ground. Meade expected to be immediately arrested and put in an Aerovan on a direct course back to Enzeli, so he was surprised to see the cuffs go around Corcoran’s wrists instead of his own.

  Emeline burst through the crowd and rushed up to Meade, hugging him tight, “Jesus Meade, don’t you ever scare me like that again!”

  Meade saw Kansas on the edge of the crowd, his hat low against his head and high powered rifle slung around his back. He raised his hand in thanks and Kansas returned the salute. He nodded towards Emeline who was still stuck around him in a hug and he took off, away from the Coalition MPs who would likely have a lot of questions about his involvement with them. Kansas and the MiMs didn’t need that kind of heat and Meade would do what he could to keep the lanky cowboy out of it.

  “You finished risking your life?” Emeline asked, drawing away.

  “I’m not sure,” Meade said nervously. He saw a Coalition Alpha approach and he tensed up, but the Alpha wasn’t shouting or threatening to arrest him so he kept his hands off his gauss pistol for the moment.

  “Mr. Meade?” The MP said sticking his hand out, the man had a friendly face and dimpled jaw, “John Washington, I’m the Alpha in charge of local Coalition affairs. We all saw what happened on the roof. William Hugh was a damn fine man and a hero to the Coalition. It was a shame to lose him.”

  Meade took the man’s hand shaking it slowly, “I’m sorry John, I dunno if you noticed, but the Coalition hasn’t exactly been playing friendly with me lately.”

  John Washington laughed, the lines around his eyes crinkling, “So we understand. I wouldn’t worry about those bogus charges - the situation has been adequately explained by Lieutenant Gonzalez. Her testimony along with what everyone saw on the roof and in the arena should go a long way in clearing things up.”

  Meade felt relief flow through him, in all the excitement, he forgot to ask how Sarah was, “Is Sarah alive? Is she OK?”

  “Lieutenant Gonzalez will make it,” Captain Washington said with a glimmer in her eye, “You did the Coalition a service here and the record will reflect that. For one, you can rest assured that you are no longer wanted for felony smuggling.”

&nb
sp; “And here I was just getting used to having the reputation of a drug lord,” Meade said.

  “Better than the reputation you used to have,” Emeline added.

  Washington’s face grew serious, “Apparently you were framed by Hugh in an attempt to pick you up and keep from damaging his plans of assassinating the Ambassador. I haven’t been fully briefed by the Coalition about what this whole Cassandra thing was, but apparently the drug charges were a part of Hugh’s plan to neutralize you as a variable. If you were out of the way, the Ambassador couldn’t use you for her plans.”

  “He covered up the Madera’s crash and framed Sarah’s father too, didn’t he?”

  Washington’s face fell again and he looked nervous for the first time, “We’re all… ahh… looking into it.”

  “So he wasn’t exactly the grand hero you wished he was? Harder to create that narrative that he’s some big damn hero when he was just as crooked as the Ambassador,” Emeline shot at Washington. He looked properly chastised.

  “Hugh was doing what he felt he needed so he could keep one of the most devastating weapons ever out of that nutcases’ hands,” Washington protested.

  “Greater good and all that huh? Lying to the people is just the price of business I guess?” Emeline said her disgust evident.

  “People need heroes and villains Ms. Hunan,” Washington replied coolly, “And if I want any chance of stopping those riots that are about to get out of control out there, I need to give the people both.”

  Emeline was furious, and Meade decided to change the subject before she became any more disillusioned about the Coalition.

  He glanced over at the team of medical professionals busying themselves over the Ambassador, “What’s going to happen to her?”

  “Corcoran?” Washington shrugged, “Officially we take her in to debrief her about this Cassandra program she installed and figure out how to unfuck everything she’s done. The Coalition is going to make this right.”

  Meade rolled his eyes, he didn’t have a lot of faith in the Coalition, but he’d been wrong before, “Pardon my skepticism, but I’ve heard things like this before.”

  “Whether you believe me or not, I’m going to make it a priority,” Washington promised him.

  “We’ll see,” Meade said skeptically, “In my experience, folk like her got to where they are because people owed them favors. When they fail, that’s their failure as well. She’ll pop up in a new position six months from now, that’s just how egos work in the Coalition. I’ve seen it a hundred times.”

  John Washington shook his head and extended his hand out to Meade once again, “I hope we can restore some faith in us for you then Mr. Meade.”

  Meade grunted and Emeline looked away. Washington took the hint, “Unless there’s anything else I can help you with, I should get moving to help debrief the Ambassador.”

  “Luck to ya, thanks for helping get my named cleared.”

  Washington nodded, turned on his heel and began barking orders at nearby MPs who were still milling around the Ambassador who was being attended to.

  Emeline looked up at him and back at the Ambassador, “You should’ve asked about my bar.”

  Meade looked at where the cavern had collapsed burying Laszlo under several tons of Martian bedrock. “I don’t think anyone’s gonna come calling on you about that debt.”

  They moved out towards the main street and got on their Aerocycles.

  “What now?” Emeline asked.

  “I’m thirsty,” Meade said, “How about we go get some of your whiskey to celebrate?”

  “Don’t you think you could use a MedCenter?”

  Meade winced at the thought of his bruised ribs and realized she had a point, “Fine, MedCenter first, then the whiskey.”

  “Now that sounds like an idea I can get behind,” Emeline commented starting up the Aerocycle. “But my bar’s still under Coalition lock and key remember?”

  “What about the Lucky Lady? We got to thank Roxanne for helping us out anyway.”

  Emeline started the Aerocycle, “Sounds good to me, but you’re paying.”

  “Correction,” Meade grinned and withdrew a shiny triangle disc. “It’s on Laszlo.”

  Emeline cocked her head, “Is that…?”

  “Laszlo’s DNA coder. I’m pretty sure this can get us as many free drinks at the Lucky Lady as we want.”

  Emeline grinned, “Letting a dead man pay for our drinks? That’s morbid even for you.”

  Meade shrugged, revving up his Aerocycle, “It ain’t like we got anything else to drink with.” He released the clutch and began flying up into the night sky, “Last one there buys the potato skins!”

  With that, they flew up and into the night in search of medical attention and bar food.

  Epilogue

  The AeroAmbulance flew through the New Plymouth traffic quickly, melting in and out of the traffic as if it didn’t exist.

  Inside the ambulance, Ambassador Andromeda Corcoran was singing softly to herself as she stared up at the ceiling. That runabout Meade may have thought he won, but she wasn’t going anywhere. Once her friends in the Coalition back on the Homeworld heard how she was arrested and treated so horribly, they’d fly in and make the situation all better.

  Once free, she would bring to bear her considerable resources to rebuild Cassandra, but this time, without the mistakes she made with her first generation model. Yes, she would be back, bigger and more powerful than ever and James Meade would be the first to die.

  She kept singing the folk song softly in the Ambulance using the melody to calm her nerves. It was something she had learned while a young child shortly after the Last War. Uncertain if Humanity would continue on at the time, her father had sung to her constantly, hoping that she would memorize the words so she could pass them along to the next generation. But as it is wont to do, humanity forged on, but it was nice to be able to sing so much from memory and she often used it as a way to calm herself when she felt lost.

  The Ambulance slowed and came to a halt. Corcoran didn’t look up or move. She expected that they were finally outside Coalition headquarters where they would take her back to the Homeworld for her trial and examination.

  The doors to the rear of the Ambulance opened and a familiar looking face entered. Corcoran squinted at him trying to place the face that was smiling at her, “I… I know you…”

  Palmetto nodded and withdrew a needle from inside his pocket, “I should think so, the Noctis has been running incredibly efficient since I took over. I had hoped to make a bigger impression on you and the New Plymouth citizens over time, but Cassandra assured me that this would be the quickest way to power.”

  Corcoran tried to sit up, but was prevented by the straps that were holding her down. Her eyes went wide when she heard Cassandra’s name, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Tut tut Ms. Corcoran,” Palmetto said. He stabbed the needle into her arm making her wince at the pain, “I have to admit, I didn’t think Meade capable. I really thought the man was going to screw it all up before the pieces could fall into place.” Palmetto replaced the needle in his vest and took off his gloves, pocketing them in his jacket. He withdrew a small aerosol bottle and sprayed, destroying any trace elements of his presence.

  “In fact,” Palmetto intoned lazily, “I thought about abandoning the attempt to become Ambassador to the Coalition, but Cassandra told me to stay true to her predictions and that I would be rewarded.”

  Corcoran understood, this man, this… warlord had been watching them all the whole time. Everything she thought she was doing to make her puppets dance had been nothing more than a construct of this man’s Machiavellian plan.

  “How…?” she croaked. The poison was beginning to work its way through her system.

  “Funnily enough, it was quite by accident I even learned about Cassandra,” Palmetto said, leaning up against the side of the ambulance. He was going to watch her die like some would watch an afternoon matinee. />
  “It literally fell from the sky. Mr. Meade’s ArmBar was unable to crack the encryption, but my people made short work of it. Once I discovered what you were up to, I removed myself from your system as to keep you from discovering my plans. I was able to hack into Cassandra and run the simulation that’s led us all to here. I never thought in a million years that such a thing could happen, but, well, here we are.”

  She felt her chest tighten and breathing become more difficult, Palmetto smiled sympathetically at the Ambassador.

  “I’m sorry I had to actually kill you. I had wondered if there was some way for me to claim your position after the secret of Cassandra was exposed to the whole world, but Cassandra was quite insistent that you needed to die in order for me to take your position. I can’t say that I understand completely how this whole computer program predicts everything it does so accurately, but I have to say I’m thoroughly impressed.” He clucked his tongue against his teeth.

  Corcoran stared up at him in wonder. Where did this man come from? Cassandra had never mentioned him at all to her, nor warned her of any impending assassination attempt from him.

  “It’s odd how life works,” Palmetto mused to himself. “The universe rewards you in the strangest ways if you have the balls to grab at the opportunities. One night you’re on your way home to sleep and trying to think of a thousand different solutions to the million bullshit problems of the Noctis Labyrinths.

  “And then you’re nearly running over a lowly runabout, who just so happens to have the key to the entire Coalition on his ArmBar.

  “Once I decoded what Cassandra was and how to use it…” he chuckled, “I went a little wild, I have to admit. It’s a pita that the only simulation that allowed me to take over had to have Mr. Meade blow up the actual constructed network of Cassandra. And with all your data deleted from the cloud, I suppose the secret of Cassandra dies with you. Pity really…”