He took it and was surprised at her strength as she firmly pulled him onto his feet. “Thank you. I understand if your people don't trust me to start, but I'm really here to help,” Jake reassured as he reached into the deep utility pocket on his thigh and retrieved his command and control unit. “I captured a command code transmission chip from one of the Regent Galactic Lieutenants. I was able to install it in my arm unit and tap into their communications.”
“We've been trying to monitor that ourselves. A few minutes ago they re-encrypted the whole system.”
A female voice called; “Fire in the hole!” into the long room and a second later everything rocked with the concussion of a massive explosion nearby. Only a little dust rolled in through the narrow door leading into the large maintenance room.
“You have good timing. We were minutes away from collapsing the tunnel,” The fur covering Alaka's long jaws split in a wide smile.
“Well, here's hoping my luck keeps getting better,” Jake replied as he looked at his command unit. It was true, the command frequencies were re-encrypted and his display only presented a data gate request that said; “The only poem we memorize and recite as children.” He raised his eyebrow and thought for a moment.
“What is it?” Iloona asked, scanning him from head to toe with a sweep of her small medical computer.
“Are Oz and Jason here?” he asked quietly.
Alaka nodded to the nearest of the resistance fighters. “I think Jacob here is looking out for our best interest, you can go back to work.”
“Looks like,” the fighter grinned wryly at Jake before turning away. “Let's get back to the dig boys.” she called over her shoulder.
Alaka returned his attention to Jake. “You're not the only one who came for them. Two others; Ayan and Minh-Chu came. When they saw that we needed their help they put a plan together to get a message out to the government so they could send a fleet. We haven't seen them since they left, but they managed to get a signal out.”
Jake sat down on an empty pallet and stared off into space. The lost expression on his face was plain for all to see, but he was the last to care.
Iloona put a hand on her husband's arm and whispered something in their own gentle language. His hand went up over his eyes and he cursed under his breath. She turned to Jacob and regarded him with sympathy. “I am sorry, sometimes my husband is a conversational blunt instrument. He had forgotten that everyone was under the impression that those two had died. It was something they told us that you were their long time friend, or a copy of their long time friend. The three of you are a confusing bunch. I'm sorry you found out this way regardless.”
Jake looked back at his command unit where the riddle waited to be answered. “Do you know how?” he asked quietly. “How are they alive?”
“Ayan said that she was reborn in a new body while Minh-Chu was only lost, not killed,”
For the first time in his short life Jacob felt a tear on his cheek. He tried to blink it away, but the memory of Ayan's last smile before dying surged back to the fore. The thought of where he was, on a planet that had been turned into a quiet, war stricken graveyard didn't help. He had seen the evidence of the wholesale destruction of thousands of lives personally and all around them that which was once alive and vital stood still. The very circulatory system of the city was a perfect example, how it probably ran every minute of every day shuttling thousands of people from one place to another for decades, perhaps centuries, but as they hid in a dark corner reserved for the maintenance of the city's veins there was an eerie silence.
The city was dead, but somehow, somewhere his best friend and the love of both Jonas' and Jacob's life were out there accompanied by two of the best people he'd ever known. As he began entering the poem that Jonas memorized as a child into his command and control unit he realized that at some time during his violent journey through the corpse of a city that Damshir had become he had stopped trying to control himself, who he was becoming and started to simply be himself. Thinking of himself in terms of what Jonas was and what he was as Jake seemed somehow ridiculous, trivial, and as he cleared his throat, blinked away the few tears that had made it to the surface he set the whole question of who he was aside, replacing it with the realization of who he had become.
“As the wounded go by,
I'll be the one standing.
The stones forget our names as they erode down featureless.
As the innocent go by,
I'll just close my eyes.
As the banner is raised
I dream of a better day.
The battlements know no names as they play host to the defenders
As the fight is joined
I remember my charges.
As the war is waged
I stand tall or fall bravely.
Justice and freedom are given form as we strive to enforce and keep them.
As I dedicate myself
I'll never close my eyes.”
He recited aloud as he punched in the entirety of the poem even though the screen turned green after the first hundred and forty four letters. There was a pause for a moment and then he heard Ayan's voice through his subdermal earpiece. “Jonas?” she asked. “I mean Jacob, I'm sorry, is that you?”
“Yes,” he laughed. “Ayan?”
“Yup, it's me. Well, the second me!” she said with a surprising enthusiasm. Her absolutely ecstatic tone was barely contained. “Where are you?”
Jake looked to Alaka; “Ayan's on the line, it's secure.”
“Go ahead and give her our location. It's not like it's a secret,” Alaka shrugged.
“I'm with a few nafalli and human resistance fighters in the subway system under the Trade and Commerce building. Regent Galactic and the West Keepers have no idea I'm here. I snuck through their line disguised as one of their own.” Jake switched the audio output to his arm command unit to everyone near could hear her.
“We're holed up in a section of the Space port here. A lot of the bots have been software patched so they have free will and they helped free a few hundred humans from their ships. An artificial intelligence created by Alice started it all.”
“Lewis?”
“He calls himself Dementia now, but according to what Jason could learn he was originally called Lewis, he arrived on the Clever Dream. Is there any chance you can make it up the line to us? We're guarding a section of the main tunnel leading through the spaceport.”
Jake looked to Alaka who stepped in a little closer so he could reply. “Hello Ayan, it's Alaka. We're trying to clear an old service tunnel so we can get to the main line now, so it'll be a few hours before we can get moving.”
“How many people made it out of the mountain?”
“Only sixty three of us got away, Roman and many others were killed trying to stop a West Watcher spy from forcing a small fusion reactor to explode inside the mountain.”
“I'm sorry, I wish we could have done something.”
“Don't worry, just try to maintain control of the main tunnel. Do you have a plan beyond that?”
“I think the leadership here wants to eventually leave the planet, but they're not giving us any details. Jason, Oz and I are trying to keep the command channels to ourselves for the time being, they're not making good choices for the group. I can't get into details right now, there's a lot of fighting.”
“I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps we could offset things once we arrive.”
“No, the last thing we need is a power struggle. I'll tell them you're coming and that you'll join the fight, but I think our main goal should be escape.”
“You're right, Ayan. What happened to Minh-Chu?” asked Alaka, glancing at Jake as he did so.
“He was injured but he's safe for now. If we can get him to a medical center he'll be fine, especially if Iloona can monitor him until then.”
“I will, he'll be in good hands,” Iloona added with a bright smile.
“I managed to get a message out to the Tr
iton, and I'm overdue by now so unless something gets in the way they'll be on their way here,” Jake said. “Alice is in command with some good people backing her.”
“So she's really human now?” Ayan asked.
“She has been for years, in fact she rescued me and set me up with a ship then set me loose on the galaxy. I can fill you in more later.”
“Wow. Just… wow. I'll authorize your comm ident so you can address Jason and Oz then track you on our secure tactical system. I think it's time we start coordinating.”
Jake could hear Ayan's smile over the communicator and it felt as though the weight of all of Pandem was lifting off his shoulders.
Nora
The main hallways of Regent Galactic ships were always made to fit six abreast, a surprising engineering choice considering that not long ago half the primary functions aboard were automated. The berths on most vessels were a third empty until the Regent Galactic Coreward Fleet prepared themselves for the release of the Holocaust Virus. The green and brown decks positively glistened, the walls and ceiling were pristine as well, as though the ship had just been built. It was new, Hampon wouldn't have accepted anything less than state of the art vessels for the Order of Eden Flagship.
Lister Hampon walked with his usual escort; an assistant who knew his schedule better than he did, a publicist who knew who he would and wouldn't speak to, four attendants ready to fetch anything he might want at a moment's notice and a full squad of special forces trained soldiers. They were his, paid directly out of the Order's coffers, their families had been added to the list of the Saved when they signed on to his detail so they would survive the chaos inflicted by machines driven mad by the Holocaust Virus. To betray him was to have everyone they cared for de-listed. Their loyalty was practically written in stone, and he had to admit it, he'd actually gotten to know many of his personal guards. Perhaps it was his child like appearance, but he couldn't help but think there was something more.
When it happened exactly Lister Hampon couldn't say, but some time after most of his conciousness was transferred to a much younger body he started feeling at ease with people. Somehow understanding them had become less challenging and with the crew Regent Galactic had assigned him along with a team of analysts and doctors he managed to feel right with himself after just a few months.
People who didn't know him or what he was capable of were immediately more pliant, whether they were in awe of him because he was the High Seat of the Order of Eden or because he still had the appearance of a young boy just entering his teens didn't matter. The reward to his status and appearance was the pliancy he found in the people around him, and he hoped that Eve would be no different.
He stopped to stand in front of her door. One of his attendants pressed the chime button. Lister and the twenty with him filled the hall, a mix of white, blue and cream robes and armoured troops. Finally he door opened and Lister nodded to one of his attendants, she was a young, heavy set woman carrying a white oblong box level with both arms. “You may attend me, everyone else will remain outside.”
The guards took up positions on either side of the hall, standing at attention while his publicist and assistant stood in front of the door itself.
The small quarters were furnished with a single bed, a desk, a dresser and there was a mini-bathroom with a sink, toilet and pulse shower through a narrow door in the corner. Eve stared at him, wide eyed, standing in a robe beside her bed. Her hair was in disarray and her simple loose fitting jumpsuit had been crumpled up and tossed atop the dresser. It was an emergency vacuum suit with pockets added, and he caught himself before shaking his head.
He smiled up at her and offered his hand. Her eyes were only flicking at him, he was only in the peripheral of her perception, there was so much more happening in her mind, on the network she was connected to. “I'm Lister Hampon, I hope I haven't come at a bad time.”
“Yes, I know,” she replied woodenly. Her arms dangled numbly at her sides, she may have been standing there for hours for all he knew.
“Eve, can I have some of your time please?” he asked politely.
“I'm listening,” she muttered.
Lister shook his head and took a seat on the edge of the bed, his feet couldn't touch the floor as he tidied up his own rich green and brown robes. “Nora is what they called you before your father experimented on you, isn't it?”
That gave her a momentary pause, her eyes rolled in his direction. “Yes, that's my name.”
“May I call you Nora?”
“Yes. My father saved me, you know.”
He nodded. “I know, and we've saved you again, but not so you could waste the gift by becoming part of a cold, digital system all over again. Please Nora, disconnect from the network and give me the gift of your time,” he patted the bed beside him. “Sit.”
She looked confused, surprised and after a moment he could tell all her attentions were on him. The young woman sat down beside him, wary, folding her robe more tightly closed.
“Have you spoken to many people since you arrived here?”
“Many people. The communications systems aboard this ship are very efficient, it's easy to speak to anyone in the fleet.”
“I mean just as we're speaking now, face to face.”
“No, I've been to therapy and my room,” she answered dutifully.
“Well, that won't do. Let's start with something simple. What would you rather be called, Eve or Nora?”
She looked to the attendant, who was trying not to look at either of them as she stood against the wall, then back to Lister. “I don't know, your eminence. What do you think would be better?”
“Oh, please, call me Lister. Well, it all depends. Do you want to be known as the matron of our cause? If that's what you'd like then Eve is appropriate. If you'd rather recover in peace then Nora may suit you better. It may also be a good way to remember your father and who you were before all this changed your world.”
The mention of her father, of her human past seemed to brighten her spirits. “Nora.”
“Good, I'm glad to know you Nora. Now let's do something to make you a little more comfortable. Do you have a brush?”
Nora's attention was back on her connection with the vast network of the fleet around Pandem.
“Please, don't search using the system, come back to us,” Lister said, taking her hand in his. He turned to his aide momentarily; “Can you check the drawers for a brush please?” he whispered to her.
Nora looked to her hand in his then to him, surprised. “You don't want me in the system.”
“Not just now, no. It's time for you to disconnect for a while, to learn what it is to be really and truly alive again.”
“In physiotherapy I learned how to walk again. I haven't missed any of my appointments.”
“I know and that's good, but there's more to being a human being that knowing how to walk, than being in sync with your body.” Lister accepted an oval hairbrush from his aide. May I brush your hair Nora?”
She stared at him blankly for a moment then nodded.
He gently ran the brush through her red hair, starting with gentle, slow strokes. It wasn't terribly long, only a bob cut, but it was enough to brush. “There's a world of good sensations all around us. The physical world is filled with gifts, and many of them come to us as a result of simply interacting with our environment, with other people. Sometimes I wish I was the first one you saw when you woke in this body.”
“But you didn't want me like Gabriel does.”
Her candour was surprising. “How was that?”
“He had a,” she paused a moment, “need to connect with my mind. He hoped to find some kind of fulfilment. I didn't know what to do so I used his cybernetic implants to build a new virus. I thought it was what he wanted, he did it before, I just made a better one.”
“Then he had you transported here.”
“Yes,” her tone softened, the mechanical clarity of it dulled.
“Well, he in
vited you in not knowing what to expect. I think he should have taken things much slower, what do you think? Would it have been better if he approached you without all those expectations?”
After a moment she turned to him, her eyes fully focused on his for the first time. “Yes, it would have.”
“Well, in a way that's what I'm trying to do Nora. I don't want you to think that I'm here to put you up on some pedestal like some idol for my people to worship. They already have me for that,” his tone softened then, surprising his aide who forgot herself for a moment and stared. “I need you to know that you have friends here, that I can really help you, but you need to start behaving like a person, not just a part of a machine.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn't get the chance to be human for very long the first time and I know what it's like to become ill and have to start over. That's what happened to you, isn't it?”
“You reviewed my file, I saw the logs.”
“But now I'm talking to you about it. There are nuances in speaking to someone about their life, and that's just as important as anything in that file. Gabriel was so focused on his dream of finding a perfect match that he forgot there might be a young woman in there,” he squeezed her hand. “She might want to try having a good life once she was put into a new body, and that life can only be complete if you don't live in machines the whole time.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, her lip quivered. He had hit the nerve he was looking for, the one that led straight back to her long forgotten human dreams, the ones she'd had before she was used as the center of an organic computer.
Hampon offered open arms and she leaned into him, weeping. “No one ever asked me,” she sobbed.
Perhaps it was his new found youth, maybe it was the effect of rare emotional contact, but he felt a deep sympathy for the young woman. Whether her father or anyone else had taken the opportunity to ask the critically ill girl if she wanted to become the Eve Mind. There was a ghoulish cruelty to the thought of having one's conciousness transferred to the coldness of machinery without consent, and as he soothed Nora he genuinely wanted nothing more than to protect her. “It's all right, we're going to make things better. It's going to be fine.” He reached out to his aide, who was quietly in tears herself and she handed him a kerchief.
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