The Significant

by Kyra Anderson

  “…maybe they didn’t need to have access,” he whispered. “Maybe the attacker was already there.” He looked at Maki. “What was the date of Colonel Amori’s arrival?”

  The Elites of the Syndicate were not performing as expected on their work, all distracted by other things. Remus was steering clear of everyone, constantly replaying the night that he had hurt Isa and put Rayal in the hospital. The Bronze Elites were doing intense investigations of their own, looking into the Colonel’s arrival on the planet, and when things started getting bad around the Syndicate.

  Isa was just trying to hold onto what was left of her sanity.

  One day, Maki walked into her office, smiling gently when he saw her sitting at her desk, with her head in her hands.

  “Still have a headache?” he asked lightly.

  She lifted her head, nodding.

  “When is your next appointment with Dr. Busen?”

  “Next week.”

  “Do you want me to call and see if we can get you in today or tomorrow?”

  “No, it’s alright,” Isa assured. She forced a smile. “What can I help you with?”

  “Well,” Maki started, “I wanted to show you something.” He walked to Isa’s desk, setting his tablet down in front of her and leaning over to point to certain parts of the screen. “Here’s what I’ve been able to find about Saera,” he said. “First, this generator was hit, but the damage on the generator showed that it was not an internal problem. It was hit by something from the east side,” he motioned with his finger, “which struck it, caused damage to the casing, allowed oxygen in, and caused the first explosion. But the second reaction, the one that hit his central generator, the damage was not as severe to the casing, meaning it wasn’t as powerful. It was a Charge Blast, likely fired from the Uran-East Bunker, which is the closest place where a Charge Blast could still be used.”

  “I see…”

  “What is strange is that, when I traced the Charge Blast records from the Uran-East Bunker log, I found that there was an override the day before the explosion that disabled its safety codes. The override was coded in Gihoric.”

  Isa looked up quickly, her eyes wide. Maki was watching her carefully.

  “…what are you trying to say?” Isa whispered.

  “That maybe you didn’t appoint the wrong Elites to your Syndicate,” Maki murmured. “And you need us to figure out what is going on so that we can help you.”

  Isa swallowed hard, a small glimmer of hope sparking in her chest. She let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes.

  “I need help, Maki…” she breathed.

  “Tell me how to help,” Maki said. “Keep researching? Or something more drastic?”

  “This is a very dangerous situation,” Isa whispered. “Please, keep quiet, but do what you can.”

  Maki’s hands suddenly shoved everything off the desk, grabbing the edge and turning it over.

  Isa let out a startled cry, scrambling to her feet and running out of the office.

  She knew, immediately, that Colonel Amori had triggered the microbionic cells. Soon, all the Elites would be swarming around her. She knew that the moment she revealed that she needed help, Colonel Amori would remind her how powerless she was.

  “Isa! Isa! Wait!” Maki said, his voice betraying his confusion. “I don’t know what’s going on!”

  Isa darted out the door, slamming the close button and going to the staircase. Maki pried his hands into the door and forced it open, bending it with his altered strength.

  “Isa!” he bellowed.

  Isa tripped half-way down the stairs and tumbled to the stair landing, her breath forced from her as she landed on her back. She tried to get up, but her body was weak and shaking. She forced herself to sit upright, but only had time to back against the wall before Maki’s hand grabbed her neck and squeezed.

  “I’m sorry…” she whimpered. “I’m sorry…”

  Maki’s fingers relaxed immediately and he backed away, looking at his hands in horror before looking over his Golden Elite.

  “Isa…” he whispered. “Isa…I’m so sorry, I-I don’t—”

  “Get away from me!!” she bellowed, curling forward and tucking her knees into her chest. The other Elites, who had run toward the stairs to get to her office when the cells were triggered, stood still at the bottom of the landing, watching the Golden Elite sit and shake against the wall while they could only stare and wonder what had possessed them to run to her.

  Maki was determined to get an emergency status raised in the Syndicate. He continued to submit reports to Venus stating that there was clearly a problem that needed to be addressed, but the messages were never replied to, and when Maki tried to find them again, he could not. They had been deleted.

  Maki rallied the Bronze Elites, telling them that they all needed to try different avenues to get a message to Venus or to other planets for assistance, explaining to anyone that their leader was being held hostage. However, still, they could not send transmissions to other planets.

  That was when the Syndicate realized they were being primed for a planetary invasion.

  They worked diligently, trying to keep their work secret while still discussing what they had found. The more research they did into the Colonel, the more they believed that he was the culprit. However, they needed proof, and a means to reach Venus.

  Isa would walk by the Elites, sharing a silent look with them. Now that they were looking, they could see her silent plea for help.

  One day, Isa received a call from the Colonel at her work.

  “I’ve been working very hard on a surprise for you,” he said when she answered the phone.

  “I hate surprises.”

  “But this is a very important one,” he said. “Your Elites have been trying to order my investigation and arrest. Naturally, I’ve stopped all their transmissions to her, but their constant attempts have given me much information about the way the Syndicate Building works. It’s really an impressive feat of engineering, and it gives Venus a nice base to branch out to the whole city.”

  “Venus’ codes are not here,” Isa said darkly. “I have told you a thousand times.”

  “Yes, you have,” he agreed. “But I’m not talking about her codes. Just her network. You know, if properly programmed, she could be quite the weapon.”

  Isa hesitated, the words causing fear to settle in her gut.

  “What?”

  “You really should go look downstairs, Isa,” Colonel Amori whispered. “Your surprise is waiting for you.”

  Isa stood, walking out of her office and downstairs to the main control room, not sure what to expect, her anxiety increasing with every step.

  However, there was nothing outside the ordinary in the control room. She glanced around, ignoring the eyes of the other Elites on her as they tried to concentrate on their work. Whenever the Golden Elite came around the other Elites, everyone got nervous.

  The phone in Isa’s ear beeped. She connected the call but said nothing.

  “Further down.”

  Isa walked out of the control room and went to the operator’s center.

  When she walked in, she immediately noticed how quiet it was.

  She descended the final steps, nervous, and looked around slowly. The robots and drones were moving around as normal. But every human was still, slumped over their desk or fallen on the floor, their eyes wide, their faces pale.

  Isa let out a choked cry and backed up, her hand covering her mouth as she pressed her body against the wall.

  “I wouldn’t stay down there too long,” Colonel Amori said in her ear. “Carbon monoxide will kill you if you’re exposed too long.”

  “How did you…what…”

  “I told Venus that the operators were plotting against her that they were the reason for all the viruses in her mainframe, and then I gave her the codes to reverse her air filtration system for this level to neutralize the threat.”

  Isa’s heart stopped.

&nb
sp; “…you weaponized her…”

  “I did,” Colonel Amori said with a chuckle. “This is just a little reminder of who you really obey. Don’t let your Bronze Elites do anything stupid. Once I have her reprogrammed, this planet will be mine.”

  Isa quickly ran up the stairs, darting through the control room and to her office. She immediately went to her NCB chair and issued an official order for evacuation of the building due to noxious gas.

  As the alarms began sounding, alerting everyone to exit the building in an orderly manner, Isa ran to her desk, her breath short. She grabbed the gun from under her desk and checked the ammunition. Then, she put it under her uniform and ran to the stairs, entering the control room only to take one of the hidden exits before anyone could see her.

  She got to her car and anxiously sat in it as it sped toward Anon Tower. She acutely felt the gun at her side, but it solidified her determination. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the various dead, pale faces of the operators and human employees of the Syndicate. She felt a strong sensation tightening her stomach and chest, making it hard to breathe. Her eyes felt hot as she stared at the road ahead.

  When she got to Anon Tower, the car immediately went into her car elevator for her level, and she sat and waited as the car ascended, the door finally opening to the hallway outside her home. She walked out and continued down the hallway until she reached the other elevator, pressing the button for the level she wanted.

  By the time the doors to the elevator opened, revealing the hallway of apartments within Anon Tower, Isa’s vision had become tunneled.

  She walked directly to the door of Colonel Amori’s quarters, overriding the lock and walking in, her eyes sharp around the room.

  However, he was not there.

  She checked every room before moving to the room next door, where his delegates were staying. She had suspected that he had sent the delegates back secretly to Gihron so that they would not interfere with his plans of taking over. She now figured that Colonel Amori was hiding in the other room, always watching her.

  She overrode the lock and the door opened.

  She was immediately overpowered by the horrific stench. It was thick and heavy, turning her stomach over repeatedly, but it was a stench she knew from her distant times in the lab where Elites were made. It was the smell of death.

  She pulled the gun out, preparing to attack as she walked further into the living room.

  The horror within was nothing she could have prepared for.

  The delegates were dead, all four of them hanging from a beam in the ceiling above overturned furniture and scattered plaster. They were naked, their skin dehydrated and cracked from weeks of decay, their faces contorted in gruesome expressions.

  In the skin on their chests were deformed words, carved into the skin.

  “Death to Tiao.”

  One word for each body, the fourth body bearing the planetary symbol for Gihron—a circle with a twelve-pointed star.

  Isa retreated behind the corner again, pressing her back to the wall and sliding down, her legs giving out from under her. She closed her eyes tight, but the image was seared into her brain.

  She lifted the gun and pressed it to her temple, pushing hard against the skin of her forehead, cringing in a pain she could not describe. She felt the barrel of the gun against her head, her hand shaking as she pushed it harder against her skull.

  Her entire being was shaking, sitting in the silence, trying to make sense of what her reality had become.

  Isa let out a pained sob and dropped her hand, shaking and choking as her body reacted to the stress without tears.

  Isa knew she was breaking apart.

  But she could only sit and feel her seams rip open as pain tore through her.

  Two nights after the operators were found dead, Isa, who had been mandated to stay away from the Syndicate Building while the final inspections were completed, was called down to the level where Colonel Amori had been staying.

  She tried to ignore the shaking of her body as she stood in the elevator while it descended. She contemplated not responding to Colonel Amori’s request, but she did not want him in her home again when he came to retrieve her. Therefore, she obeyed, going to him, feeling half-asleep and on the verge of collapse.

  She walked into his room, trying not to think of the horrors in the adjacent room. She looked around, unable to find the Colonel, so she walked further back into the apartment, finding him in the bedroom, staring intently at the computer screen as he sat at the desk next to the tousled bed. He did not even turn to acknowledge her.

  “You’ve been moving a lot slower lately,” he stated simply.

  Isa did not respond.

  “At least the evacuation has kept your Bronze Elites from doing anything stupid, but tomorrow will be the real test, won’t it? Back to work again?”

  “What do you want?” Isa asked tiredly.

  Colonel Amori stood and turned to her.

  “I almost have all her codes in place to completely weaponized her. Now, not only will she be able to establish “credible” threats, but she’ll be able to neutralize them.”

  “Venus was not created to be a weapon,” Isa said. “You’ve destroyed her.”

  “You and I have a very different definition of a weapon,” Colonel Amori said. “She was already a weapon. Just because she couldn’t immediately take human life does not mean she was not a weapon.” He stopped in front of the Elite, smiling darkly. “But I can’t weaponize, or shut her down properly, if I don’t have her source coding.” His smile widened. “Which you have.”

  Isa stared at him impassively and he chuckled.

  “I’ve been patient with you. But now, I want those codes.”

  “I refuse.”

  “I didn’t give you the option to refuse,” he said darkly, his eyes turning dangerous. “Or do I need to remind you that I hold the life of your Elites, your caretaker, and all of Anon in my hands?”

  “You do not need to remind me,” Isa said tiredly.

  “Then you will give me those codes now.”

  “No.”

  “I will destroy your Syndicate,” he warned.

  “Go ahead,” Isa said, shaking her head. “You’ve already done most of the damage as it is.”

  “Oh, what’s this? Giving up? Or is this some play for dominance?”

  “You can destroy the Syndicate, Anon, the Elite Academy, but I refuse to be aid to you as you morph the artificial intelligence on this planet to be a weapon with which to terrorize the system. Now, you’re not only destroying my planet, but the rest of the system, whether the planets are in the Alliance or not.” Isa shook her head. “I will not allow you to become the tyrant of the Altereye System.”

  “This is an interesting change of character,” Colonel Amori noted. “I was not expecting this reaction.” He looked her over. “You know I can take them by force.”

  “Try it.”

  He lunged forward, grabbing her by her neck and throwing her onto the bed. She tried to roll off the bed, but he grabbed her and yanked her back, climbing on top of her and pinning her down, one hand around her throat. Her arms flailed wildly, trying to hit or scratch him, but he backed away, laughing darkly.

  “You think I don’t have power over you?” he asked. His other hand went down and angrily ripped open her uniform, pressing sharply on the area where he knew the processor was, where he could copy Venus’ source codes that were stored within the Golden Elite’s body. “You think I couldn’t take what I wanted from you?”

  Isa kicked her legs, but her body was weak from starvation, lack of sleep, and stress. She felt her struggle being easily overpowered and fear began to consume her.

  “Remember,” he said darkly, moving his hand to reach between her legs, angrily grabbing her, “I own you. All of you. And I will take what I want.”

  Isa’s hand to the desk next to the bed and found the magnifying lamp used in manufacturing and programming. Her hand closed around
the lamp and she brought it, with all her strength, into Colonel Amori’s head. The glass shattered, some going into his eye and causing him to yelp and reel backwards. He tried to brace himself on the bed, but his hand went into the glass shards that were still attached to the top of the metal frame

  Isa’s arm swung back sharply and slashed the Gihoric rule across the neck and chest, slicing into his skin and causing blood to soak the front of his shirt. He gasped and rolled away.

  “You bitch!” he bellowed. “I’ll kill you!”

  Isa was immediately after him, lifting the sharp broken base of the lamp into the air before angrily plunging it into his side. He yelled and contorted, rolling away once more and onto the hard floor, landing on the open wound and letting out a cry of pain.

  Isa leapt on him, raising the broken base of the lamp and repeatedly stabbing his chest and torso. She could not feel the blood that splattered onto her face and neck. Her body was moving as if on instinct, destroying the one who had been torturing her.

  When her weak hand released the base of the lamp, her fist still continued the motion, slamming into the corpse of the Gihron leader, breaking few ribs.

  Finally, Isa stopped, her body shuddering violently as she collapsed on the floor, barely finding the strength in her limbs to remain upright next to the body.

  She turned her eyes onto her hands, seeing the blood that soaked her skin, dripping down her arms and staining the ripped front of her uniform. Slowly, she lifted her hands to her face and bent forward, her body shaking. She did not care about the blood. She covered her face with her hands, the silence of the room ringing in her ears.

  The following day Isa returned to the Syndicate, but her head was low and her body was shaking uncontrollably. She had spent the entire night angrily washing her body over and over again, trying to get rid of the blood under her fingernails and in her hair. She then burned her clothes on the balcony, watching the flames intensely, every muscle tense.

  Then, she paced around her bedroom for five hours before she was expected at work.