Ascendancy

by Karri Thompson

  “Travel Carson. Unfortunately he was killed in a hover craft accident just after Victoria was born.”

  That was one of the lies the region’s presidents asked Michael and me to perpetuate. At first, I didn’t want to. Why not let everyone know that President Gifford drove Travel to commit suicide and then tried to cover it up? But Dolly didn’t need to be privy to the fact that Travel had a mental breakdown, especially since, in her mind, Victoria would probably end up mentally unstable, too.

  “Oh, yes, I do remember that detail. That is such a shame.” Dolly placed her hand on Michael’s shoulder and downed the rest of her mimosa, tilting back her head. “Was the insemination natural or artificial, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Artificial.” And yeah, I did mind.

  As a waitress came by with a tray of champagne glasses, Dolly and Michael replaced their empty flutes and took fresh glasses filled nearly to the brim.

  Dolly kept her hand upon Michael’s shoulder and shifted her weight so he was practically supporting her when she took sips. “Isn’t it tasty?”

  Hands off, chick! Didn’t Michael tell you that I was his girlfriend?

  “Yeah, it is.” His cheeks had become ruddy and his eyes glazed. What was that—his second or third glass? Two sips and I could already feel its effects

  “Michael and I are looking forward to reuniting with our daughters tomorrow,” I announced with a smile and tilt of my head.

  “Your daughters?” Dolly placed her free hand over her heart, and as she brought her glass to her lips, her hand trembled, sloshing drops of mimosa onto the marble floor.

  “I gave birth to twin girls three years ago. Michael is their biological father.”

  Wasn’t she going to ask me if it was a natural or artificial insemination? I’d lie about that, and hope he’d go along with it. But instead, she choked on her next sip and clapped her hand against her chest three times.

  “Oh, I didn’t know about that. They’re arriving here tomorrow?”

  “You must have forgotten that detail, too. I’m sure it was in the report. They’re referred to as VW2 and VW3.”

  “No, it wasn’t in the report. I’m sure of it.” She fluffed her hair with her hand, shook her head, and sighed. “My team is currently simulating future bloodlines and a genealogical chart based on predicted births from you and Victoria. Adding two additional females changes everything. It makes no sense that we weren’t told.”

  My face became hot and my limbs stiffened. If Heath knew about our daughters, why wouldn’t his genetics team have been informed, especially with VW2 and VW3 playing such significant roles in the VW process? It doesn’t make sense. Maybe Michael and I weren’t the only ones being fed lies.

  “Michael, I think Prime Minster Heath wants to introduce us to some additional members of his cabinet. It was nice meeting you, Dolly,” I said as I pulled Michael away by his sleeve.

  “Who?” he asked. “We’ve already met everyone who’s here.”

  “Just stick with me and Victoria, okay?” I set my hand on Michael’s shoulder exactly the way Dolly had, but in doing so, drew him to my side and slipped my arm around his waist. I murmured, “I’m nervous that Dolly didn’t know about the twins. Doesn’t that seem odd to you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Geez, Michael, come back to your senses. How many mimosas did you drink? You know they contained real alcohol, right? Follow me, lightweight.”

  “Lightweight?” he asked with a slight slur.

  To our left, a door led to a short hallway that ended with a door leading to the restroom. The hall was empty and dimly lit, its oak-paneled walls making it even more private.

  “Mia, please wait at the end of the hall for us. I need to speak to Michael alone.”

  She took three steps backward and stopped, but took three more after I continued to stare in her direction. What was up with them?

  The SEC bots that followed stood in attention behind her. Her hand remained where it had been most of the time since our arrival at the governor’s mansion—resting against something in her pocket.

  After I positioned the stroller next to my side, Michael gently pushed me up against the wall and held me with his hands against my back, his lips close to mine. “So you want to be alone with me,” he joked. “That might be dangerous.”

  “I do, but not because I—”

  His lips hit mine, a full kiss that included his tongue.

  “Michael, please,” I said, forcing myself to push him away. “This isn’t the time or place for making out.”

  “Why not? Nobody’s watching.” He returned his hands to my waist. “Well, actually, Mia is, but who cares.” He smiled.

  “Because right now,” I whispered while pulling his hands from my hips, “we have something else to worry about.”

  “What?”

  “The fact that Dolly didn’t know about our girls. I think we should question the Prime Minister about it first, and then we should confront Shen-Lung.”

  “Fine. If that’s what you want to do, we’ll do it!” he shouted, backing away from me and holding up his hands. It was the first time he’d raised his voice to me. But it didn’t bother me. The combination of authentic alcohol and sexual frustration had played negatively upon him. But I knew it was also something else. Michael wasn’t the same guy I met when I was awakened just under a year ago. The calm reality of his world was gone, and with each day he grew to understand and experience this first hand. I could only imagine how that raw truth could play upon his emotions.

  “Where are Shen-Lung and Tupolev?” I wondered. Prime Minister Heath was in the center of the room puffing on a cigar, and Harrington was standing next to the table of opened presents I’d received. Harrington had taken Claus, the ancient fertility statue I’d received, and held him up like it was a trophy. What the hell did he think he was doing?

  “Ignore him,” said Michael when he saw Harrington.

  The odor from Heath’s cigar drifted into my airspace as we approached the prime minister, bringing me back to my grandfather’s house in Connecticut. Several members of parliament stood about Heath and parted as Michael and I approached. Victoria was still snug and sound asleep in her stroller.

  “Only on special occasions,” said Heath, as he lifted his cigar. “As you can imagine, tobacco is hard to come by here in Autonomy. There’s one private grower, and his stock is limited and in high demand. The tobacco industry died on the mainland after the plague, and even if it hadn’t, the presidents would never agree to have it added to our trade agreements.” He chuckled.

  “Would you like to try a cigar, Dr. Bennett?” asked the prime minster, flipping open a hinged silver box inlaid with a golden Tasmanian devil.

  “Sure, thank—”

  “Excuse me, Prime Minister,” interrupted Mia as the prime minister handed Michael a cigar, “but I need to ask you not smoke in the vicinity of VW4. Tobacco smoke is dangerous to her health.” Mia stepped in front of Heath and stood with her hands on her hips and her feet apart.

  VW4? The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Her name was Victoria. That was the first time I’d ever heard Mia refer to Victoria as VW4. That made me even more determined to defy her.

  “A whiff from a cigar won’t hurt her, Mia. Besides, the smoke isn’t even reaching Victoria’s stroller,” I said. “But I’ll take Victoria and go to the other side of the room if that’ll make you happy.” There was no reason to cause a scene.

  “No, Miss Dannacher, please stay,” interrupted Heath. “I’ll extinguish my cigar. There will be many more celebrations in the future now that you’re here.” He snapped the cigar case closed, and the golden devil flashed under the lights of the chandelier above our heads. He nodded to a servant, who used a small hand-held device to cut the end of Michael’s cigar and then light it while Michael awkwardly sucked the other end.

  “Is the Tasmanian devil still the unofficial symbol of this land, Prime Minister?” I asked as Michael walk
ed to the other side of the room to puff on his cigar and talk to Dolly.

  “Indeed it is,” he said, setting his cigar in a shallow, golden bowl so it could burn itself out. “Like us, there were times when the species struggled to survive, and like us, their population has finally re-stabilized. You can see one now if you like. Come with me.”

  Heath pushed a button on the wall and a thick curtain at one end of the room retracted to reveal an animal enclosure behind a thick sheet of glass. The tank included a small tree, man-made rock cave, and a floor showered with dirt, leaves, and twigs. The back wall, also constructed of glass, let in the afternoon sun and gave those who ventured outside a view of the unusual and feisty creature.

  “Devils are solitary, nocturnal animals. He’s asleep in his shelter, but soon he’ll discover we’re here and—”

  A black creature the size of a small dog scurried from its faux-rock shelter and plummeted against the glass, causing me to draw in a quick breath and push Victoria’s stroller away to my right.

  The creature snarled and squealed, pig-like, its sharp teeth sparkling, its long tail tucked stiffly between its legs, and in the next moment it pounced again. Grinding its claws against the glass, it backed away and lowered onto its haunches for another strike.

  “A very impressive animal,” I said as Heath closed the curtain.

  “Yes, they are aggressive and stubborn, a creature with great tenacity and the resolve to survive against all odds. That’s why I like them.” He winked.

  I studied Heath. Unlike the Tasmanian Devil, Heath was crippled when it came to Autonomy’s defenses. If Autonomy was bitten, it couldn’t bite back like this ferocious marsupial. That’s probably the real reason why Heath liked the devil—it was everything he wanted his great country to be.

  We walked away from the devil’s lair, and just as I was about to ask Heath why Dolly didn’t know about my twins, a strange shadow passed me to the right. At first I thought it was Mia, ready to tell me to take Victoria away from the curtained tank, in case the toothed beast escaped from its glass cage, but then I realized it came from outside. The figure appeared once again at one of the windows and then vanished as quickly as it had come.

  “Did you see that, Prime Minister?” I asked as I backed away from the wall, keeping Victoria behind me. I glanced at two members of Heath’s security team, but they appeared as oblivious as Heath.

  “See what?” he asked casually as the governor approached, drawing the prime minister’s attention away from me.

  As I rode up onto my toes to get a good look out the window, Michael strolled toward me with a forced smile. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

  “I’m just feeling a little sick.” He held up his extinguished cigar. “I guess you’re not supposed to inhale.” He made a face and tucked the cigar into his tunic pocket.

  The dark, shadowy form of a person reappeared, passing along the window beside me and then ducking away. “Okay, now I know I’m not seeing things. There’s someone sneaking around outside.”

  Michael seemed unconcerned.

  “Where did Mia go?” I asked, looking right and left. “That’s weird. She never leaves my side. And where’s Harrington?” Claus was back in his case, but the case’s door was still open, and Harrington was nowhere to be seen.

  “I don’t know. Maybe Mia had to go to the lady’s room, and she’ll be—”

  Ping, Ping, Ping! Ping! A torrent of laser shots broke though the sound of piano music and casual conversation. Pop, Pop, Pop! Gunshots from Heath’s team followed.

  “Grab Victoria and get down!” shouted Michael.

  One scoop of my arm and Victoria was against my chest, now wide awake and breaking into a wail, matching the screams of Heath’s fleeing staff. Michael rose to throw his body over mine, and we came down simultaneously as another cascade of shots met their targets. Landing on my forearms to keep a safe distance between Victoria and the marble floor, I lifted my head to find the laser beams’ victims.

  The smell of burned, synthetic cotton filled my sinuses as laser shots singed through tunics and uniforms. My heart grew sick and my body shook as adrenaline entered my blood stream and my pulse spiked.

  One scan of the room and I knew this wasn’t a random attack, but a calculated and precisely timed assault against pre-chosen victims. There were four initial shots, followed by five more, and then six. The scene before me contained the same number of casualties—members from the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, and Heath’s security team, whose antiquated guns were no match against self-guiding laser bullets. They were dead, and two more would join them if they didn’t receive immediate medical attention: the prime minister and governor.

  Cradling Victoria below me, I crawled out from under Michael toward the ailing Prime Minister.

  “Cassie, stay down,” said Michael. I felt his grip upon my heel, and I kicked it away.

  “Prime Minister,” I said when I reached his body.

  He was slumped against the curtain that concealed the native devil, his suit marred with one clean shot through the chest. “I’m sorry, Miss Dannacher,” he said between breaths. “I did not know…about this attack.” He coughed, producing blood. “But…should have suspected…trying to make us extinct,” he choked as blood trickled from his lip to his chin.

  “You don’t need to be sorry. None of this is your fault. If I hadn’t asked to live—”

  “Something I need to tell you…you need to know.”

  “What?”

  The clunk of boots behind me and the muted whine of SEC motors stopped my question. It was Mia, holding a small, thirty-first century laser pistol at her side, and she was flanked by both bots.

  “You know I can’t use this on you, Miss Dannacher, but I can use it on him.” She pointed her weapon at Michael. “I suggest both of you cooperate.”

  Scanning the room for another option besides surrender, I saw Dolly and the other geneticists straddled against the wall, waiting for their turn at being cuffed by Toby and the rest of the security team that accompanied us to Tasma.

  Dolly screamed when the light bands of the electronic cuffs encircled her wrists, and I shivered, remembering that same odd, cold feeling.

  Smoke rose from the curtain where the lasers passed through their targets and pierced the devil tank.

  “Don’t do this, Mia. Call your team off. Stop this now before anyone else gets hurt.” No wonder Harrington didn’t push when I refused to bring the project to his region instead. He knew this was going to happen. This was his plan. “You don’t have to obey Harrington. Abandon your mission now and stay here with us where we can truly be free.” But what about Shen-Lung and Tupolev? Were they in on this, too?

  “Dr. Bennett isn’t the only person here who is expendable, Miss Dannacher.”

  “Mia, please,” urged Michael.

  She laughed and raised her pistol in the direction of a member of the wait staff, who, like his fellow employees, was huddled against a locked door, trying to jerk it free from its jam.

  “You can’t do this, Mia. The fate of the human race is at risk. The program won’t work anywhere else but here.”

  The prime minster sighed. “If…only I was as strong as the…devil.” His eyes fluttered, closed, and his chest sunk with a last exhale of breath.

  Yes! The devil! But what had Heath wanted to tell me? Standing as if about to surrender, I inched toward him, kept a tight hold on Victoria, and with my right foot, karate-kicked the curtain at the spot riddled with laser holes. On the third blow, the glass shattered, showering Mia with shards while I yanked the curtain over my body for concealment and protection.

  A squeal came first, and the Tasmanian devil raced past me to sink its teeth into Mia’s lower leg. Ducking and darting into the devil’s tank, I eyed the series of laser holes in the back glass wall and gave it a series of kicks. It cracked, broke, and after punching away a spear of glass with my fist, I crawled through the opening and ran with Victoria while sh
e sobbed against my chest.

  But where was I running to? A garden with plant-lined pathways and rose bushes came into view. I leaped over a small bench and burst through a weave of tall trees, skirting among the rows of flowers but slowing to a jog when Victoria’s cries increased, and I felt her hot tears against my breasts.

  Michael! I left him behind to die for a botched escape. Even unbanded, there was no way I could hide from Harrington’s security team, not on an island where I was trapped by the sea. I stopped to catch my breath and sank to the cement when Mia appeared hobbling in the distance.

  “Why, Mia? Why?” I yelled, my throat tightening. “I thought life was precious.”

  “Stand up, VW1.” Where her black pants were torn, blood trickled from a wound just above her ankle.

  “Where’s Michael? Please don’t hurt him.”

  She shook her head. “Dr. Bennett is no longer any of your concern.”

  “No!” I screamed and dropped my head to my chest. Pressure exploded behind my eyes, and my tears dotted Victoria’s blanket as she continued to cry.

  “Get up!”

  But I couldn’t move. Tasma hosting the Van Winkle Project was a lie. Michael was dead like Travel—like everyone I’d known in my life before—dead like Heath and his cabinet. And now Victoria and I would live out the rest of our lives as slaves to the regions, slaves to the presidents. Alive, but dead inside. I closed my eyes.

  Something hit the concrete, sending a jet of air against my bent legs. I opened my eyes and scooted away. It was Mia, face-planted and unconscious on the sidewalk, her legs and arms out to her sides.

  Standing above her was Michael holding a silver candlestick. His lip was split and swollen. The sleeve of his blue tunic was stained bright red, and each finger on his left hand dripped blood, the trail originating from his upper arm.

  “Michael, oh my God! I thought you were dead,” I gasped, scrambling to my feet and giving him a strong hug.

  “Shot, but not dead,” he said between breaths, holding me with his good arm. “But they’ll kill me if they find me, especially now.”