by Cara Bristol
How could they be so sure? Maybe their disguises had loosened? Sonny casually touched his forehead.
The prosthesis is still in place, she said.
Throbbing?
Not bad. How’s mine?
Intact. Not throbbing much at all.
“How do you know?” Sonny asked.
“My cybersenses tell me so,” the doctor answered, and Mortin nodded.
Great. Another cyborg. Now there were two of them: Mortin and Cornar. The doctor rose from the table and paced around it. Sonny liked him better visible and seated—not that he’d liked him much to begin with. “Until you and Sumara disabled the guards”—Cornar glanced at Mortin before turning his attention back to Sonny—“and escaped, we assumed you were what you claimed to be: a man seeking a mating contract for his sister. After Kilead’s death, and when you overpowered Mortin, we realized you were something more. The Resistance has waited for the day when we would have an ally to help overthrow Lamani.”
“What made you so sure someone would come?” Amanda asked.
“We weren’t sure. But as Lamani grows more hated around the galaxy, we anticipated an invasion,” Mortin said.
Were these people for real, or was this is trap?
Sonny spread his hands. “Two lone individuals hardly qualify as an invasion. And your words are not only treason, they’re blasphemous, both of which are punishable by death.”
“Truth and freedom are worth fighting for, dying for,” Tannah spoke up. Her face was mottled with siska, scars gouged into her skin by her mate out of affection. Sonny glanced at Garvit. He had done this to her. Being an insurgent didn’t mean you rejected all your people’s customs. If he was an insurgent.
“We are cognizant of the risks. We are told what to believe, how to act. We dread stepping outside the lines that have been drawn for us and incurring the price.” Tannah punctuated her words with strident gestures. “So when we spend our lives afraid to live, there is little to fear of death.” Her tone and stare were as bold as her commentary, displaying none of apprehension or the submissiveness typical of females.
Amanda cocked her head and squinted, staring at Tannah. Does Tannah seem familiar to you?
No, but give me a sec. His cybernetic eyes recorded every person he encountered. He ran the woman’s features through his facial recognition program. Nada. She’s not in my database. Maybe you saw her in the halls at the compound? With more freedom to move, Amanda had come into contact with more people. Thanks to Mortin, Sonny had been confined to his quarters.
You’re probably right.
“We will risk everything to save our children,” chimed in Hala, Cornar’s mate. Of all the Lamis-Odg females he’d seen, she came closest to what would be considered attractive by species-centric Terran standards. Her expression was serene, her face unmarred. Large eyes, fringed by thick lashes, blinked shyly beneath an Odgidian ridge forming only a slight bump across her forehead. “False teachings will lead our children astray. If they do not follow the rightful path set by the Great One, the Merciful One, they will not enter the Blessed Beyond.” Her voice was soft and quiet, but her ridge reddened and pulsed with emotion.
“Whether our lives are hard or easy is not the concern. One can bear anything for a short time, and what we call life doesn’t amount to a second compared to eternity in the Blessed Beyond. But the Great One watches. If we do not please Him in this life, we shall not know the riches of the next.”
By her calculation, the omnipotent, omniscient Great One allows his creations one second to please him. If they fail, they’re doomed. Amanda said.
Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
Hala bowed her head, and her lips moved as if in prayer. No one spoke until she raised her face.
“Our varied reasons unite us in one common goal,” Mortin said.
“What do you want from us? Why are we here?” he said.
“We wish to assist you in your endeavor to defeat Lamani,” Mortin said. “The false prophet must be destroyed.”
“I’m a loyal citizen living off-planet hoping for a good match for my sister.” He wasn’t ready to admit anything yet. They could guess, but they couldn’t know for sure.
“Who scans as human and cyborg,” Cornar said.
The osteoknitter! He’d had a feeling. Sonny flexed his knee under the table. At least he had two working legs again.
Though these people claimed to be Resistance fighters, they could be setting them up—although it was unlikely Lamis-Odg would go to so much trouble. They had them in custody; they could execute them and be done with it.
Unless Sorviq sought information about the organization that had sent them. Perhaps he reasoned since they’d gotten in, others would follow. It probably would happen. If Cy-Ops knew agents could be embedded, HQ would send in more.
But, if this group did oppose Lamani, what a break! What an advantage it would be to have sympathizers on the inside.
“How can we believe you?” Amanda voiced the foremost question.
“We haven’t handed you over for assassination,” Mortin replied, and then looked at Sonny. “We mended your leg.”
“You kept me imprisoned in my quarters, and you shot me with a photon blaster,” Sonny said.
“I didn’t know you were Terran and had come to assassinate Kilead,” Mortin said. “You left me and the other guard in a compromising position. Thank the Great One I awakened and we were not discovered.”
Sonny shrugged. “We didn’t know you were plotting to overthrow Lamani.”
Mortin stared at him for a moment then said, “You may have discovered electromagnetic signals are jammed. Communication on- or off-planet is forbidden.”
Now we know why we can’t contact Carter, Amanda said.
“Our people are kept in ignorance of the atrocities committed by Lamani and his generals,” Cornar added. “They believe the propaganda because it is the only information they receive.”
“Many people reside on space stations and outposts,” Amanda pointed out. “They encounter other species. They can observe.”
“Only well-connected, proven loyalists and their mates are permitted off-planet. None of us has ever left.”
“So what opened your eyes? Why have you rebelled?” she asked.
“We have all been victimized by the regime,” Garvit spoke up. “When I was a child, guards arrested my father and executed him in the street in front of my mother and me.”
“Why?”
“We were not told. They do not need a reason.”
Cornar swept his hand over the assemblage. “We all have similar stories.”
“What’s yours?” Amanda asked.
“I’m a physician. I have seen the barbarity committed against dissidents and citizens. I cannot believe that is what the Great One wants.” He paused. “And, I’m cyborg.”
What did being a cyborg have to do with it? “So?” Sonny arched his eyebrows. The prosthetic ridge pulled tight against his forehead.
“Lamani uses technology to his advantage. I was selected for a program to determine the optimal age of cybernetic transformation. At six years old, I underwent modification. Titanium bones provide remarkable strength and endurance—but the one thing they cannot do is grow. As I matured, multiple surgeries were necessary to replace limbs. My transformation was painful and involuntary.”
Sonny knew the pain. His augmentation had been excruciating at times. But cyber modification had been his choice, and the transformation had extended his lease on life. Nothing had been forced upon him. To experiment on a healthy, normal child was unconscionable. “I can see where your experience might alter your perspective,” he said.
Cornar took his seat and folded his hands. “Because I am a cyborg, I’ve had glimpses of the outside.”
“How?” Amanda asked.
“On a few occasions, I intercepted AOP communiqués and discovered contradictions in what Lamani was telling us.”
Sonny sat straighter in his chair. “How
?”
“Transmissions to and from the homeland are blocked, but they had to lower the firewall so Kilead could confer with his father. I tapped into an AOP data stream on a couple of occasions.”
“The jamming signals are sometimes lowered?” Sonny glanced at Amanda. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
We could get a message to Carter!
“Not anymore.” Cornar shook his head. “Once they realized the vulnerability, they relegated communication to a single location: a relay station on Mount Torva. All messages to and from this planet pass through there.” The physician assessed Sonny with narrowed eyes. “You wish to send a message—to transmit the data from Kilead’s PerComm. We can help you get there.”
Amanda gave a slight jerk. They know about the PerComm, too!
The breadth of their knowledge could be advantageous or disastrous. Bad, if they weren’t who they claimed to be, but good if they were. It showed the opposition had resources and power. “Why would you help us?”
Cornar leaned forward. “You are the first to arrive and our opportunity to try to defeat Lamani.” He glanced at the others around the table. “We are willing to take the chance and trust you. Can you do the same?”
“How far is Torva?” Sonny asked.
“Three days walk.”
“So less than an hour by PeeVee.”
“Only PeeVees of high officials are allowed in the restricted zone. Others would be shot down,” Mortin said. “You will need to go on foot. But we can assist you.”
This might be our only chance, Amanda said.
“I can tell you still don’t trust us,” Mortin said. “You should know that Borqit”—he gestured to one of the two men who had remained silent throughout the discussion—“appeared first on the crime scene. He found the body.”
“And?” Sonny asked.
“Because I’m with the Resistance,” Borqit said, “I used the opportunity to examine Kilead’s PerComm. My background is in computer programming and analysis. When you downloaded the data, it left a marker. I had a hunch whoever had killed him was on our side—or at least could benefit the Resistance. I erased the marker and delayed sounding the alarm of his death for as long as I dared. If I had notified Sorviq immediately when I found the body, you would never have gotten out of the residence.”
“You’d both be dead,” Mortin said. “Even though you did Sorviq a favor.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sorviq is Lamani al-duban. As the second son, he had a slim chance of ascending to power. Now he’s first in line. He’ll use you as scapegoats to deepen the hatred against off-worlders and gain his father’s favor. In the people’s eyes, he will have pleased The Great One.”
Holy crap did I mess up, she said. I changed the political structure of a planet.
No, you didn’t. Cy-Ops might get a mole of out this. Six moles. Maybe more.
“So we figured you want to get the information you acquired to your people,” Borqit said.
“If Lamani is not stopped soon, we will incur the wrath of the entire galaxy. We cannot win an interplanetary war. All will suffer.” Mortin’s ridge pulsed.
Cornar leaned forward. “We’re asking for your help.”
Sonny looked at Amanda. She nodded. Since we know about the relay station, it’s a given we’ll go there, Amanda said. I don’t entirely trust them, but if they can help us…
“We’ll do it,” Sonny said. “Can you get us off the planet?”
Mortin shook his head. “You would be apprehended the instant you set foot on the shuttleport.”
“Then how do we get home?”
“You can’t,” Cornar said. “But, if the Great One is on your side, you’ll be able transmit your information. We’ll do what we can to move you between safe houses, but eventually you’ll be captured.”
Not if. When. “Won’t helping us risk all of you?” Sonny asked.
Heads around the table nodded.
“As people admit their discontent, the number of dissidents and insurrection sympathizers grows. We take comfort that Lamani cannot eliminate the groundswell of opposition, but we accept most likely everyone at this table will die. If one of us is apprehended…” Cornar shook his head. “Not even a cyborg can withstand Lamis-Odg torture techniques. We won’t be able to avoid betraying one another.”
Chapter Fourteen
Amanda rebalanced the supply pack Hala had prepared and peered into the pitch-black tunnel. The only lighting would be the glow sticks they carried, but they would suffice. Nanocytes enhanced photoreceptors, sharpening her night vision, and Sonny’s cybernetic eyes enabled him to see like a cat.
“We haven’t finished excavation, but the completed portion will give you a solid head start,” Cornar explained. “I wish I could escort you to the end, but this is as far as I dare to go.”
They’d spent the night at the safe house. Sonny’s leg was fully healed, they’d been briefed on the layout and staffing of the Mt. Torva relay station, and they’d received coordinates to another safe house where they could hide afterwards. She didn’t necessarily desire Cornar’s company, but why leave them now? “Why can’t you accompany us?”
“We assume Sorviq will continue the practice of roll calls to keep tabs on the citizenry. Given what has transpired, I expect there will be one soon. I’m the residence physician. If I am not where I am supposed to be…” He spread his hands. “But Tannah can guide you through the most difficult part. We designed the section beneath the city to be labyrinthine to circumnavigate the areas of greatest danger, and to give us a chance to lose our pursuers if we were ever followed. So it is quite tricky, and you will need assistance to ensure you don’t get lost.”
“You wouldn’t be missed in a roll call?” Amanda asked Tannah.
The woman shook her head. “Roll call of females is far less likely, but because it is a risk, I can only lead you part of the way. I must return in case my absence is noticed.”
Her assertion rang true. Amanda had had greater freedom to roam about the compound than Sonny. The lack of attention paid to women had enabled the mate of a key general to escape from his space station outpost and defect to Terra. The general and his direct reports had spoken freely around Janai, not considering her a threat. The discussions she’d overheard and shared with Cy-Ops had enabled this mission.
“The relative anonymity of females makes them an invaluable asset to the Resistance,” Cornar said.
For the hand that rocks the cradle, is the hand that rules the world, she quoted a centuries-old Terran poem.
Apropos, Sonny agreed. Mothers have the power to shape the future by what they teach their children.
Unfortunately, they’re teaching the myths of their religion, which maintains the power status quo.
And it requires a generation to effect change. Even if they all wised up, time has run out. If Lamani isn’t eliminated soon, war will result.
Even the idealistic, diplomatic Association of Planets could only be pushed so far. To hear Sonny voice her fears weighted them with urgency. They had to get the intel to Cy-Ops. Failure was not an option. As long as Lamani lived, terror would continue.
Millions will die if we go to war, she said.
On both sides. The Resistance understands the stakes.
Lamis-Odg as a whole does not. They assume divine providence will assure their victory.
Too bad for them the Great One is a figment of their imaginations, Sonny said.
They could pray to a pretend god all they wanted. War would cause real, permanent deaths. There would be no ticket to the Blessed Beyond for the casualties.
“The tunnel will take you a good distance before the drones come,” Cornar said.
Sonny looked at him. “Drones?”
“Spy bots. Each of us is tagged at birth with an ID transmitter so they can locate us during roll call. They also use drones to conduct specific and random sweeps. Generally, if you don’t call attention to yourself or give them a reason to loo
k for you, you won’t be targeted. Citizens of the lowest ranks are the most anonymous, so they have the most freedom. However, if you are caught in a sweep and discovered to be somewhere you’re not supposed to be…” Cornar shook his head then narrowed his eyes. “You must have been fitted with a chip. Otherwise you would not have been admitted to the homeland.”
Amanda fingered the inside of her arm. Cy-Ops had provided their ID chips then hacked into the Lamis-Odg database on one of its space station outposts and entered the serial numbers. They could be tracked, too. “What if we remove the chip?”
“You won’t show up on a scan, but if you’re apprehended without ID, you’ll be presumed to be an enemy of the state. It’s punishable by death.”
“But if a drone hones in on us, we’ll be caught and executed,” she said.
“If Sorviq had it programmed to search for you, which you should assume he has, yes.”
Capital punishment seemed to be the Lamis-Odg answer to everything.
I vote to remove the chip, Sonny said. We don’t want to be caught by a drone before we reach Torva.
“Can drones track us in the tunnel?” she asked.
“No,” Cornar replied. “Scanners can’t penetrate the sandstone. Since Sorviq doesn’t know where to start the search, the drones will begin at the compound and then expand outward in a circular pattern. I doubt he will expect you to head for Mt. Torva. He doesn’t know you’re off-worlders. By using the tunnel, you should be able to get ahead of the drones. But, if you don’t keep moving, eventually they’ll catch up with you.”
Great, they would be hunted by aerial spy bots. Unless…Sonny scratched his chin.
What are you thinking?
We plant a false trail. Deposit the chips somewhere to throw them off our track.
Good idea!
“Ready?” Sonny looked at her.
“Let’s do it!”
Cornar ducked his chin to his chest and moved his lips in silent prayer. He raised his head. “Glory to the Great One. This is the day we have spent our lives planning for. May He watch over you on your journey.”
“Glory to the Great One,” Tannah repeated.