by Skye Ryan
“Lia now!” she commanded and Lia let loose a string of fire. Corvan did the same, and soon the bridge was awash with weapon’s fire, shouting and the smell of death. Lia re-upped the charge and continued firing. She rounded a corner and continued shooting. She then saw that the Councilman Ezra was before her. He shot her an evil grin and shook his head.
“You don’t want to do that. Don’t you want to come back with me so that I can keep you safe?” he told her.
“I would never be safe with you.”
“Yes, you would be my property. A thing to be cherished and adored.”
“Exactly. I’d be your property. And I don’t want that. I’m a human being. I am a living breathing entity with feelings and emotions. I deserve to be free.”
The Councilman narrowed his eyes. “You don’t mean that. You’ve been corrupted by all this talk from the resistance. You’ve been raised the right way at the Probity, given the best in instruction. Put away the weapon and come with me.”
Lia’s eyes hardened. “No, I will never.”
“You will come with me!” he shouted, frothing at the mouth with anger and spittle flying.
“And I said no!” she shouted and then let loose a shot.
The shot was true; and the Councilman clutched his chest and fell to his knees. Blood spurted from a wound as he collapsed onto the ground, a look of disbelief on his face.
Lia sighed with relief and lowered her weapon. She felt footsteps sound behind her and she spun around, weapon raised.
It was Rhyssa. She was covered in blood and gore and was trudging softly over to Lia, her expression unreadable.
“This was my fault,” Rhyssa stated and Lia said nothing, just shot her look to acknowledge that it was true.
“I am so, so very sorry I betrayed you Lia,” she began and Lia cut her short.
“Why would you do such a thing?!” Lia exclaimed. “I thought you loved me. I thought what we had meant something to you.”
“It did! It does! I just--,” Rhyssa replied with her head down, “I guess I just thought you’d leave me just like everyone else. I had to do something.”
“Yes, you could have trusted me, just as you accused me of not trusting you. Now I see I was right.”
Rhyssa hung her head in shame and then her head came up, her expression filled with something Lia couldn’t define.
“I need you Lia.”
Lia shook her head. “I think I loved you too, in my own way.”
“I can’t live a life without you,” Rhyssa commented and raised a weapon to her head.
“NO!” Lia shouted and crossed the space between them. The shot went flying errantly over their heads and into a wall. Lia struggled with Rhyssa for a moment and then Rhyssa began sobbing, her body shaking beneath Lia’s.
“I just—I didn’t want to lose you. I need you, I love you.”
Lia’s heart softened and she stroked Rhyssa’s hair softly. “You’ll have me. Always.”
Rhyssa nodded and Lia stood and pulled Rhyssa up to stand as well. Rhyssa kissed her on the mouth, gave her a look, and ran down the corridor.
“Rhyssa, wait!”
Rhyssa was gone in a flash and Lia returned to the bridge, despondent.
Corvan was at the controls.
“We’ve managed to take back control of the ship,” he informed her and Lia nodded absently.
“Please don’t be angry with Rhyssa,” he told her and Lia spun around to face him, shocked.
“Why shouldn’t I be?”
“She—look, I don’t like the idea of you feeling anything for her other than friendship. But I love her too and want nothing but happiness for her. She was just doing what she felt was necessary.”
“That is a very selfish way to look at the world.”
“I suppose, but Rhyssa’s had a lot of hurt in her life. Try seeing things from her perspective.”
Lia stared at Corvan before turning her back. Her emotions were jumbled right now. She couldn’t think straight.
“We are heading for the coordinates you gave me weeks ago. We’ll rendezvous with the resistance team over there and we’ll get your body back.”
Lia shrugged. She should be happy she was getting her body back, but she couldn’t shake off the feelings of sadness and loss. Whatever decision she made, her heart would hurt. She didn’t think she could handle the overwhelming emotions she was feeling in her soft, fragile human body.
Lia walked out of the bridge and into the corridor. She slowly traipsed to the room she had been given by the captain and walked inside. She sat in a huff on the chair, and then moved to the bed. She had to think, she had to—her body suddenly gave out beneath the onslaught of emotions. She found herself sinking hard in sleep mode.
Lia awakened, aware someone was touching her. It was Corvan.
“We’re here,” he told her and Lia nodded. She swung her legs off the bed and followed him to the bay doors below. They exited the ship and moved outside to the bright, sunny day that was the planet Helix. They were greeted gently and warmly by a few resistance fighters and led to a facility on horseback only a few minutes ride away. When they arrived, a woman took Lia’s arm gently and guided her to a small room in the facility. Corvan followed and looked down at what the woman had motioned to.
The pod Lia had sent had reached its destination and her body was sitting in a temperature regulated chamber, its eyes closed.
“Iolana told us what you were trying to do for the good of the resistance. We accepted your body and hoped the rest of you would follow. It seems you have,” the woman said and Lia nodded.
Lia walked over to the chamber and looked down at the body inside. Her body looked so small and frail. Veins could be seen pumping its life elixir at a feverish pitch, and she could see the subconscious twitches of her body responding to the stimuli of the closed environment.
“That’s me,” she told Corvan and he nodded. He gently took her hand and kissed it.
“We’ll have to begin the procedure soon. I’ll begin prepping,” the woman told them and walked away.
“I’ll be here when you wake up,” he told her. “I promise.”
Lia was left alone now and stood gazing at herself, feeling as if she were standing before a great precipice. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to Rhyssa dressed in resistance regalia.
“Rhyssa,” Lia began and went to embrace her.
“No,” Rhyssa said softly. Rhyssa kissed her once on the lips and backed away. “I’m leaving to fight with the resistance.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve spent my life without a purpose, and when I betrayed you, I felt like the vilest human being alive. I also figured out that I need to do something meaningful. So, I am going to fight for the resistance and help take down the rest of the Empire’s forces.
Lia took Rhyssa into a tight hug and Rhyssa allowed this, only to pull back a minute later.
“You deserve a better me. Right now, my mind is all over the place. But one thing I do know is that you need someone like Corvan in your life.”
“Rhyssa, I don’t know how I feel. I told you--,”
“I think you do know. You know deep down inside I am right. And though I love you, I want you to be happy. You two have my blessing. I—I have to go.”
Lia called out to Rhyssa but she kept moving, was soon out the doors and gone. Lia wanted to cry, to rage, to shout. She had cared deeply for Rhyssa in the brief time they’d been together and she could only nod as the woman from before came in to the room and asked if she was ready.
She was laid onto a table and hooked to several different devices. The beeping of a monitor was light but insistent and soon, Lia felt herself drift into sleep mode, then into hibernation mode, and then there was nothing.
Lia awakened slowly, aware that there were aches and pains in places that she had long forgotten to feel. She felt as if she were coming out from underwater and she groaned. Her eyelids fluttered open and she tried looking around, but her vision swa
m and she closed her eyes. She breathed in and out for a long moment before opening them again. She felt a warm hand slide over hers and she looked up into Corvan’s eyes with her now human ones.
Emotions slid over her and she felt her body respond to his touch. Her love for him washed over her in a deluge and at first, it was all too much. It was too much stimuli and she nearly passed out from the weight of it. But then the emotions leveled out, she breathed a sigh of relief. With her human body and mind, came a sense of clarity. She realized suddenly that Rhyssa was right. Her heart and body belonged to Corvan. Though there a small sad part of herself that still felt love for Rhyssa.
“Hello beautiful,” Corvan said and Lia smiled. She smiled with her human face and her human mouth and she reveled in the sensation.
“Hello. But I hardly think I am beautiful.”
“Oh, but you are,” he told her and she grinned. “You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting Lia. You are one of a kind.”
Corvan kissed her softly and Lia melted against his touch. He laughed as he pulled back.
“We have to wait before any of that happens. You are under strict orders until the doctor decides you’re out of the woods. Taking consciousness from the body takes a toll on it. You need to be careful.”
Lia nodded and slowly came up to sitting position. “Okay. But help me get out of bed.”
Corvan obliged and Lia trudged past him, to the prone body on the other side of the room. She looked down at the AI unit that had housed her for so long. She touched its face, studying its loveliness, the tan skin and full chest. Is this how everyone saw her? She was touching its cheek when the eyes opened and looked up at her.
“Hello,” it greeted.
Surprised, Lia backed up a few inches and then replied hesitantly. “Hello.”
“I am model number--,” the machine stopped a moment and frowned.
“What is it?” Lia prodded.
“That doesn’t feel right,” it responded and Corvan came abreast of Lia, his eyes widening in wonder.
“What do you mean it doesn’t feel right?” Lia asked and it shook its head.
“I—I cannot compute. But I should have a name.”
“What name do you want?” Corvan asked and it looked to be pondering the answered.
“I am—I believe I am—I am aware.”
Corvan stepped back in astonishment. “Lia, I think we have just witnessed the birth of the first sentient machine.”
Lia could only nod as a myriad of emotions hit her.
“What name would you like?” Lia asked and the unit paused, looking unsure.
“It was your consciousness that gave rise to the aberrations in my central processing unit. And he--,” the unit indicated Corvan, “Gave this body the name of Cara. It is advisable—I believe--,” the unit was having trouble discerning pronouns. “I think I will combine your name with Cara. My name is Lara. Yes, that seems—right.”
They watched then with joy and wonder as Lara came off the bed and began looking about the room, murmuring about the things she was seeing. She turned to them both and then cocked her head to the side curiously.
“You will not terminate me?”
Both Corvan and Lia shook their heads vehemently. “No, we won’t. Feel free to explore Lara, we encourage it,” Corvan told her and Lara gave them an unsure smile.
Lia turned to look out the large picture window. A ship was flying down to the surface from the docks below and Corvan squeezed Lia’s shoulder.
“Rhyssa is on that ship,” he informed her and Lia nodded. “She’s really leaving?”
“She told me that she wanted this more than anything in the all the worlds. She told me she felt good fighting for something for once. And I believe her.”
Lia felt tears well in her eyes and let the tears form and fall. She sniffled.
“I love you for being so openhearted and understanding,” she told him, “I know it probably hurts you to know that a part of me loves Rhyssa too, but I do love you. I want you more than anything in this galaxy.”
Corvan placed a kiss on her cheek and they heard a crash behind them. Lara was touching equipment and it was falling over, to her apparent chagrin. The two laughed as they watched her.
“It’s like we’re watching a small child stumble into the world,” she told him.
“Yes,” he agreed, “A very different, mechanical child. But a child nonetheless.”
Lia turned to him. “You don’t feel strange, watching her and then being with me? It doesn’t make you feel any kind of way at all to know what we did while I was in that body--,”
“No,” Corvan stopped her. “Honestly it feels as you two are completely separate people. And in a way, you are. Looking at her is like looking at a stranger. But looking at you now feels like home.”
Lia’s heart melted and she lay against his shoulder. “But darling, I have to ask, what do we do now?” he asked and Lia shrugged.
“The only thing we can do. Love each other, rebuild and lend our help to wherever is needed. I think we will be aiding in the creation of a new government, and that will be an amazing time filled with lots of things. But it is actually something I look forward to. For the first time, I can say, I am free.”
Corvan nodded and the ship slowly descended to the planet below. Corvan and Lia held each other as they beheld the shining seas, the three suns in the enormous blue-green sky and the verdant lands surrounding the shores. Corvan kissed Lia softly on the tip of the ear and hugged her from behind as they gazed out of the window. Lia was happy she had gone through what she did. She was happy to be human. But most of all, she was happy to have Corvan. And for the first time since she could remember, she had hope.
THE END