by C. T. Phipps
Part of the reason the Commonwealth loathed us so much was we were significantly more technologically advanced than them. This was due to a variety of factors, including our enhanced intelligence, technology smuggling from the Community, and xenoarchaeology. The latter, in particular, incensed them as the Commonwealth had extremely strict laws about investigating sites belonging to destroyed, or absent, alien races. I, personally, didn’t see the problem with the knowledge of the dead being used to help the living. The only reason we didn’t know more about, say, the Elder Races was it required things like Cognition A.I. to understand their machines.
“You had something you wanted to talk to me about?” I decided to switch to a less-polarizing topic.
Zoe looked as if she’d forgotten what she had been discussing. “Oh, that’s right. I want to copy your brain.”
I blinked. “Could you repeat that?”
“I mentioned we’ve made some remarkable advancements in A.I., cybernetics, and bioroid research. They’re all the same field really. I think we can improve the downloading of skills from just pure information to actual technical usage. I want to test it by using information derived from our best combat pilot.”
“Me?”
“You!”
I tried to figure out how many ways I could say the word “Hell, no” and came up with fifteen. “Are you out of your damned mind?”
“Thomas’ husband says so, as do most of my friends, but sanity is relative.”
“It’s really not.”
Zoe looked up at me. “Cassius, you are the embodiment of everything good in our system…and everything wrong with it. Certainly, you are nothing like our father who never thought of another person in his life unless it was how to control them. You are a soldier who follows a code religiously, even when the people who wrote it sniggered as they put it in writing. So, I won’t argue with you about the scientific merits or the possibilities this opens up for improving the human species. Instead, I will simply say this will save the lives of your fellow soldiers.”
I hated her in that moment because she was right. I had a greater responsibility here. “All right. We’ll do it.”
“Splendid.”
“How long will it take?” I said, knowing I had to be back on the Revengeance soon.
“Just a few hours.”
“Judith will never forgive me for any time away from our last night together to do this. You realize that, right?”
“You’ll have many nights with her in the future. Besides, I want her to participate, too. She’s one of the most observant women I’ve ever known.”
“The world could use more Judiths.”
Chapter Fifteen
My reaction to the claim Thomas had sent them to pick up Zoe was simple but succinct. “Bullshit.”
Zemov chuckled. “I can assure you, we’re here to pick up your sister and transport her back to the Revengeance.”
“The Reveangence was scrapped,” I snapped.
“That’s where you draw your line on the believability of our story? Not that your siblings are alive? That they’re the heart of the Free Systems Alliance?”
I’d seen both of them on the ship’s computer, but I wasn’t about to reveal just how much I’d learned from them. “It’s a big galaxy, Zemov. You’re not going to convince me of all the planets in the universe, in all the star systems, I’ve stumbled onto the one where my sister is located and that you’re working for my brother.”
“It does seem like a big coincidence,” Zemov replied, “but I think we both know there are forces moving us all into position for something grand. Besides, didn’t you say you were investigating your doppelganger?”
He had a point.
“You don’t seem surprised the Cassius in charge of the FSA’s starfighters is a bioroid.”
“I’m close enough to your brother to know the truth.”
Ah, he was one of my brother’s lovers. Someone he trusted with his secrets. That made things more complicated. “What do you want with my sister?”
“She’s a traitor,” Zemov said.
I blinked and looked over at Isla.
“The Contessa of House Plantagenet fed information to the Commonwealth about the nature of our projects here,” Zemov said. “When your brother found out, he sent us to secure the research data and bring your sister back unharmed. By the time we arrived, the crew was already dead, the research forwarded to your brother, and a distress signal sent out. The false Chel arrived soon after as her rescue. I managed to convince them we were Watchers and they should guard our escape with a high-value VIP.”
This time, it was Isla who called out. “That’s insane.”
“Not if you have all the necessary codes and data for such a deception,” Zemov said. “How do you think we found out about the Contessa’s treason? The Commonwealth is a house divided against itself and the FSA will break it into smaller, more manageable pieces for the Second Archduchy of Crius.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Is that the line you’ve been fed by your Chel allies?”
“Don’t be bigoted,” Zemov said, half-heartedly. “They may be disgusting aliens now, but they were once human.”
This conspiracy was getting more and more convoluted. First ex-Crius, then Chel, and now parties in the Commonwealth itself? That’s if I believed Zemov, which was a big if. On the other hand, his explanation would go a long way toward explaining why the Commonwealth’s Fake Chel attacked us.
It would also mean Ida kept my sister from being involved in all this from the beginning. I was starting to question her story that she’d stumbled onto me while holding out a net for possible high-value defectors. It seemed more likely now, especially if Zoe was her contact in the FSA, that I’d been ushered onto her ship as insurance. Either as a weapon against their imposter Cassius or leverage against my sister.
Did the lies ever end?
Only one way to find out. Talk to Zoe. “What’s your proposal?”
“Guarantee my safety and I’ll surrender to you. I’ll put down my weapon and you can put me under arrest.”
I glanced out the side of the elevator’s doors and saw Zemov for the first time. He was a tall man with long black hair, almond eyes, and pale white skin. He was wearing the same sort of uniform Thomas had been in my memories, lacking the decor, and was carrying a repeating fusion-rifle. There were numerous damaged and shattered mechs on the ground. Their metal was fused together by the heat of the grenade’s explosion. There was no sign of dead Chel, however, and that was when I saw lights shimmer in the doorways to Zemov’s sides.
Dammit, it was a trap.
“He’ll be right out!” Isla shouted, still looking down at her scanner. “Put your gun down now.”
I looked at her and she smiled, clearly planning something.
“All right.” Zemov kneeled down and put his rifle on the ground.
“Put your hands up,” I said, partially unsheathing my sword and knowing the moment I stepped out the Chel would open fire.
Zemov did so, a knowing grin on his face.
Isla lifted her right hand and started counting down from five. When she reached one, I stepped out only to find the hallway filled with energy blasts.
Energy blasts fired at Zemov and his companions.
Clarice and William were behind with their plasma rifles firing. They cut down Zemov from behind, his shield not even raised before continuing to fire at the Chel, knowing exactly where to aim. I charged outward with my proton sword, a blast from William’s rifle striking my energy shield before I slashed one of the Chel’s arms clean off. He fell to the ground and started to bleed out. The last of them, a female, tossed down her weapon and raised her hands in surrender.
Clarice, angry beyond belief, proceeded to charge the female Chel and knocked her across the jaw of her stealth suit with the butt of her rifle. The Melampus’ security chief then kicked her in the chest before smashing her across the face with her rifle butt again. It began as a no
-holds-barred beatdown and looked like it was about to continue into an act of murder.
“Stop, Clarice!” William shouted. “We need them alive.”
“You should let her do it,” Isla said, stepping out from behind the elevator doors. “It’s psychologically healthy.”
“In what universe?” William asked.
“This one,” Isla said. “Revenge is one of the best medicines there is. I speak from experience.”
I took a deep breath, debating whether or not to interfere. “Clarice, killing them now is going to just mean its suffering ends now.”
Clarice shot me a murderous glare, then looked back down to the bloody and battered Chel. “You saw what this thing was a part of.”
“Yes,” I said, looking at her. “Answers first.”
Clarice reached down and grabbed its personal shield-generator, just as Isla had done, then set her rifle to stun. She proceeded to deliver a half-dozen bolts into the Chel’s body, paralyzing it. She then fired another one for good measure.
“You owe me for this,” Clarice said.
“You’re right,” I said. “I do.”
I took a deep breath, then turned to Isla. “Did you send them the information about their location?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Good job,” I said, nodding. “Now that means there’s only one person alive on this ship. My sister.”
“You’re kidding,” William said, looking at me incredulously. “Is your family just the whole part of this Alliance?”
“It looks that way,” I said, wondering what was going on. “My sister was a master roboticist and clone master, though, so whatever appears to be the truth is not necessarily the case. Identity is not always what it appears to be.”
“Uh huh,” William said, staring at me. “Now’s not the time for this sort of bullshit.”
I shrugged. “Probably not.”
Isla lifted up her scanner. “I have a pretty good idea where Lady Plantagenet is. I also have recordings of what they were working on in the security feeds even if we don’t have the actual research data.”
I wondered if Hiro would make an attempt on our lives for that as well. He was yet another person who wasn’t what they appeared to be on the Melampus. In a way, that was a worse cut than discovering this ship full of corpses as I’d been genuinely fooled by his pleasant, idealistic demeanor. Yet, his bearing when Munin had broken the codes of the ship was one of a hardened killer.
No wonder he didn’t seem traumatized by shooting down Holtz.
“Where’s Hiro anyway?” I asked, noticing he was conspicuous by his absence.
“With Munin,” William said, “I didn’t think it was right to bring those two into combat.”
I was suddenly nervous and about to object when I heard Hiro’s voice proclaim from down the hall, “We’ve found a survivor!”
I had never run faster in my life than when I did into the engine room proper. There, in the center of the ship, was a series of catwalks overlooking a set of four massive pipes, which led to large, humming, ball-like devices that sent strange blue fluid-like energies through crystal tubes. I had no idea how jump drives worked, only a basic understanding of the physics to which humanity had been given knowledge by the Community, but I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed every time I was around the machines that warped the laws of physics every time they brought ships through the jump-dimension.
Turning my head to the side, I saw Hiro standing at the other end of a catwalk to my right and walked over it, into an office that had several dead bodies on the ground. They were ship engineers wearing spacesuits that had protected them from the chlorine gas but not Baronet Zemov and his Chel guards.
One of the dead bodies on the ground was a Chel as well, which indicated they hadn’t gone down without a fight. I wondered how many others had perished fighting for their lives after the brutal sneak attack which had served no purpose other than to try to cover up what had been going on here. Who, really, was responsible for the massacre? Zemov and his Chel? Did I believe their claim everyone had been dead on arrival? Or was my sister at fault, working for Ida? Did I dare hope it was truly Zoe on board?
I didn’t have time to think about that and focused, instead, on finding the survivor Hiro mentioned. The office was surprisingly cheerful-looking despite the number of corpses with holos of Zoe, her brother, and three of her genetically-engineered children. None of them had been created with a father but were custom-built from the ground up.
I hoped none of them were on board.
Munin was scratching away at a panel against the wall, with a controller to the side as well as a speech console. It was, as Zemov said, a panic room. Not a usual feature of Crius ships for anyone but the captain, but I sincerely doubted my sister had left the ship unmodified. Walking over to it, I looked at Munin. “Any luck?”
“Nope,” Munin said, trying not to look at the corpses behind her. “Whoever is inside is sealed up tight and not responding to any personal inquiries.”
“I think I might be able to help with that,” I said, softly.
“Because you were a high-muckity-muck in Crius?”
“I’m not sure what that means but I’m going to guess and say yes.”
Munin snorted. “Be my guest.”
I looked back at Hiro who was acting very casual. He didn’t suspect I believed him to be willing to kill us all now. Was I being paranoid? Putting too much stock in a look and the fact he was all right with killing Holtz (a drunk and a bully)? Perhaps. Then again, space seemed to have brought out the worst in humanity.
The original Earthers had ruined the planet they’d lived on and eventually destroyed it, but they’d been doing their best to make sure their new homes were decent. It hadn’t been until they’d been given cheap terraforming and jumpspace drives that they’d really unleashed their worst aspects. I wondered if that was the point now. It might have been kinder to just let us kill ourselves off.
Pressing my thumb against the genetic identifier, I also turned on the comms system. “Zoe, this is Cassius. The real one.”
“Real one?” Munin said.
“Ask Ida,” I replied.
There was silence on the other side.
“Nice job,” Munin said. “Who’s Zoe?”
“My sister,” I said.
Munin raised an eyebrow. “Either you’ve been keeping more than just your identity from us or someone has been a real asshole to you.”
“Or this is all a coincidence,” Hiro said, his voice hardened. “Which is the best way to think of things.”
“When did you get all cynical?” Munin asked.
Hiro looked away as the others entered the room beside him. Clarice, noticeably, took up position behind him. I hadn’t been the only one of our group to see his change in demeanor, though a quick glance at Clarice’s bloodshot eyes and barely concealed fury, I couldn’t help but wonder if she was ready to shoot the first person to give her cause.
Maybe I should have let her kill the Chel.
“I don’t believe you,” a voice spoke on the other end of the comm. It took me a second to process that it really was my sister.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Strange how human emotions betray us at the times they’re supposed to be at our most clear. Children find Christmas bewildering when not about presents or decorations. Death can leave us numb rather than sad. The birth of children can be frightening rather than joyous. To hear my sister’s voice left me sad rather than happy as it meant she was thick in this nightmare.
Knowing she was here, in fact, I was angry because it occurred to me she had to be responsible for my doppelganger and his wife. She’d created a gross perversion of myself, bioroid or not, which diminished me as a human being. I’d never been as close to my siblings as a brother should, but this was the first time I’d ever wanted to commit an act of physical violence against one of them. What was her role in all of this and how stupid was she to become involved in terrorism or esp
ionage?
As stupid as I was, I’d wager.
“It’s me,” I said. “I can prove it by telling you how grossly appalled, hateful, and angry I am over the fact there’s a copy of me running around. You told me that research was to make better pilots. Not…clone them.”
“The sheer irony of that statement is hopefully not lost on you,” Zoe replied.
“Do I want to know?” William asked.
“Cassius is being impersonated by a bioroid in the Free Systems Alliance,” Hiro said. “He’s less than happy about it.”
“How the hell do you know?” William asked.
“Eh,” Hiro shrugged. “Reasons.”
“We should really sit down and discuss what everyone knows,” Isla suggested.
“That could be very dangerous,” Hiro said.
“You want me to blow the door?” Munin asked. “Because I have explosives and love blowing things up.”
“Uh huh,” I said.
“Love it,” Munin said, grinning. “Boom.”
“Not yet,” William said. “Clarice?”
“I’m sick of this,” Clarice said, staring back to where she left the Chel. “Let’s just get what we came for and get off this tub.”
“Agreed,” I said, sighing. “Zoe, come out now. This is your only chance.”
There was hesitation before her response but, thankfully, it was the one we wanted. “All right.”
The panic room door opened with a whoosh of gas and dematerialization of force fields. That was when my sister, five years older, stepped out in a spacesuit. Her mascara had run, her makeup ruined by tears. She looked haggard and trembled, no doubt because she’d been in the middle of all this horror.
Zoe then gave me an uncharacteristic hug. I dropped my weapon and hugged her tight.