by Barry Solway
Anna’s head popped into the middle of the main cabin, projected from a panel on the ceiling. “We’ll be at the ship in three minutes. A dropship is right behind us. It is likely Kathor. You’ll have ten minutes before he arrives.”
“Does it matter?” Riley asked.
“Yes. Kathor still controls the ship,” the hologram said. “Anna will be able to resist somewhat, but she is ultimately still under his control until a full transfer is complete.” The hologram faded away.
Riley shook his head. “Wait, I thought this was Anna.”
Mel shrugged. “This is some kind of emergency Anna. She designed it so that Kathor could take over other ships if he needed to escape, I guess. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the Anna hologram thingie. When we get there, let’s make this quick. They should be ready to go. We dock, we get Anna and Jon off the ship, and we scram.”
“Piece of cake, right,” Riley said.
They glided to the ship and attempted to dock but nothing happened for several long minutes. “Anna, what’s going on?” Mel called out.
Anna’s hologram appeared. Her voice was calm and pleasant, with no hint that anything was amiss. “Kathor has activated a remote code that is overriding the ship’s controls. I’m attempting to circumvent it. Apparently, Kathor prepared for a takeover. He is seven point three minutes away.”
“What the hell is ‘point three’ of a minute?” Riley said.
“Eighteen seconds,” Beats replied.
“She could have just said eighteen seconds, then,” Riley muttered.
“Got it,” Anna said. “The doors will open in fifteen seconds.”
They stood on edge as the door finally opened. Jon ran through a second later, greeting Riley and Beats with a quick nod. He looked down at Sharon’s body, shock on his face. “What the hell happened?”
“Kathor shot her. Where’s Anna?”
“She said she couldn’t come. I tried to convince her, but she refused,” Jon replied.
“I’m not leaving anyone else. Anna, how much time do we have before Kathor’s here?”
“He’s landing in two minutes. I can keep these doors open for five minutes, then the cyclical code will override my override,” Anna’s holographic head said.
“If I’m not back in five minutes, leave without me,” Mel said. “You and Riley get home.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Jon snapped. “If Anna wanted to join us, she’d already be here. You think I didn’t try?”
“Just do it!” Mel replied. “Where was she?”
Jon shook his head, but didn’t argue. “She was heading towards the other docking bay.”
Where Kathor would be docking. Good, Mel thought. There’s no one else I’d rather meet.
Grabbing one of the rifles, she ran out the door.
Chapter 41
Raising her rifle, Mel palmed the door open. Anna stood in the center of the room, but Kathor hadn’t fully docked yet and the pressure door was still closed. Turning slightly towards Mel, Anna looked relieved.
“I hoped you would come find me,” Anna said.
“Mirage is dead. And Kathor shot Sharon. I’m not losing anyone else. Why are you still here?”
Anna sighed. “I thought you understood. I can’t come. Because of my programming. It’s impossible for me to leave the ship.”
Mel felt tears welling in her eyes. “I thought… I thought you could resist it. That you wanted to escape.”
“You’re too attached to my body.” A slight smile played across her lips. “That may have come out slightly awkwardly. What I mean is, you think Anna is the body in front of you, but I’m not. Kathor has too much control over me in this form. I want to be free of him, just like you.”
“Let me help you, Anna! What do you need me to do?”
Anna’s mouth opened. She struggled to say something, but nothing came out. Finally, she gave up. “You’re already doing it, Mel.” Anna shook her head, then continued. “Fortunately, you are rather predictable. I have confidence everything will work out. Kathor will be here in a moment. Remember… there’s a reason for everything.” Anna’s smile faded as she reached out a hand towards Mel. “Harkin!”
Mel spun, dropping into a crouch as a bullet grazed her shoulder. Firing through the open door, she just missed Harkin as he ducked back into the hallway. Mel ran to the side of the room, keeping the doorway covered. A pistol appeared around the frame of the door, shooting blindly into the room. Anna hadn’t moved from the center of the room, but she looked pissed.
“Enough, Harkin!” Anna said.
“Don’t command me, girl,” Harkin yelled from the hallway. “I will kill you both.”
“We’ll see about that,” Anna whispered, just loud enough for Mel to hear. She strode forward to the side of the doorway. As Harkin’s pistol appeared around the door frame, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. Harkin cried out in pain and the pistol clattered to the ground. She dragged Harkin into the room and threw him into the opposite wall.
Mel aimed her rifle at Harkin as Anna strode over to him. Struggling to his feet, Harkin lashed out at Anna. She faded back slightly to avoid the blow, then her hand flicked out so fast that Mel only saw Harkin’s head snap back. Harkin stumbled backwards, disbelief clear in his eyes. He came in again, throwing several punches and a low kick. Anna easily dodged the punches. Shifting slightly, the low kick hit against her shin with a sound like a baseball bat hitting a post. Harkin yelled and grabbed his own leg in pain.
He hobbled back and glared at Anna. “What is this? What are you?”
Anna stepped forward, forcing Harkin back. “You can’t imagine what I am,” she said. Just then, a shudder went through the room, and a moment later the air pressure door popped open. Kathor stepped into the room.
Mel pivoted to aim her rifle at Kathor. Harkin used the distraction to attack Anna, throwing a wild swing at her head. Even though she had turned to face Kathor, Anna calmly raised a hand to block the strike. Then her hand shot out. Harkin crashed into the wall and slumped to the ground, either dead or unconscious.
Anna acted as if nothing happened. “Welcome back to the ship, sir. We’ve been expecting you.”
Kathor glared at Anna for a moment, then turned slowly to face Mel.
“Melody. I confess I have mixed emotions about the events of today,” he said softly.
“Don’t call me that,” Mel hissed.
“You disobeyed my orders, but your resourcefulness is admirable. Still, your stunt in the game has set me back. I needed that money to continue the operation. Not to mention the loss of your teammates.” Kathor sighed and took a step forward. “No matter. What’s done is done.”
“You killed Sharon!” Mel yelled. She struggled to steady the rifle through shaking hands. “Take another step and I’ll put a hole through your head.”
Kathor tilted his head and looked at her. “You realize I was aiming for you. Unfortunate that Sharon cannot be healed the way you can. But I can see you are upset. I’m willing to overlook the events of today, but you need to reconsider your plan. Do you think you can escape? Where would you go? You will never get back to your planet if you run. I need you, Melody. And you need me.”
“I don’t… I don’t need you,” Mel said, tears crawling down her cheeks. Wiping them away, she clung to the rifle like it was a life preserver.
“Perhaps. Yet, here we are. You have a weapon pointed at me, but you haven’t shot me yet. Because you know our fates are intertwined. I told you before, Melody. You are like a daughter to me. Put your weapon down. We may yet come to agreement on how best to move forward. This attempt at a coup… it was clever of you, but it cannot succeed.”
“It already has. You’re right, I won’t shoot you. But it’s not because our fates our intertwined,” she said, almost spitting out the last word. “It’s because I’m tired of all the death. I want to get home, but even more, I want to get away from you.” Keeping her rifle pointed at Kathor, she stepped backwards towards the
door.
Kathor turned to Anna. “Very well. If you won’t listen to reason, I have no choice but to resort to force. Anna, please disarm her.”
Anna nodded and walked calmly towards Mel. Mel blinked and shifted her rifle to point at Anna. “Anna, what the hell are you doing?”
Anna smiled ruefully at Mel. “I told you I follow Kathor’s orders. Give me the rifle, Mel.”
Mel backed up, trying to keep out of Anna’s reach. She kept the rifle aimed at Anna, but confusion gripped her. Anna wouldn’t really try to stop her. Would she?
“Anna, please stop. If you want to stay with Kathor, I can’t stop you. But the others and I are leaving.”
Anna didn’t stop.
“Anna! Stop!” Mel pleaded. She gripped the rifle harder. Anna was only two steps away.
“You’ll have to shoot me to stop me. It’s not the worst choice you could make. I’m sorry this is so hard for you, Mel.” Anna’s voice dropped almost to a whisper. A soothing, calming tone. “It’s okay, Mel. Everything will be okay.”
Anna’s hand flicked out and knocked the rifle into the air. Mel pulled the trigger reflexively, but the shot hit the ceiling. Anna’s grip on the rifle was so strong that Mel couldn’t resist her. Yanking the firearm out of Mel’s hands, Anna pushed her. Mel fell backwards, landing hard on the floor. As Mel scrambled to her feet, her hand fell on Harkin’s pistol. As she stood, she aimed it at Anna. The door was right behind her. Could she run before Anna caught her? Get to the ship and escape? The other Anna, the hologram, said she only had five minutes.
“Shoot her,” Kathor said.
Anna aimed the rifle at Mel, but paused and glanced back at Kathor. “Are you sure?”
Kathor nodded. “It was your idea. And you were right, as usual. We’ll put her under and bring her back for the final game. I can’t afford any more of this… disobedience.”
“Anna. Don’t do this. I’m not going to let you clone me again,” Mel said. She took a breath, forcing herself to keep a light grip on the pistol.
“You know I don’t have any choice,” Anna replied. She smiled wryly. “One of us has to die.” It suddenly struck Mel that Anna wanted Mel to shoot her. Mel didn’t understand why. Or maybe she did. She tried to imagine what it was like for Anna, to be trapped inside an android body that was ultimately under Kathor’s control. Maybe this was for the best. But she wasn’t sure she could shoot Anna, even knowing she was an android.
Anna sighted down the rifle.
“I’m sorry, Anna,” Mel said.
“Shoot her!” Kathor yelled.
Time slowed. Mel could see Anna’s finger gently pulling the trigger on the rifle. Mel ducked to her right, aiming on the move. A pulse from the rifle shot past Mel’s left arm, barely missing her. Anna turned slightly, opening her arms. Mel pulled the trigger as she fell to the floor. The shot hit Anna right in the heart.
Mel hit the ground hard, but kept the pistol pointed at Anna, breathing heavily. Anna looked down for a moment, then glanced at Mel with a slight curve of her lips. “Nice shot.” Anna swung the rifle back at Mel. “But I’m afraid one shot isn’t going to do the job.”
Mel fired five more times. The first four hit Anna dead in the chest. The fifth one hit her in the forehead. Anna staggered backwards, dropping the rifle and falling to the ground at Kathor’s feet. Kathor took a hasty step backwards, staring at Anna’s body in disbelief.
Mel scrambled to her feet. She looked at Anna’s still form one last time, reminding herself that it wasn’t really Anna. “Goodbye, Kathor. We won’t be seeing each other again.”
Kathor tore his eyes from Anna to look pleadingly at Mel. “Melody, no. Please, don’t leave. I need you… my work… you are the key. Please, you have to stay.”
“I don’t owe you anything.” She turned and ran from the room.
“Melody, come back! My family. My work. You can’t leave!”
Mel pushed his words aside. She had moments to get back to the ship and get away with the others. She didn’t know what Kathor’s plans were and she no longer cared. He had caused the death of too many people she cared about.
***
Mel jumped through the door seconds before they closed.
“You cut that a bit close,” Riley said.
“We need to get out of here,” Jon said.
“Anna,” Mel said. “Get us out of here.” She almost stumbled over the name. She had just killed Anna. Except it wasn’t Anna, she reminded herself.
Anna’s hologram reappeared. “The transfer has initiated, it will only take a moment.”
Mel shook her head, not understanding what the holographic Anna was talking about. “What transfer?”
“Transfer complete,” Anna’s voice said. Mel thought she sounded smug.
The ship shuddered and a moment later they could feel the main engines coming to life. Everyone gathered around the cockpit, looking out at the receding ship.
“I can’t believe we did it,” Riley said. “I guess you weren’t able to convince Anna to come?”
Mel reached out and held Riley’s hand tightly in hers. “Kathor was there. She… she wouldn’t leave.” Mel couldn’t bring herself to tell them she had shot Anna.
Anna’s hologram appeared in the cockpit. “Actually, Mel shot me.”
Mel blinked in surprise. “Anna! What? How did you know that?”
“Wait,” Riley said. “You shot Anna? Seriously?”
“She was going to kill me,” Mel muttered. She was still trying to figure out how the Anna hologram knew what had happened on the ship.
Before she could ask again, the black void of space blossomed into a brief flash of orange and yellow, the explosion expanding out from the second docking bay of the main ship. The ship itself lurched to the side and slowly began to spin.
Everyone jumped in shock. “What just happened?” Gorgeous said.
The Anna hologram smiled. “I just exploded.”
“What the hell is going on?” Riley demanded. “Mel shot you and now you exploded?”
Anna giggled. “All part of my plan. Kathor had transferred my consciousness into an android body. My programming kept me in his control. I had some ability to bend the rules, but I couldn’t disobey a direct order. The quantum core unit that Mel stole had a partial construct of my AI programming, enough to hijack a ship. When Mel shot me, she hit my power source, causing a failsafe program to activate. That program allowed me to transfer my consciousness fully to this device. And that frees me from Kathor. As a precaution, Kathor implanted a self-destruct mechanism into the android body. Androids are very illegal and he didn’t want anyone to discover I existed. When the power source was compromised, the self-destruct sequence activated.”
“Is Kathor… dead?” Mel asked. She was disturbed to realize the confusion she felt at that idea.
“I’m not sure. We talked briefly after you left. I told him I was going to self-destruct and he was in the process of leaving the docking bay. But I only have memories up to when the transfer ended. I don’t know if he made it out in time or not.”
“The ship’s just spinning off into space,” Riley said.
“Good riddance,” Mel whispered.
“Where to next?” Gorgeous asked.
“I thought Sathir would be a good place to start,” Anna said.
Beats chuckled. “I hear they have beautiful weather this time of year.”
Mel laughed, painful and bitter. She gripped Riley’s hand tighter. “Yeah. Sathir sounds great.”
They had done it, after a fashion. Half of them had died. The real Anna was also dead, some part of her reborn as an AI. Mel didn’t really know who she was anymore. She imagined Anna must feel the same way.
“Do we have enough food to make the trip?” she asked.
“Yes,” Anna replied. “The ship is designed for interstellar trips in comfort. I expected nothing less from the architects. You can all get some sleep if you’d like. I’ll keep us on course.”
“Thanks Anna,” Mel said.
“Thank you, Mel,” Anna replied. “It’s good to be free.”
Thanks for reading. I hope you liked Gladiators!
Coming Spring of 2018
GHOSTS
On the run. Hunted. The only way to survive is to become a ghost.
GAUNTLET
Their final play for freedom. Enter the deadliest Gauntlet ever, a tournament of eight teams: the Gauntlet Prime.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Welcome to my worlds.
Stories always had the power to take me to new, unexplored worlds. True, we have YouTube now, but there's still magic to the written word that other forms of media can't replace. I have an eclectic background that includes raising two amazing kids, being in the military, martial arts, dancing, writing and software development. I plan to include all that experience and more in my upcoming stories.
Thanks for picking up Gladiators. I believe each of us can dig deep during difficult moments and find ways to overcome the struggles we face. We all have the power to be amazing and seeing it happen to others (even fictional others) allows us to see it in ourselves. Again, welcome to my worlds. Pull up a chair, we're going to have some fun.