by E. R. Torre
“You saw an Inquisitor? And his female companion? You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
The stowaway was excited by this information.
“Describe the Inquisitor.”
“I… he was an Inquisitor. I sensed… I sensed he wasn’t a bad person. That he was trapped. I couldn’t understand why I felt that way.”
“And the woman?”
“I don’t know. She saw me. She knew I was hiding from them but she saw me.”
“She sensed you.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“She… she felt like she didn’t belong. She spoke to me.”
“What did she say?”
“A nursery rhyme. I didn’t… it made no sense.”
The stowaway nodded and didn’t push the point.
“What happened next?” he asked.
“Nothing… everything. I went to the bathroom. I lost track of time and fell asleep. When I woke up the bathroom wasn’t… it was no longer there and everything was changed. Why are the Inquisitor and his companion so important?”
The stowaway didn’t say.
“You talk when it suits you and I’m losing my patience.”
The stowaway looked away. It appeared his mind was on other things.
“All right, tell me this,” Laverna said. “What ships were built here? A fleet? An armada?”
“Neither,” the stowaway said.
He approached the vat closest to them and ran his hand along its edge.
“My name is Elias,” he said. “There is much I need to tell you but this information is… It cannot be thrown around like so much trivia. It requires time and I’m not sure—”
“—I can take it?” Laverna concluded. “You knew about my lost memories. Your voice was inside my head. Are we connected? Do we share a cortical implant?”
As she spoke, fragments of memories appeared in her mind.
“I remember,” she said.
“What?”
“Gehinnom. I was a soldier there.”
“What happened?”
“Bloodshed. When it was over, the rescue ships arrived. One of them came for me. I remember the soldiers of that ship. They surrounded me. They were… they were scared of me. They had their weapons drawn…”
Laverna frowned.
“Why were they so scared?”
“Tell me more.”
“I didn’t fight them. I got up and…”
“What?”
“That’s strange. My injuries… they were no longer there. I followed the soldiers to the ship and then…
Darkness.
Laverna shook her head.
“When I awoke, I was strapped to a bed. I felt the vibrations from the rockets. I was aboard a rescue ship. No. Not a rescue ship. A… a Med Unit? ”
Laverna’s eyes were upon Elias.
“That bed I woke up in earlier today,” she said. “It was like the one I… I awoke from after Gehinnom. I remember the Doctors who saw me. They poked and prodded my body. But there was one who just wanted to talk. He wanted me to remember everything. Just like you do.”
Elias was silent for several seconds.
“By the Gods, in all that time I never once asked what happened to the old lady I was protecting. Why didn’t I ask? Why didn’t I ask?”
“Keep remembering,” Elias said. “Remember it all.”
Laverna tried but the remaining memories grew distant and elusive.
“I can’t,” she said.
“You can,” Elias countered. “You will.”
“Let me be,” Laverna pleaded. “Let me…”
She stopped talking for a few seconds.
“Tell me about something else… tell me about the ARWs. How long have they been in operation?”
A knowing smile appeared on Elias’ face. It quickly faded.
“Decades. One of their first big tests was on Gehinnom.”
Laverna stifled a gasp.
“Is that why we held back?”
“The squads were never meant to engage them. Only the squad leaders knew about their presence.”
“What happened?”
“The ARWs did what they were supposed to. They cleared the rebel presence. Once that primary mission was complete, they faced a command vacuum. To put it bluntly, they didn’t know what to do next. They had to adjust. They doubled back and came within range of the Phaecian Squads that were following them. The squads were armed, of course, and the ARWs noticed. They weren’t sure how to deal with these armed soldiers and so they improvised. They labeled them hostile despite their markings and identification beacons.”
“Why would they—?”
“You give a child a doomsday toy and chances are they’ll use it. The ARWs’ rudimentary A.I. identified the Phaecian Squads as a threat. Once they did, they continued the fight.”
“How do you know all this? Are you military intelligence?”
“I was.”
“What branch? Inquisitor Class? Chamber? Attaché?”
“None.”
“A free agent then? Science division?”
“A science division.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I worked for the Epsillon Empire, not Phaecia.”
Laverna froze.
“You’re our enemy,” Laverna said.
“No,” Elias said. “I most certainly am not.”
A flurry of thoughts whirled through Laverna’s mind. Bits and pieces of her past again tried to come to the fore.
“The Phaecian Empire, your Empire, stole a prototype ARW. No one, not even the Epsillon Empire, knew of its existence until that moment. By stealing this prototype, spies from the Epsillon Empire embedded in the Phaecian Empire were alerted of its existence. Your people mapped out the ARW prototype and the spies from the Epsillon Empire got their hands on those plans. Soon, both Empires developed their own version of these machines.”
“How the hell do you know so much about the ARWs?”
“Because the prototype ARW the Phaecians stole was mine.”
45
Lieutenant Chandler stood before the Proto-Fusion bomb in 14 Storage. She didn’t approach the device and pulled up her comm unit. She activated and spoke into it.
“I’m coming up,” she said.
“Lieutenant?” Sergeant Delgado said. “What about—”
“No one is to come to 14 Storage,” she continued. “Whoever installed this device knew what they were doing. We try to defuse it, we set it off. Am I understood?”
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
With that Lieutenant Chandler switched off her communicator.
She stared into the dark corners of the room and said:
“All right, I’ve seen what you wanted me to see. You can come out now.”
Silent seconds, punctuated by the electric buzz from her handgun, were all that was heard. Presently, a male voice spoke.
“Quite a weapon you have.”
“Enough to take you out,” Lieutenant Chandler said. “You know that, of course?”
A shadowy form emerged from the corner of the room. It was dressed in a Security Guard’s outfit and, while still in the shadows, looked very much like SG Walker.
There were differences.
His flesh was a shade too pink. His eyes had no life in them and stared forward without focus. His chest didn’t move as he did not breathe.
Despite the differences, from a distance a casual observer would be fooled.
“Yes, I do,” the man said. “It was created by the same person who created us. She feared her creations and wanted to make certain we could be stopped, should the need arise.”
“A wise precaution.”
“Possibly,” the creature said. “What are the odds your shot will destroy me before I take you head off?”
“Don’t tempt me,” Lieutenant Chandler said. “Either way, even if I do try, the device goes off, right?”
The creature offered Li
eutenant Chandler a humorless smile.
“It will.”
Lieutenant Chandler lowered her gun.
“I’ll leave you be,” she said. “But you will not kill another member of this crew.”
“What’s to stop me?”
“I have my own countermeasures.”
“Are you referring to the protocol which randomly chooses thirty crewmembers every fifteen minutes and checks their vitals? If any three of the thirty randomly chosen crewmembers are dead, your ship’s self-destruct mechanism is activated. I’ve already worked around it. The ship believes SG Walker and Engineer Talbot are alive. Should I kill you, I can make it think you remain alive as well.”
“I’ve fine-tuned the program,” Lieutenant Chandler said. “Walker and Talbot are properly registered and everyone is accounted for. Two of the three are dead and if you kill one more crewmember the countermeasure will activate.”
“It’s just a program. I’ll crack it.”
“You’ll crack it, certainly, but it will take time,” Lieutenant Chandler said. “At least two months, given the encryption I’ve used. By then, our business on Arcadia will be over. No one else has to die.”
The creature’s smile faded.
“All I ask for is a truce,” Lieutenant Chandler said. “Leave my people alone and we won’t bother you.”
Warren’s doppelganger considered this.
“All right, Lieutenant,” it said. “You’re free to go.”
Lieutenant Chandler took a step back. She headed to 14 Storage’s exit and, when she reached it, looked back. The creature was no longer there.
It disappeared into the shadows.
46
“You created those things?” Laverna said. “By the Gods, why?”
“I was hoping it would aid in my journey,” Elias said.
He leaned against one of the ancient vats and collected his thoughts.
“After the prototype was stolen, I searched uncounted light years’ worth of territory for it, in the hopes of stopping those who robbed me. I was too late. They escaped and new models were created, some so inferior as to be little more than garbage. But the next generation of models and the ones after that were better. Soon, the Phaecians had their ARW task force. The creatures operated undercover. They causing a rebellion here, a high level political assassination there. They helped the Council of Twelve consolidate its power in ways both large and small. All the while I watched and schemed. My intent was to either steal them back or, barring that, take them out.”
Elias paused.
“But as I watched them, they watched me. It wasn’t long before we were at war, a war hidden completely from human eyes. Our skirmishes were large and small and shared one thing in common: They were well calculated so that even the smallest cuts bled. Today, after years of planning and subtle nudging, I have their largest group at my fingertips.”
“Where were they before you brought them here?”
“Davilia.”
Laverna recalled many details about Davilia, a surprising amount considering it was a world she never set foot upon.
“Why would warrior machines be needed there?”
“A politician overstepped his bounds and a message was sent to follow the Holy Church’s line or else. In sending their message, the Council of Twelve showed a higher level of arrogance than usual. They all but announced the ARWs’ presence while intimidating their target. This, in turn, alerted me.”
“Why bring them here?”
“Taking these creatures out isn’t an easy thing to do. It’s best to do it here, where there won’t be as many civilian casualties.”
“What of all the people still left in Bordertown?”
“Come now, Laverna. Bordertown and Arcadia are deserted.”
“No,” Laverna insisted. “There have to be…”
She didn’t complete her thought. Instead, she said:
“How is it I’m here?”
“The most significant question of them all,” Elias said.
“Was I… was I in hibernation?”
“Yes.”
“What of my memories?”
“They were fed to you. It’s what kept you sane.”
“You mean I could be in an even worse condition?” Laverna said and laughed. The laugh died quickly.
Laverna turned away from Elias.
“I… I have to go,” she said.
“Where?”
Laverna didn’t answer. She hurried away. Her walk became a run. She was deep within the foundry. She shook as she ran. She shook at truths she no longer wished facing.
Abruptly, she bumped into something. It enveloped her. Arms, a body. It was Elias. He had somehow materialized before her and embraced her.
Laverna felt as if she was going to cry.
“Let me be,” she said.
“I can’t,” Elias said. “Just as the ARWs are my responsibility, so too are you. You, more than them, have a role in what’s to come.”
Laverna violently freed herself from the stranger’s grip.
“A role?” Laverna repeated. “What in Hades are you—”
She didn’t finish her statement.
Laverna was violently tugged to the side and into a shadowy crevasse between dusty machines.
Elia’s hand came to her mouth. He put a finger over his mouth.
Quiet.
He released Laverna and they waited for several seconds. Soon, they heard the sound of footsteps.
At the foundry’s entrance appeared two shadowy forms. They moved with quiet precision and in opposite directions. Their sensors attempted to take in everything around them but the enormous metallic structures inhibited their readings.
Still they searched.
The ARWs disappeared into the darkness and all was deadly still.
Laverna wondered if they had quietly left but knew this was wishful thinking.
“Do as I say,” Elias whispered into Laverna’s ear. “Or else we’re dead.”
There was movement at her side.
Like the ARWs, Elias was swallowed in the foundry’s darkness, leaving Laverna terribly alone.
47
Laverna wanted to follow Elias but feared any step taken would give away her location.
She reached for the Camouflage Unit controls on her jacket and activated the device remotely. It would hide her and the hovercycle but would not do the same for Elias.
If he even needs it.
The ARWs no doubt circled the foundry and their internal instruments sought signs of their prey.
You have to move, Laverna thought even as another part of her mind countered with: Elias told you to stay where you are.
Laverna shook her head.
She refused to remain in the shadows.
She moved, carefully making her way back to the hovercycle.
The sound was like exploding metal.
A shadowy figure –one of the two ARWs inside the foundry– flew through the air. As it did, its metallic body short-circuited and arches of blinding electricity exploded from within. The creature hit the ground with incredible force while its limbs twisted in grotesque directions.
Instantly there was movement from the other side of the foundry. The second ARW moved at incredible speeds to the point of its partner’s attack. More shadows darted about. A light flashed and was followed by an electronic buzz.
Laverna pressed herself back into the shadows.
The ARW that landed near her convulsed. Electric sparks arching from its body faded as the convulsions slowed and stopped. The creature tried to get up one last time but couldn’t. Half its face was gone. Revealed below it was dark circuitry and charred metal. The shiny silver that made up its body darkened. It was as if years of rust and rot enveloped it in a matter of seconds.
While the ARW died, the second creature approached its partner. It moved quickly, pausing only fractions of a second to examine its surroundings.
After its partner twitched one last time, the re
maining ARW’s head swiveling toward Laverna and for a terror filled second she thought it had her in its sights. Instead, the ARW’s head snapped around and it drew a bead on another shadowy form.
This one was farther away and moved with a speed just as blinding as the ARWs.
It was Elias, Laverna knew, and he made just enough noise to draw the creature’s attention. Laverna wasn’t sure if this was intentional and wanted to shout out a warning. She chose not to.
Instead of attacking, the creature made a slow, circular approach toward Elias.
Laverna again thought of yelling a warning but again didn’t. She felt a heaviness in her head, a buzz which wouldn’t stop.
Laverna sensed something. A feeling of—
The creature is trying to communicate with the others.
She shook her head.
How do I know this?
Laverna stepped out of the shadows and approached the charred remains of the first ARW.
Its body continued crumbling. Whatever microscopic glue held it together was stripped. Smaller and smaller pieces fell off it until it was nothing more than ash.
Laverna silently moved on. She followed the creature tailing Elias but had no idea what to do beyond that.
How do you stop a God?
Laverna mirrored the ARW’s steps and moved deeper into the foundry.
Outside, the sand storm reached its apex and winds whipped in a frenzy. The storm hovered over the megacity and blocked the rising sun. Sand drifted into the foundry and created a haze.
Laverna ignored all this and kept to the edges of long dead machines, listening for any sounds above the storm’s that revealed either the pursuer or pursued’s position.
She found a metal rod lying on the ground and grabbed it. She held it before her and realized how pathetic it looked.
You plan to fight the creatures with this?
Still she moved.
After a few steps, Laverna stopped.
The remaining ARW stood just before her. It fidgeted, its head moving from side to side as if possessed. The wind and sand blowing through the foundry distracted the creature and, Laverna hoped, hindered its ability to find Elias.
Or me.
The creature stepped forward and again Laverna felt the buzz in her head. She closed her eyes and steadied herself.