Warden 4

by Isaac Hooke

  But she didn’t actually mind. He squeezed tightly, trying to crush the life out of her, but all he was accomplishing was increasing the surface area from which she could draw nano machines. She siphoned them from all sides of her body now, taking from Khrusos’ underbelly, and the underside of the legs that enwrapped her. Instead of her body caving under the pressure, it expanded.

  Khrusos seemed to be growing smaller while she became bigger. At first, she thought it might be an optical illusion that came with her own increase in size, but then she realized her enemy’s head was nearly level with her own, thanks to the overall decrease in his body mass. It was physically impossible for him to maintain his previous size, considering all the nano machines she had taken…

  Khrusos abruptly released her and staggered away as if he had a taken a mortal blow. He dragged his eight-legged body toward the dome.

  Rhea walked toward him relentlessly. She was almost the same height as he was now.

  Those tentacles shot out, trying to bash her away, but she merely caught them, tucking them under one arm. She closed the distance and wrapped her other arm around his head and put him in a headlock.

  He swung his thorax and abdomen toward her, and pressed his legs against her, trying to break free. He could not.

  She continued to drain nano machines from him. She released the tentacles with her other hand and reached under his thorax, wrapping her fingers around the joint where it connected to the head. Then she pulled backward with both arms, bending that shrinking head backward, ever backward… until it snapped right off.

  The severed parts fell away, and the headless body capsized; the legs stretched violently into the air for a moment before crimping and spasming.

  The head section remained motionless, its tentacles hanging limp on the red Martian rock.

  A small, circular panel opened in the middle, and the top of a cylindrical glass tank emerged.

  Is that what I think it is?

  She gripped the metal tip between her thumb and forefinger and slid the tank free for further examination.

  Within, a human brain floated, bathed in a translucent yellow fluid. Billions of fibers ran from the cortex to a small, annular structure at the bottom: the internal portion of the mind-machine interface. Small tubes emerged from a rectangle at the center of that ring, and connected to the brainstem, supplying it with blood.

  The external portion of the mind-machine interface was accessible via the metal cap at the bottom of the tank. Several indicators flashed along its rim.

  Rhea cocked her head, then pressed her finger into the metal. Her base nano machines swarmed onto the unit, drilling holes and vanishing inside, clandestinely integrating themselves with the internal circuitry. She smiled wickedly as her technology took hold.

  The slave becomes the master.

  She didn’t see an oxygen canister attached anywhere to the unit, so she estimated she had about ten minutes before the brain died of hypoxia.

  She wrapped her large hand protectively around the cylinder, and then carried it toward the dome.

  With her free hand, she climbed onto the concrete base, then clambered onto the glass itself. She was careful not to press too hard when she formed hand and footholds, as she didn’t want to puncture or otherwise shatter the glass composite; she left a series of depressions in the surface in her wake.

  Inside, several police drones followed her advance, but otherwise, so far security forces hadn’t deployed any attackers into the Martian atmosphere outside the dome. She wondered if they were aware that she held the brain of the leader of the free world in her hands.

  She reached the hole Khrusos had made in the dome above the palace, which was completely plugged with hardened expanding foam by then. 3D-printing repair drones were already at work replacing the outskirts of that foam with glass and struts. The police drones hovered among them.

  Maintaining her grip on the surrounding dome section, Rhea punched through the foam plug. The closest drones—both the repair and police types—were sucked out before they could compensate for the explosive force of decompression. Fighting against that force, which was like a powerful, gusting wind, she pulled herself through. She took plasma hits from the police octocopters that had moved off to a safe distance inside.

  She shoved herself downward, toward the palace; the impetus she imparted with that shove, along with the weight of her heavier body, allowed her to overcome the decompressive force. She landed on the spire and begin vaulting down it, taking big, bounding leaps.

  Overhead, the drones plugged the hole with expanding foam once again.

  Enemy units swooped in, and she was shot at from all sides. Plasmas bolts came in from the ground below, too. She dodged what she could, and bashed aside any drones that got too close, and quickly made her way back to the bottom of the spire.

  She leaped down the final four stories to the ground, and then scrambled into the breach that remained in the palace wall, courtesy of Khrusos’ earlier hasty exit.

  In the hallway beyond, she batted away the enemy infantry robots and walkers that attempted to waylay her. Ahead, at the gaping hole Khrusos had left in the throne room, she saw infantry robots lined up, their weapons aimed inside, no doubt pinning Will or whoever else remained within.

  Some of them turned toward her as she approached, but she battered them with her fists, crushing and mangling them and knocking them aside. Then she crawled inside.

  Within, she stood up once more, and surveyed the room. Will emerged from the far entrance, beyond which he had been taking cover, and waved. She waved back.

  “My, my, you’ve certainly grown,” Will transmitted. “I remember when you used to be a wee little girl.”

  Her gaze alighted on Miles, who yet lay crumpled near the far wall. The blood stain on the wall reminded her of what he had done for her.

  “Watch my back, Will,” she sent, not quite in the mood for jokes.

  She went straight to Miles and set down the brain tank.

  She sloughed off most of the nano machines she had taken from Khrusos, letting them die. As she shrunk, they formed a thick pile all around her. When it was done, that heap buried her.

  She emerged from the mound of dead nano machines, feeling so small now, but also more… normal. She wasn’t quite her usual size, however, as she’d left enough inside of her to offer something to Miles. Something she wasn’t sure he’d accept. Assuming he was still alive.

  She approached him. His body was battered. Blood had trickled from his every orifice: ears, nostrils, mouth, even the edges of his eyes.

  Miles opened his eyes when she knelt beside him. It took a few moments before they focused on her. His gaze drifted to the pile behind her, and the brain of Khrusos, which remained where she’d set it down.

  "Nice fish tank," Miles commented weakly. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Most likely,” she said, holding his hand.

  He smiled. A fresh drop of blood trickled from his lips. “I’m dying. But before I go, I just want you to know, I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for betraying you. I made a mistake. The biggest of my life. I assumed something that I shouldn’t have. Let my preconceived notions about you and your kind, drive me to a false conclusion. I betrayed not just you, but all my friends. People who had grown closer to me than family.” He started weeping. “I betrayed you! The beautiful woman who saved my entire city. Oh, I’m glad I’m dying. So glad. I don’t deserve to live.”

  “Shh,” Rhea said. “It doesn’t matter. You redeemed yourself in the end.”

  “Did I?” he said. “Then why do I feel so bad?”

  “Look,” she said. “I forgive you. But let me tell you something. You don’t have to die. I can create a cyborg body for your brain, right here, right now. Eventually, you could look identical to what you do now.”

  She wasn’t actually certain she could create an entire cyborg body with her spare nano machines, but she felt confident that at the very least she’d be ab
le to create a mind-machine tank, like the one Khrusos had. She had a blueprint for that, there, in her memories, likely received when she first absorbed the nano machines in the Emerald Highlands. Once she created a tank, they could find Miles a body after.

  “But only if you want,” she added. “I can’t force this on you. And there’s no guarantee it will work.”

  Miles smiled weakly. “It’s tempting. But I don’t think I could live with myself after what I’ve done. Besides, I’ve loathed machines my entire life. If I become one, I’ll only loath myself, even more than I do now, if that’s possible. But I thank you for the offer.”

  “Please Miles, let me try,” she said. “You have to try. You can’t give up.”

  “Actually, no,” he told her. “I can. I’m allowed. Let me die. Let me go. Please, my Warden.”

  She grinned, tearing up herself now. “You called me Warden again.”

  He returned her smile. “Yes. You were always my Warden. I was a fool to think you would ever betray humanity. You didn’t have it in you. You were a warrior of Ganymede, yet you were also a warrior of Earth. I thank you, for saving us all. For saving me.”

  “But I didn’t save you,” she said, squeezing his hand.

  “You did,” he said. “I’m free.”

  With that he closed his eyes forevermore.

  She stared at his lifeless form for several moments, then released him and wiped away the tears.

  It’s over. Somehow, I survived. Somehow, I won.

  She thought of all she had done to get to this moment. All she had lost. Her innocence. The lives of good friends, like Miles.

  Was it worth it?

  She gazed at the brain floating in the tank beside her and repressed the urge to strike out at it. She needed that brain yet, if only for a little while longer.

  She stood up and sloughed off the last of her extra nano machines, so that she was just ordinary sized Rhea once more.

  Will joined her. “How’d it go?”

  “It went,” Rhea said.

  She walked to the brain tank, unfolded the handle built into the topmost cap, and used that to lift the unit with one hand.

  "Let's go get arrested,” she said.

  18

  Rhea sat in confinement with Will, Targon, Brinks and Renaldo. Burhawk, Min and Horatio were also held in the same cell, though their bodies remained frozen, with the beam having disabled every servomotor save those involved with breathing.

  “Can’t believe they impounded me ship!” Targon was saying. “The nerve of them! Arresting me for being an accessory to a crime.” He sighed. “I’m sorry again for not warning ye. They jumped me as soon as I left me ship. Didn’t have a chance to send a single transmission before they disabled me comm node.”

  “Yes, yes,” Renaldo said. “That’s like the fourth time you’ve told us now.”

  “Fourth?” Brinks said. “I think it’s the eighth.”

  “Tenth,” Will said. “Not that I’m counting.” He glanced at Rhea. “I still think you should have turned his brain to mush, rather than giving him up.”

  Rhea nodded distractedly. She, too, was worried she’d made a mistake. What if the palace technicians discovered the modifications she had made? Khrusos had men who were familiar with Ganymedean technology, after all. Perhaps they would notice the stealth modules she’d installed and transfer his brain to a new mind-machine tank. Then again, it was possible they’d believe any modifications to be artifacts of the nano technology he’d filled his body with. She dearly hoped the latter proved to be the case, and that they wouldn’t move his brain.

  “Can’t believe Miles is gone,” Brinks said. “Though I suppose he deserved it. I don’t know what the hell he was thinking when he betrayed us.”

  “He wasn’t,” Renaldo said. “And that’s the point. Always think very, very carefully before you do something that will endanger the lives of your friends. Because if you’re wrong, then you won’t be able to live with the outcome.”

  "He redeemed himself in the end," Rhea said quietly.

  “And what about ye?” Targon said. “Did ye achieve everything ye came for?”

  Rhea nodded. “Mostly. But there are a few loose ends I’d like to tidy up before we go home.”

  Apparently, the technicians hadn’t moved Khrusos to a new mind-machine tank, because she sensed when he came online a few minutes later.

  She looked up and glanced at Will: "He's online."

  The door to their cell unlocked and slid aside.

  The robots standing guard outside kept their weapons lowered.

  Will gave her a knowing look.

  “Hey, looks like we’ve been granted access to the jail’s wireless network,” Brinks said.

  She glanced at her HUD. Sure enough, the signal had been unlocked. She connected.

  She received a call a moment later. It was from Khrusos.

  She accepted, and a hologram of a bearded man in a dark suit with a red tie appeared before her. His eyes glinted with unconcealed zeal when he saw her.

  "Hello, Mistress,” Khrusos said.

  The next few days passed in a blur for Rhea.

  She had Khrusos hold a meeting with the High Council of Earth. The president, on her orders, told the councilors of his intent to scrap the mass digitization initiative, and instead called for a ratification of the water deal with the Europans. He held a vote. The Chinese were in, of course, since he had them in his pocket; Chile-Argentina and Persia abstained; the Russians usually voted with the Chinese, and they did in this case as well, allowing the deal to proceed to the ratification stage.

  The Europans signed it a day later, and accepted funding from the High Council to help accelerate construction of the necessary infrastructure, so that eight months from now, when Earth’s supply ran out, a steady stream of tankers from Ganymede would keep the water flowing.

  She also had Khrusos release a handful of Ganymedean prisoners he’d kept with him for the past thirty years. They would be returning to Ganymede to start another dome colony. Khrusos had already arranged permission with the Europan government for such a dome as part of the water ratification deal. Some of the funding for the water infrastructure would be siphoned into its construction: Rhea planned for it to serve as a key space port in the water trade, though the Europans didn’t know that yet. If they had, they probably wouldn’t have allowed for it to be built.

  Khrusos had Rhea’s streaming accounts enabled across all the major sites, and she personally sent out a call throughout the solar system, inviting any Ganymedeans that were in hiding to come out and join in the construction efforts. During her live streams, people often asked in the chat if she would be helping out, too, to which she always replied: “My fight is done.”

  The palace technicians helped Will repair the servomotors of Min, Burhawk and Horatio. When Min and Burhawk were ready, she summoned them to her elaborate guest quarters in the palace, along with Will and Horatio.

  “I’ve called this meeting because I want to arrange the transference of power,” Rhea told Burhawk and Min.

  Min’s brows drew together. “The transference of power?”

  “I want to give you control of Khrusos,” Rhea explained.

  “What if we don’t want this control?” Burhawk said.

  “Speak for yourself,” Min said. “With the president’s power, I can redress all the wrongs he’s committed against not just my people, but his own.”

  Rhea nodded and glanced at Burhawk. “And I’ll need you to accept as well, if only to act as a counterbalance to Min.”

  Min crossed her arms. “I don’t need a counterbalance.”

  “You do,” Rhea insisted. “Checks and balances should always be in place to ensure world leaders remain on their best behavior. It’s part of any fair system of governance. So I’m asking you two to be co-presidents, with equal sharing of power.”

  “I plan to restore the house and senate to what they once were,” Min said. “That will be enough of a cou
nterbalance.”

  “Maybe,” Rhea said. “But I’d still like Burhawk on board.”

  “Why don’t you simply hold onto the control you have?” Burhawk asked. “You seem to be doing a good job.”

  “I agree,” Will said.

  “It’s not for me,” Rhea said. “I’m not a leader. Or at least, I never wanted to be one. My goal in life isn’t to rule over others. It’s simply to live life on my own terms. I want to return to Earth. To Rust Town. And live out my days in peace. Take this gift. Use it to make sure corruption never leads to the deaths of so many ever again. But know that I’ll be watching…”

  Burhawk and Min exchanged a glance.

  “She’ll kick our ass if we misbehave,” Burhawk said.

  “Yup,” Min agreed.

  Rhea focused on Min. “The other option is to return to Ganymede, and aid in the building of our new dome. If that’s what you want, I’ll find someone else to co-rule with Burhawk.”

  “No,” Min said. “I can do more for our people here, pulling the strings of Khrusos. But what about you? Don’t you yearn for Ganymede? Don’t you want to return home?”

  She smiled wistfully. “Maybe someday I’ll visit Ganymede, when the dome is built. But until then, Earth is my home. I do admit, I’d very much like to see Ganymede restored to what it once was. But that’s not my fight. Maybe it’s yours.”

  She held out her hands and beckoned for Burhawk and Min to grab them. When they did, she shared her nano machines between them, giving them fifty percent each, so that Rhea had none. Their bodies quickly appeared stronger, more hale. With those machines, Burhawk and Min had direct control of the mind-machine interface that held Khrusos.

  It was hard, giving up that nano technology. She missed them as soon as they left her body. She felt weaker. But it was necessary. She was done fighting. It was time to go home.

  She bid the pair farewell, and headed with Will and Horatio toward the spaceport, where their transport was waiting.