by Andrew Gates
Ellen felt a smile form on her face as she saw her companion, but her smile faded away almost immediately as a pedestrian in the crowd suddenly removed a long hood and revealed a shotgun.
“Dave, get down!” Ellen shouted, bolting forward.
Dave ducked down without wasting a second as the shotgun blast exploded over his head. The crowd instantly erupted in screams. Pedestrians cleared out in every direction, sprinting to the nearest exits. The mercenary reloaded and angled the gun down at Dave, ready for a second shot. But before the man could fire again, Ellen was on him. She tried kicking the weapon out of his grip, but the man was too fast. He quickly spun out of the way, dodging her kick entirely.
The mercenary repositioned himself and brought the weapon’s barrel to Ellen’s face. Ellen watched in horror as his finger squeezed down on the trigger.
Boom!
A blast suddenly removed the man’s head from his body. The corpse stood in place for a few seconds before toppling down to the floor.
“What the hell?” Dave screamed.
Ellen looked to the source of the blast. Of all people, Lyla stood before them, holding a shotgun of her own. The barrel of the gun was still smoking. Lyla still wore her professional attire like she had come right from the interrogation room. She trembled in shock, as if she had never even fired a weapon before.
“Lyla!” Ellen said in disbelief. “Oh, thank god!”
Lyla lowered the weapon and stepped forward, still trembling uncontrollably. She gulped and nodded her head.
“You two are both in danger,” she explained through deep breaths. “My mother is trying to kill you.”
“I managed to put that together,” Ellen responded. “Thank you for saving us.”
“I’m so sorry I put you two in this mess.” Lyla looked down to the floor, as if she were too ashamed to keep eye contact. “I… I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“Can’t you tell your mother to stop?” Dave asked.
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that. She wants to tie up all her loose ends. She wants you three dead, plus your two AI.” Lyla looked up at Ellen now.
“Three?” Ellen repeated.
“Natalie, a reporter. She’s also a target,” Lyla explained.
“I don’t know who that is,” Ellen said.
“She’s the reason you two are free,” Lyla replied. “Trust me, we need to protect her. There isn’t much time.”
Think this is another trap? Ellen asked.
I believe Lyla. She seems genuine, Yuri said, privately.
Are you sure? Her mother has it out for us, Ellen replied.
I’m not sure of anything, but she did save our lives just now. If it was a trap, she would have let that guy blow your head off. This Natalie woman, whoever she is, may be able to help us.
“I trust you,” Dave said, gripping his rifle firmly. He took a few steps toward Lyla and nodded.
Ellen paused for a moment, thinking what to say next. She let out a deep breath, then slowly nodded to them both.
“Alright, I’m in,” Ellen finally said. “Where do we find this Natalie woman?”
“Thrace Center Press, main office,” Lyla answered, not missing a beat. “Come, I’ll show you the way.”
Ellen gulped and picked up the shotgun from the hands of the lifeless corpse by her feet. She checked the weapon, then followed Lyla and Dave as they took off down the corridor.
She sighed. Just like that, she was a soldier again.
Unexpected Company
Earth Date (Revised Julian Calendar): 04.29.5673
Location: Thrace Center Press, Main Office, VSC Patriot, Outer edge of Thrace System, Vexa Corp Controlled Space
Natalie pulled out her chair and took a seat. She let out a huff of frustration and placed her head firmly on her desk. She was tired. She needed a rest. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the noise from the sea of cubicles around her.
Her story, her amazing story, had fallen apart. It was not supposed to be like this. It was never supposed to be like this.
Natalie did not know what to do next. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. She could finish the story and release it, but with the prisoners now free, it would garner little attention. Alternatively, she could scrap the story and abandon all the arduous work she had done to get this far.
The situation sucked. For the first time, Natalie finally realized how far out of her element she was.
“You alright?” a female voice asked, pulling Natalie’s attention back to the here and now.
Natalie raised her head and faced the speaker. It was Rina. Her boss calmly placed her hand on Natalie’s shoulder.
“I’m fine, yes.” She paused for a moment as she recollected herself. “Sorry you found me this way. I wasn’t sleeping at my desk, if that’s what you think.”
“I wasn’t thinking that, but you do look tired.”
“Yeah, I am tired.” Natalie nodded her head. She looked down to the floor for a moment, then raised her gaze to meet Rina’s eyes. “Look, uh, things haven’t really gone the way I expected. I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean? Is everything okay?”
Natalie shook her head. “I’m starting to think you were right. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a reporter. Maybe I should just stick to capturing video. After all, that’s all I’m good at.”
“I didn’t put it nearly that harshly,” Rina replied. She quickly glanced around the room, then leaned down to meet Natalie at her level. “It sounds like you’re just having a shitty day. Do you want to talk about it?”
Natalie let out a deep breath and turned away from Rina. She felt uncomfortable meeting her eyes.
“I… I had a story, the one I was telling you about,” Natalie started. “I had sources, dirt, everything. It was a great story. I could have exposed a conspiracy. But it all fell apart. Now I have nothing.”
“Fell apart? How?” Rina asked.
“Someone involved found out what I knew. She took action.”
“How did she find out?”
“Because I told her,” Natalie admitted.
Rina shook her head and sighed. She said, “Well there’s your first problem. Don’t ever show your cards.”
“I know that now,” Natalie said. “I just thought it would work out better than this. I know I was naïve, but I’m still disappointed. I was so close!”
“It was your first time as a reporter,” Rina replied. “You can’t expect to put out a winning story this early in your career. This job is a skill. You hone it. You perfect it.”
“So you don’t think I should give up?”
“Only you can decide that, Natalie. There’s a job for you here no matter what you choose,” Rina said. “But I’ll leave you with this piece of advice: good videographers are easy to find. Good reporters, not so much.”
Rina patted Natalie on the shoulder and continued along through the sea of cubicles.
Natalie pondered her boss’s words. Good videographers are easy to find. Good reporters, not so much. She was not quite sure how to interpret that.
“Uh, hey, Natalie,” another female voice said.
Natalie turned to face the new speaker. This time a non-sentient robot named Jackie stood by her desk. The human-like robot performed receptionist duties in the office, as well as certain sexual favors that went unspoken (after all, her resemblance to humans was high). She was tall and thin with curly purple hair.
“Hey, Jackie, what is it?” Natalie wondered.
“There’s a man here to see you. He came into the office asking for you by name.”
“A man? Who?”
“I don’t know. He says he has some information about the Milsen/Cutter case. Are you working on a story about that?”
The case. The story. Natalie could not believe it. She thought it was over.
It was time to choose her answer.
“Yes,” Natalie replied, sitting up straight. “I am. Send him my way.” Her words were bol
d and confident.
“Alright, Natalie. I’ll send him over at once.”
Natalie smiled. Maybe there was more to the story after all. Maybe she was just getting started.
A few moments later, Jackie returned with a disheveled man following behind. His long, mangled hair reeked of piss. Natalie grimaced as he approached, but hoped he did not see it.
“Natalie, may I introduce… sorry, what was your name?” the receptionist asked.
“I have no name,” the man replied. He quickly reached into his jacket pocket and revealed a pistol.
Natalie gasped and instinctively rolled off her chair. Pew! She landed on the floor just as a blast passed over her head, melting a hole in the thin cubicle wall behind her.
Everyone in the office scrambled immediately. People shouted and ran to the exit, not knowing what was going on.
“Someone call security!” a voice screamed.
The shooter took a step forward and angled the pistol to Natalie, who now crawled across the floor. Natalie looked up at him. It was all over. He had the perfect shot.
“Excuse me, sir,” Jackie said, suddenly grabbing hold of the man’s wrist. “Company policy states that firearms are to be-”
The shooter punched the robot square in the face with his free hand, causing her to double back and release her grip on his arm.
Using this moment to her advantage, Natalie jumped up from the floor and darted away. She followed the other staff members as they ran to the exits. She quickly looked back. The shooter fired a shot at Jackie square in the chest, killing her instantly.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, what is happening?” Natalie said as she joined the crowd. The mass of people pushed their way through the door one by one. The mob was moving, but slowly. “Come on, come on!”
The shooter approached. He would join them in no time.
“We’re not moving fast enough!” Natalie said to the crowd. “Come on!”
Natalie did not have time for this. Using her small size to her advantage, she got down on all fours and crawled past the other staffers. Finally she made it to the front. She stood up again and passed through the exit door, sprinting down the hall, not knowing where to go next. She had no destination in mind, but she knew she wanted to put as much distance between her and the shooter as she could.
Press office security ran in the other direction, weapons raised. Natalie did not look back, but heard shots go off only seconds later. It sounded like a full-scale battle was unfolding back in the office.
She could not believe this was happening. Shit like this never happened on the Patriot. This ship was supposed to be safe, the last bastion in the system. But now it was a warzone.
Natalie rounded a corner and leaned against the wall for a moment to gather her breath. Her heart raced. Her muscles twitched. She felt jittery, like she could not stop moving.
“Oh my god,” she muttered aloud. “Oh my god.”
Suddenly the sound of weapons fire came to a stop. Natalie held her breath and carefully peered around the corner.
The hall was full of smoke. It was hard to see anything at first. But after a moment, Natalie made out the image of her attacker. She gasped and pulled her head back around the corner.
He was alive. Holy shit. He must have killed the security.
Natalie did not know who this man was or what he was after, but she knew one thing: he was dangerous. Not wanting to waste any more time, she took off down the hall, running as fast as she could.
Turn after turn, corridor after corridor, Natalie pressed on until she was good and lost. She found herself in a narrow hall without any other person in sight. She guessed this was some sort of maintenance access way. She quickly pulled up a ship map on her retinal screens, hoping to get a sense of where she was.
Boom!
Before she could make sense of anything, an explosion erupted only a few feet from where she stood. The force of the blow knocked her back. She blinked and looked around, suddenly realizing that there was a gaping hole in the wall before her. The shooter stood on the other side of the hole.
“You can run, but you cannot hide!” the man hollered. He raised the pistol and aimed.
Natalie dove out of the way, just barely dodging his shots in time. She scurried back up to her feet and took off down the rest of the narrow hall, not even worrying about following the map.
She ran and ran until…
Dead end.
A series of pipes blocked the way. This was it. Natalie froze in fear and turned. She could hear the man’s heavy footsteps pound against the floor.
Suddenly the man appeared through the smoke. His weapon was raised. Natalie closed her eyes. She dared not look for this part.
Bang! Natalie heard a body drop against the floor. She carefully opened her eyes.
The attacker was dead, headless. What remained of his head no longer even looked like a head. It was more like a collection of blood and brain matter spewed across the wall. The sight was grotesque. Natalie gagged and turned away.
“Natalie!” a familiar voice hollered.
She slowly turned, shivering. To her surprise, Lyla stood before her, along with the famous Milsen and Cutter. Their faces were flushed and they huffed heavily. It was as if they had spent the last hour sprinting through the ship. Each of them held weapons in their hands. Milsen’s was smoking.
“Lyla?” Natalie could not think of anything else to say. “What… what the hell is going on?”
“No time to explain. You’re in danger and we need to get you out,” Lyla said, bluntly.
“Why? Who is after me?”
“Some bad people,” Milsen added, stepping forward. “Come, follow us.”
“I… I don’t understand.”
“We’ll explain on the way,” Milsen continued. She reached out her hand. “Come.”
She could not think of anything else to do in that moment. Her thoughts were racing.
Natalie took a deep breath and reluctantly reached out for Milsen’s hand. She did not know what she had gotten herself into, but one thing was certain: there was no backing out now.
On the Run
Earth Date (Revised Julian Calendar): 04.29.5673
Location: VSC Patriot, Outer edge of Thrace System, Vexa Corp Controlled Space
Ellen held the weapon firmly in hand as she dashed forward through the crammed halls of the VCS Patriot’s maintenance corridors. A red arrow marked the target’s location on her HUD. Ellen followed the map projected on her retinal screens as she ran, not wanting to miss a single turn.
We’re nearly there, Yuri said.
“Good,” Ellen replied. She could see they were close, but hearing him say it brought a comforting feeling.
Boom! Some sort of explosion caused the hall to shake. A roaring echo reverberated through the series of pipes and gauges.
The target? Ellen asked to Yuri, privately.
Still alive, assuming we’re tracking the right person, Yuri explained.
Let’s hope we’re not following the wrong person. Lyla assured us her nanotech would do the trick, Ellen replied.
Lyla told them about a highly soluble form of nanotech that only she could track. Supposedly Natalie carried it in her body, unknowingly. They were using it now to find her location.
Ellen rounded a corner and saw a bearded man step through some sort of newly formed hole in the wall. The man held a pistol in hand. He turned into a hall through the other side of the hole and raised his firearm.
The target was close. Though Ellen could not see her from her vantage point, this man must have had her in his sights.
Ellen did not waste a second. She raised her weapon, aimed and fired.
In an instant, the merc’s head was no more. It exploded into a thousand pieces, sending blood and grey matter in every direction.
“Holy shit, Ellen,” Lyla said, gasping as she approached the hole.
Lyla stepped through the hole first, followed by Ellen, followed by Dave.
&
nbsp; Target reached, Yuri announced.
Ellen let out a deep sigh of relief as she turned left through the hole and finally made contact with the woman named Natalie. She was shorter than Ellen expected and her eyes had been replaced with high-focus lenses. The woman trembled in fear against a row of pipes. She dared not look their way.
“Natalie!” Lyla said, trying to get the woman’s attention.
The fearful woman slowly turned to face the group. Her jaw opened wide as she beheld them.
“Lyla?” Natalie muttered. Her voice was quiet. “What… what the hell is going on?”
“No time to explain. You’re in danger and we need to get you out,” Lyla said, bluntly.
“Why? Who is after me?”
“Some bad people,” Ellen explained. She did not have time for this. More mercs were on their way. “Come, follow us.”
“I… I don’t understand,” the woman said.
“We’ll explain on the way,” Ellen replied. She reached out her hand. “Come.”
Natalie trembled, but reluctantly took a step forward and grabbed hold of Ellen’s hand. The woman’s palms sweat uncontrollably.
“Quick, we have to hurry,” Lyla explained, taking a few steps closer to Ellen. “My mother can track us. There’s no doubt in my mind she’s watching us right now.”
“Then let’s go,” Ellen said. She wasted no more time and darted down the hall with the reporter in hand.
“Go? Where?” Natalie asked as they ran along.
Hangar 03. It’s the closest hangar to us. We can secure a ship there to get us out of here, Yuri explained. As he said this, Yuri placed another arrow on Ellen’s HUD.
“Who the hell is that?” Natalie asked.
My name is Yuri. I’m an AI. You can trust me, he said.
“As long as you can get me away from the people trying to kill me, I’ll trust anybody,” Natalie replied. She gulped and nervously looked around as they ran. “Are we really leaving the Patriot?” she finally asked.
“The Patriot isn’t safe. Daltus controls everything here. If we stay, we won’t last a day. We’ll be as dead as the man we left back there,” Ellen explained. She knew those words were strong, but Natalie needed to hear it.