“Whenever you’re ready, Merlin,” he said.
*****
Eve 221 rummaged through the boxes in the supply locker until she found what she was looking for. The slaves on the senate level wore off-white clothes, and she changed quickly before opening the door a crack to peer outside.
“The hallway’s clear,” Merlin said into her ear. “The Senate kitchens are straight on and to your right.”
Eve 221 stepped out into the corridor as though she had every right to be there, walking purposefully but with her eyes at the floor. She passed two Senators on her way to the kitchens, but they promptly ignored her, pushing past her as though she wasn’t even there.
The Senate kitchens were huge. Unlike the people in the rest of the hive, the Senators were only served the best food and drink as they debated. Outside of the kitchens, an enormous banqueting hall had long lines of tables, ready to be served at any hour of the day or night. The only person in the Senate not served from the kitchens was the Mori-Gran herself.
The humans and Dorgans in the kitchens gave Eve 221 an occasional questioning glance, but they knew better than to question her outright. Eve 221 followed Merlin’s instructions, gathering the items from the kitchen as though she had always known where to find them. She took a simple steel tray and placed two bowls upon it. The first she filled with a watery broth, and the second a ladle full of squirming leech-like creatures which were a particular delicacy amongst the Mori. She added a mug of a hot, steaming drink before covering the whole tray with a cloth and stepping back into the corridor.
The cells were located on the opposite side of the Senate, and she walked quickly along the wide, curving corridor to reach them. She desperately wanted to run, knowing how little time she had, but she realised that it would only bring undue attention to herself. As it got closer to the time of the trial, the corridor became busier, with senators and advisers keen to reach their seats. More than once she had to step out of their way, delaying her further.
“Relax, Guinevere,” Merlin said soothingly. “You still have plenty of time.”
Once the Senators had passed, Eve 221 continued onwards, the tray held out before her like a barrier. As she turned the final corner, she saw two guards standing tall before the entrance to the cell block. They weren’t the members of the Imperial Guard Merlin had warned her about, but they looked formidable all the same. She stopped before them and looked down at her floor.
“Meal for the prisoner,” she said, holding the tray out in front of her. The guard on the left removed the cloth and carefully checked each of the items, helping himself to one of the squirming bugs. There was no cutlery, or anything Gar-Wan could use to do himself harm.
“Straight down, last door on the right,” the guard said.
“Thank you,” Eve 221 replied, stepping past them and through the security gate which scanned her for weapons of any kind.
The corridor leading to the cell was narrower than the main hallway, with dimmed lights above and shiny black metal walls and floor. A red line ran the length of the corridor, giving Eve 221 something to follow as she kept her eyes down. She passed doors to empty cells on each side, each dark space projecting its own sense of dread and despair.
She turned at the end of the corridor and stepped into the large antechamber before the cell. Two of the Mori-Gran’s Imperial Guard stood on duty, their backs to Gar-Wan’s cell. “Meal for the prisoner,” Eve 221 said again, standing still as the guards removed the cloth and inspected the tray for themselves.
“Be ready,” Merlin said in her ear.
“This wasn’t cleared by-” one of the guards began as he was suddenly cut off, a high pitched sound blasting through his helmet. As he and his comrade fought to remove the helmets from their heads, Eve 221 slammed the edge of the tray into one throat and then the other as hard as she could. Once they were down, she struck them over and over until she was confident they wouldn’t be standing again.
“221?” Gar-Wan said from inside his cell, his eyes wide with amazement.
“Stand back,” Eve 221 said to him. “Merlin, can you lower the shield?”
“Not from here,” Merlin replied. “I’ve managed to fool the cameras, all the monitors will show is the Gar-Wan in the cell, but it won’t last for long. The security system seems to be getting faster.”
“Gar-Wan?” Eve 221 asked.
“Drag one of the guards over to the scanner,” Gar-Wan said.
Eve 221 tossed the tray aside and dragged the guard towards the scanner. He was heavy, more so because of the armour he was wearing, but slowly she managed to move him across the antechamber. She hesitated before pressing his hand against the scanner, looking Gar-Wan in the face.
“Why did you lie to me, about where I, where we come from?” she asked.
“221, this isn’t the time,” Gar-Wan insisted, looking nervously towards the cameras.
“You said humans and Dorgans were made by the Mori,” Eve 221 continued, “but that’s all a lie, isn’t it? We were taken from our homes, forced into slavery, and you knew it all along.”
Gar-Wan was about to yell at her, order her to open the cell when he paused, lowering his eyes as he spoke. “You’re right,” he said. “I did know. Not everyone does, but I did, just like everyone else in the Senate.”
“So why did you lie to me?” Eve 221 asked, a tear in her eye. “I thought I could trust you?”
“You can trust me,” Gar-Wan insisted. “I wanted you to be free, for all of you to be free. It’s just, if you knew you had a world, a home to return too, you’d have wanted to return there. If you were ever going to be free, that wouldn’t have been possible, not for, for the Dorgans at least.”
Eve 221 remembered the barren lifeless world, all that remained of Ma’Han, the Dorgan home world. “I’ve seen it,” she said, “or what’s left of it.”
Gar-Wan looked surprised. “Then you know,” he said. “You know what my ancestors did. If the Dorgans learned of that, learned what had befallen their home at the hands of the Mori, no world would ever have satisfied them. They’d have been so angry, so upset, it would have made the entire plan impossible.”
Eve 221 nodded, she did understand. She’d seen the anger in Orlac 552, one of the quietest, most mellow people she knew. If others of his species learned what had happened, they would never have gone along with Gar-Wan and his plan to home them on any suitable world.
She pressed the Imperial Guard’s palm against the scanner, the system recognising him and lowering the shield.
“Thank you,” Gar-Wan said as he stepped from the cell. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Eve 221 nodded sombrely and said, “Help me get the guards into the cell, and then you need to put on one of their uniforms.”
Gar-Wan did as Eve 221 instructed. The guard uniform was too small for him, but he managed to squeeze himself into it, hiding the ill-fitting garments behind the armour. Once he had the helmet on and the visor down, it would be difficult to tell he wasn’t one of the Imperial Guard.
“Gawain?” Merlin said, speaking through the helmet intercom. “Can you hear me?”
Gar-Wan pulled the helmet off hurriedly. “I think someone tried to contact the guard,” he said nervously.
“It was Merlin,” Eve 221 said. “Put the helmet back on.”
“Who’s Gawain?” Gar-Wan said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Eve 221 insisted. “Merlin, he gets confused at times. Please, we’re running out of time.”
Gar-Wan cast his eight eyes over Eve 221’s anxious face before putting his helmet back on. “Merlin?” he said nervously.
“Ah, excellent,” Merlin replied. “I don’t think I can fool the cameras for much longer, so you need to get out of there. Head to the other side of the Senate, Guinevere will show you the way from there.”
“What about my family?” Gar-Wan asked.
“All in good time!” Merlin replied. “You need to go, now!”
“Mar
ch me out of here,” Eve 221 said. “Just keep moving.”
Eve 221 went first, head down as Gar-Wan walked behind her, back straight as he tried to look like one of the Imperial Guard. The two guards at the end of the corridor watched him approach.
“Sir?” one of the guards said with surprise, standing to attention.
Gar-Wan stopped, lost for words, as Merlin watched the scene through one of the security cameras. “Oh, dear me,” Merlin said. “I can’t believe you faced the Green Knight and lived. Just repeat what I say.”
“Stand aside,” Gar-Wan said, though his voice lacked any of the authority of his words.
“What of the prisoner?” the guard persisted.
“How dare you question one of the Imperial Guard!” Gar-Wan replied a little more forcefully. “The prisoner? The same prisoner you allowed this slave to bring a meal, despite the lack of authorisation?”
“Sir, I-” the guard began, but Gar-Wan cut him off.
“I’m escorting the slave to the kitchens to find out who was responsible,” he said. “Now get out of my way.”
The two guards stood aside to allow Gar-Wan and Eve 221 to pass. Gar-Wan made a show of pushing Eve 221 through the security gate, making her stumble. He picked her up by the back of her neck and marched her quickly along the curving corridor towards the other side of the senate.
Once they were out of sight of the guards, Gar-Wan pulled Eve 221 into a smaller corridor. “We need to find my family,” he insisted. “I won’t leave without them.”
Eve 221 thought about it. “Adam 359’s about to begin an uprising,” she said. “That should keep the rest of the hive busy. Are they back at your chambers?”
“No,” Gar-Wan said angrily. “Ari-Dun has them. I’m going to make him regret that decision.”
Chapter 13
An Army
Earth Year 6238
Just as Eve 221 was being escorted from the cell block, Merlin granted the scout ship clearance to take off, drifting it slowly from the landing pad towards the lower levels of the hive. Most of the landing pads near the birthing chambers were occupied by fighters and drop ships, but Merlin managed to find an empty bay to touch down. Adam 359 and Orlac 552 stood anxiously near the gangway, waiting for it to open.
“Good luck, Arthur,” Merlin said as he began to lower the gangway. “I’ve started the birthing protocols, every mature human and Dorgan will be emerging from the pods as you arrive.”
“Make sure they all have combat and piloting,” Adam 359 said. “As well as the language programming we received.”
“Of course,” Merlin replied.
Adam 359 removed the plasma pistol from his hip as Orlac 552 readied the plasma rifle, tucking it tight against his shoulder. “You ready?” Adam 359 asked.
“No,” Orlac 552 said with a nervous smile.
“Me either,” Adam 359 agreed, grinning back at him. “Let’s do this!”
As the gangway touched down, Adam 359 and Orlac 552 ran down it and onto the landing pad now circled in blue. The two guards standing near the gantry looked up in surprise as they watched the armoured human and Dorgan emerge, raising their weapons to fire. Orlac 552 fired but his shot went wide, serving only to make the guards scatter.
Adam 359 dropped to one knee and raised the pistol, barely needing to aim. He fired in quick succession, killing first the guard on the left and then the one on the right, the plasma searing each of them in the centre of their chitin foreheads.
“I guess some of Merlin’s programming worked,” Adam 359 said, staring at the plasma pistol in disbelief.
Orlac 552 was already running across the gantry towards the closest of the birthing chambers. Adam 359 clipped the pistol back onto his hip and ran after him, the ill-fitting armour shaking about his shoulders. Once across the gantry, Orlac 552 stood waiting for him outside a set of closed doors.
“I think this leads to the room where they gave us clothes,” Orlac 552 said.
“Sounds like the human and Dorgan sides are similar,” Adam 359 said. “Narrow corridor between the room and some metal stairs leading to the birthing chamber?”
“Yes,” Orlac 552 agreed.
“Then get ready to open the doors,” Adam 359 said. “Three. Two. One.”
*****
Merlin moved through the hive network, isolating every pod with a mature human or Dorgan and triggering the birthing sequence. There were thousands of them he discovered, all waiting to receive programming to work in Ari-Dun’s factory. It was easy for Merlin to change the specific skills for combat and piloting, as well as remove the lies about the human and Dorgan origins.
As he was looking through the records of the clones, he remembered something Arthur had told him, his serial number. Merlin knew there couldn’t possibly be another genetically identical copy of his King, but he decided to look anyway, just out of curiosity. As he searched the archives for Adam 359-24687436, he thought he had found it once, only for the records to slip through his fingers. When he looked again, he was quickly able to find what he was looking for.
The records showed that the genetic code for Adam 359-24687436 had no known origin, and didn’t match any of the original humans abducted from Earth. It was an anomaly the hive network had no explanation for, though Merlin knew exactly what it meant.
“Just as I thought,” Merlin said to himself. “He truly is my King reborn.”
*****
Orlac 552 pressed the small pad next to the large doors. As soon as they began to move, Adam 359 pushed the end of the plasma pistol through, searching left and right for targets. There were shelves full of clothes in various sizes and colours, but no one was inside, Mori or otherwise.
“Be careful,” Adam 359 said as the door opened fully. “Keep an eye out for any movement.”
Orlac 552 held back as Adam 359 advanced, pistol held ahead of him. The door at the far side of the room opened onto the high pressure shower which brought back painful memories, and from there they would have access to the corridor. Adam 359 stood beside the door, listening for any signs of movement but heard none.
He pressed the button to open the door, stepping back out of view. He held back, waiting to see if someone would investigate, but when no one came he peered nervously out into the corridor. “It’s empty,” he whispered, Orlac 552 following him as he stepped forwards.
The long corridor was just as Adam 359 remembered it, though without the throngs of humans waiting in line. He could see the shiny metallic stairs at the end, but every step he took seemed to echo along and around the narrow tunnel. As they edged towards the stairs, they were able to hear a commotion from above them.
“I don’t know, sir,” a Mori voice said. “The birthing pods, they all just started opening. There are hundreds of them already and I don’t have any deployment orders. Ari-Dun’s factory isn’t expecting them until the day after tomorrow.”
As Adam 359 cautiously began to climb the stairs, he heard the guard ask, “Recycling? All of them?”
“Hands where I can see them!” Adam 359 shouted as he ran up the last three stairs, Orlac 552 at his back with his plasma rifle ready. The circle of guards who stood at the large control panel turned and stared at them with dismay.
“What he said,” Orlac 552 agreed, moving his rifle in what he thought was a menacing manner.
The guards cast a casual glance towards each other before going for their weapons in unison. Adam 359 managed to get off two shots from his plasma pistol before throwing himself and Orlac 552 back down the stairs.
“That went well,” Orlac 552 said sarcastically as he pulled himself out from beneath Adam 359’s bulk.
“It could have been worse, they could have shot us as soon as we poked our heads up,” Adam 359 suggested with a smile.
To their surprise, Merlin’s holographic form suddenly appeared before them. “Apologies, my King,” he said. “I allowed myself to become distracted. How goes the battle?”
“We’re sort of hiding down her
e,” Adam 359 said hurriedly as he fired blindly through the opening at the top of the stairs. “Trying not to die. If there’s anything you could do?”
“Of course,” Merlin said with a smile. “It sounds as though a little magic is in order.”
Merlin’s hologram disappeared as one of the Mori guards appeared at the top of the stairs, plasma rifle aimed straight at them. Adam 359 fired two shots, the first one hitting the guard’s chest plate and the second one searing his throat, knocking him back and killing him instantly.
“Soldiers of the Mori!” a booming voice announced from the birthing chamber above. “Cast down your weapons and surrender to the forces of King Arthur!” The voice was followed by the sound of hundreds of feet, marching in unison. The marching stopped abruptly and resulted in an empty silence which hung in the air.
“Arthur?” Merlin said, his image reappearing. “They’ve surrendered, you may come up now.”
Adam 359 stepped cautiously from the stairwell and up into the birthing chamber. Surrounding the guards and the newly birthed humans stood hundreds of men and women, dressed in metal armour and brandishing a variety of swords and axes. As Adam 359 and Orlac 552 ordered the surrounding humans to take the weapons and armour from the Mori guards, the steel clad army promptly disappeared.
“Just a little illusion,” Merlin said proudly. “I’m not sure it’ll work so well a second time.”
“We won’t need it,” Adam 359 replied, admiring his growing army with pride. “How many are there?”
“Humans?” Merlin asked. “When the cycle’s completed, you’ll have seven thousand and ninety-three men and women ready to stand by your side.”
“Perfect,” Adam 359 said. “Orlac 552, let’s go and see how many Dorgans we can get to join us!”
Merlin stood and surveyed the growing army as the guard’s weapons and armour were distributed between them. “That’s Arthur, your King,” Merlin said, pointing at Adam 359 as he ran down the stairs. “Follow him to freedom, and for goodness sake put some clothes on!”
X-Calibur: The Return Page 15