Railgun: Earth under Siege

by Luis Robles

  “…You're right...I’ve had enough of them, of this…”

  He seemed as surprised as I was when I said it.

  I turned back to him as he slowed to stop after me.

  So much had happened that was outside of my control, of his control even, of anyone’s control. It was so much easier to try and pass off the blame to someone else. It was even easier when they wouldn't argue about it. It was also unfair, and as much as it made me feel better, I knew that there had to be another way to solve this pain in my chest.

  “You're right, Railgun... I just miss him so much... I'm so sorry for blaming you. I know you didn't want this, either. I know that you don’t know what is best to do yet… I'm sorry.” I went up to him and hugged him, and I tried to restrain myself from crying any more. It was no longer the time for tears.

  “I will miss him too, Jaika... I just hate seeing you so upset. My main mission in life is to protect you. You must understand... I don't mean to seem disrespectful. I respect Amadeus very much. He is the most clever android there is, he said it himself. But in his way of doing things, he saved the lives of all those people in the tavern, Jaika. Please understand that I would have done whatever was necessary to keep you safe, that includes taking the lives of every single one of them if I had to,” Railgun said. His tone was sincere. It made me smile a bit, and I wiped away some tears from my cheek.

  I hadn’t look at it that way at the beginning. Railgun could have kept me from harm’s way if he wanted to, but at what cost? They knew who exactly the enemy was, and as cruel as those people may seem, they were not the enemy. The enemy was much worse. The fact that Amadeus and Railgun knew what they were doing and tried not to shed any more blood, brought a stop to my tears.

  “Yeah... He sure was...the most clever android,” I paused and looked over my creation, coming up with a plan in my mind.

  A slow smile crept onto my face. I narrowed my eyes as I spoke, adjusting my glasses further up my nose. I was tired of running, tired of hiding and tired of feeling afraid. I wanted to avenge my family and all those who have died unfairly at the hand of these beings from another world.

  “If they want us so bad, they can have us.”

  Ready

  Railgun

  The streets were filled with roughly swept dust and potholes the size of basketball, some larger. The homes had strings of clothing from window to window, so close together that the neighbors from across could nearly touch fingertips if they really leaned out. Each doorway had threatening words spray-painted on it, and usually some variety of sharp or otherwise pointed barricades. One might think that there must be some certain openness with neighbors, some kind of community. Perhaps there even was, but down this street, it became less and less apparent to any passerby.

  Indeed, the eyes of these people followed us with distrust and unease. Perhaps they were close to one another but they didn't know Jaika or I. I remembered what Jaika had told me. They were scared. Everyone was. Even her, though she didn't say it outright. It was obvious. I kept extra vigilance to fulfill my purpose.

  She remembered the words of the patron back at the bar we had spent the night. This part of the city was where we needed to go to find the people we were looking for. I walked close behind her and kept scans running continuously in order to ensure that she remained safe. The threat level was low.

  If that bounty hunter was going to go after us, we’d find him first. That was what Jaika had said.

  “I will not let him harm you.”

  “Them,” she corrected me.

  “I will not let them harm you then,” I clarified, filing away the information about there being more than one person whom she was handing herself over to.

  “Don't worry, they're to bring me in alive, I heard.... If I am in danger though, I give you full authority to take them out... It'll just... be a little difficult after that,” she said, trying to sound confident. I nodded in agreement to these terms.

  The number one law embedded in my cerebral computer was to keep Jaika safe from harm at all cost. She didn’t know about this law, and no matter what she did, she would not be able to override it—for it was Dr. Liu’s dying wish, a wish I was planning to fulfill, as humans often quote, ‘until my last breath’.

  After only an hour of asking around for the Hsus, we found them in a nearby local. They were sharpening a blade that they had made using the arm of a circuit-board android. The scrap metal had been refashioned into a long sword with metallic fingers curved like a hilt around what seemed like the handle of a bicycle. The long arm had been thinned and made double edged and jagged. A man picked at his teeth with a splinter of wood, his lip curling up and raising a long black mustache. His eyes looked heavy and tired, but he didn't look at us. He tilted up his straw hat and observed the person across him—a short rock of a man, bald and made of muscle, with a pot belly—before continuing to run the stone across the side of the blade's edge with his cut and calloused fingers.

  The waitress there gave them both small cups and served them tea, glancing up casually at Jaika and with more alarm at me as we approached the table. The men ignored Jaika, but once she stopped in front of them, they both gave a surprised glance up at me. I looked down at them calmly. The level of danger remained low.

  “What is it?” asked the mustached man, unimpressed, but a twitch of his face told Jaika that he was curious nonetheless.

  She held her ground. The stern rock of a man didn't even move for a long moment. Then, he picked up his tea and held it firm.

  “I, well, We, are...” she hesitated. She knew she had to do this, and she knew that they would bring her to the ship. She had heard that these men were “redeemed”. They were used by the aliens as hounds to sniff out even the most well-hidden populations. They had passed the trials within the ship. They were not on humanity’s side any longer.

  “We are the ones who betrayed. We were scared, and we lashed out against the judgment. We are willing to come with you now... We know there's no hope in running... We don't want more people to die because of us,” she said.

  I remained completely still, my internal engine humming low, not even pretending to need to breathe. Unfortunately, my stillness seemed to make the following silence all the more unsettling.

  Rock took a sip of his tea and placed the cup down. Moustache made another motion to sharpen the blade with a high pitched metallic ring, and then put away the rock into a little pouch at his belt. He stood up, and Rock followed.

  “Good. I'm glad you're coming forward. Is this the one who murdered the Miriu?” Mustache asked, stepping up to me as I looked down at him by a few inches. He stared for a long moment up close to me. Still, I did not move. His eyes opened up wider and his shoulders raised, tensing.

  I remained still and quiet. It didn't matter what he thought of my actions.

  “I heard that you apparently killed some. How? We all know it’s impossible,” he asked, but it wasn't in a curious way. The question was, in its own way, a demand. “How did you withstand the blast?”

  Jaika locked eyes with him back straight and completely not intimidated by his stature.

  “Those questions aren't the ones that we'll be answering to you. We are coming forward to them directly. You know how to get us to the ship, right?” she asked him, not a tinge of fear.

  He crossed his arms, “Yes. How do I know this isn't a trap? People don't usually hand themselves over so easily. People aren’t usually that stupid.”

  “They're killing people faster every day,” Jaika argued, “…because of me and my stupid decision... to fight them. Logic says I am stupid, right?”

  It pained her just to say it. I could tell that she was uncomfortable by the way she couldn't meet anyone's eyes. She was lying again, I could see. I stood still, but stared between them, ready to break skulls when and if necessary.

  Something crossed the Hsus’ face, like a discomfort. “.... Alright,” they said after a number of seconds of silence. “You're saving m
any by coming forward like this, very stupid, but brave, I’ll give you that much,” he told her.

  They both put their hand at her shoulder and I tensed visibly. They looked over to me with narrowed eyes, clearly ready to begin aggressive action.

  “R... Er-ling. Steady,” she told me.

  “Does it really have to go with you?” the stone Hsu man asked her.

  “They want the 'killer', don't they?” she replied to him simply. I could see his face drop at the words. “Don't worry,” she clarified, “he will not harm you. That’s if you don’t harm me.”

  All the same, we were escorted to the ship with guns and swords out and at the ready. Although I wanted to hurt them for putting Jaika so close to those weapons, I remembered what she had told me. They were scared, and so I withheld violence. It was the best course of action, to stay at the ready.

  The Miriu

  Keeper

  Here were spires of silicon, marble, and gold. Roofs here were higher than those of churches, with tall turning arches, and our Miriu home was much more beautiful than this craft, but the price of this ship alone was beyond anything I could have afforded before taking the job to travel to a distant world for our race.

  We called ourselves Keepers, this mission's personnel. We were keeping the habitat in this sector in check and up to standard. If a world did not pass our requirements, then it would have to face consequences relative to that.

  The inhabitants which were of sapient level were known as Humans. We found most of them lacked that vital spark of goodness which we required of all our Kept races. However, we did not believe that any group of humans spoke for the entire race. That would have been barbaric of us. Instead, we took them small groups at a time and examined each, finding those sparks of goodness if we could, and disposing of those who didn't pass our examinations.

  We did not have any need to rush the process. We had already been stationed on this planet for the past 10 rotations it made around its star, named locally as Sol.

  I had many opportunities during my quiet times to learn about the culture of these people in order to increase both our empathy and understanding of where they were coming from. After all, it is important to maintain empathy in this process.

  We were not monsters, like they cry out at us when we appeared. Far from it. We were here to help them achieve a higher state of being. If that was a crime, then it was one we would change the legislation for and would make completely legal and pardoned by the universe law.

  It was fascinating to me just how short the human life was, only a maximum of perhaps 100 years, in the best of times. There were a few around the planet that lived past that. They tried, it seemed, to create or contribute towards their colony societies, each in a self-assigned role, in some meaningful way before the end of their century of time. Then after that, they would still be mentioned and spoken of. Finally, after about three generations, their names and everything about that person would be completely forgotten, and only their contribution would remain to impact the grander society that the creatures inhabited.

  All they did with all those gathered contributions was consume, which was unusual except that as the only truly sapient race on their planet, they had no one to tell when they had taken more than their share. As a result, it appeared that they had irreparably damaged their home, and only by a stroke of luck did they prevent catastrophe. That was within the last number of years. It was lucky that we had arrived when we had.

  From outside, our craft looked like something the creatures below us would not recognize. The closest thing would be a vast mountain-like design appearing nearly indivisible. Its color to their eyes would probably be all absorbing, so that would be black. There were, however, sections that would emit different hues within the darkness, and this light may be interpreted as glowing lines through the craft, mostly in light colors approaching the end of the spectrum. Light reds, or deep violet blues as humans called them.

  I had to present my research and findings on the human culture and evidence of any pardonable phases to the Prize-Lieutenant Nuvsef at our weekly meeting.

  “We have been very patient with the humans, have we not?” the Prize-Lieutenant Nuvsef said, connecting his two thumbs together at each of his palms as a show of openness.

  “Well, we have,” I conceded, about to continue when he cut across.

  “And have we not gone through our protocol for the judgment as instructed? Down to the letter, we might add? Have they proven to us through any of the beings we brought into this ship anything other than the corruption and discord in their minds? There is nothing particularly special about humans. What's the point of putting in the effort in order to maintain the world when the only sapient race on it is proving itself most unworthy of our attention? It's likely if we leave the planet they'll only start a war with us when they've advanced.”

  “With respect, that's nonsensical. You can't punish wrong that hasn't been done. All that you're saying is hypothetical. Besides, some of the judged have proven to be good, and those good could be used to repopulate once we purify,” I said with scorn.

  “Watch it, Biria, you are starting to sound like one of them,” said the Lieutenant, smiling on one side of his lips.

  I knew the Prize-Lieutenant Nuvsef had a lust for violence, I knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate one of his kin. I had to keep my mouth shut and play it safe.

  “The humans are one thing, that's a debatable topic. What about the planet itself? Sure we could just take all the pure and relocate them, couldn't we? Give them a temperate world with the right atmospheric chemicals and they can be saved. But the world here? It's a mess,” said the Lieutenant.

  “We only destroy planets if they're deemed monstrous! I think that this is a bit extreme,” I said, only pointing out the most essential of laws.

  “Well then, it is a good thing you do not make the rules around here. You do not affect the change. I will make my proposal for disposal to the Captain. Who here, I ask, is finished with this place? After all, we have not risked the lives of our Keepers for nothing. Someone is down there defying us, and the first deaths have taken place. Something that we all thought would be impossible by a human hand or any of their weapons. Soon, this place will be deemed monstrous. There is no avoiding it. Either we strike first, or they do, and I can assure you, Biria…We will strike first. We will give them, in a silver platter, all they have ever wanted in the first place.”

  I frowned and looked away. This was not standard. We did not jump to such conclusions. The Prize-Lieutenant Nuvsef was losing it.

  “I think that the corruption of the people you inspect has rubbed you harshly,” I commented, risking my own skin, testing his state of mind. “You need to remain calm in order to effectively run our campaign.”

  “Maybe they are. All the more reason to have the universe tidied a bit. No need to be so sympathetic to them. They aren't worth it. That is what I have been determining,” he walked out of the office, the door pulsing and crumbling apart for him before reconstruction, and I was in the empty chamber once more.

  I could not believe what was being said. After exiting the conference, I went for a walk around the ship. I observed all the beauty of transcending structures in our ship, missing home, and then, out of curiosity, I went to look in at the Judgment Bay for observations.

  The Lieutenant wasn't there at the time, presumably in an office somewhere or answering to his own superior. There were, however, a few sub-officers who were doing the duty of introducing humans to the program. I watched from behind a wall made of simple sheer fibers, similar to earth's metals, but more as a fabric, and where our eyes could see through it; the humans did not have our enhancements. Neither did the majority of other planetary guests that would walk through these halls. It was always a little awkward when they did. We wouldn't have been allowed into the viewing bays on those worlds. We didn't want to make the viewed beings uncomfortable.

  The creatures were brought in usually in
groups of anywhere between five and twenty. They were first inspected and given diagnoses on their mental and physical health through our full scanning entry systems. Once they were deemed not to be carrying any harmful bacterium onto our decks, the next door would slide open, and they would be taken to the quiz center.

  There, they were usually given quick tests about reflexes and submerged in our thought tanks. We then monitor the workings of their brains and usually put them through light simulation. That is a major part of the grade.

  Finally, we would put them all in a room and would test how they would react in such desperate times; to see how they were in fair and reasonable circumstances were one thing, but we were testing their instincts and inner desires in the long haul.

  We would ask them if they would kill one another in order to escape themselves. As a pack species that would function in the greater universe, we would expect, of course, that they would all to deny this request. But we always knew the truth. The ones that would attempt to fight and would secure their own selfish purposes are deemed impure and taken to one side. Anyone who would try to calm their crowd, and any groups that would not fight with each other, are seen as hopeful pure and would be taken for further indoctrination. However, to no avail, most of those who would make it to the last judgment never seemed to pass it. In order to pass, they would have to be rid of their humanity. This was where I did not agree. I saw a few that had past the final judgment, and the outcome was less than pretty. Those poor souls would become numb and without their own identity. This new final judgment was something that Prize-Lieutenant Nuvsef had put in place. I have tried to appeal it several times to the core of the Miriu law, but it always failed. The transmission to the core of the Miriu seemed to be frozen. I had been to the master of the ship to fix the problem, but my request appeared to go nowhere. Also, they would only assure me that they were doing the best they could to keep the ship running.