by S D Tanner
“Who said anything about killing her?” He asked indignantly. “She’s a hybrid which means she’ll have more insight into the city than we’ll ever have.” When Judge said nothing, he added, “We’ve been there and learned almost nothing. If we take Lolo then maybe she can help us talk to the aliens.”
Judge’s eyes widened in surprise. “You think you can negotiate with them?”
“You’re too ugly to be stupid as well, Judge. We need to find the Dead Force. The other hybrid couldn’t help us, but…”
“She’s no help to anyone now you’ve killed her,” Brook snapped.
Turning to look at Brook, he said dismissively, “You were there. She wanted to die.” He spun on his heel to face Judge again. “What makes you think Lolo likes being a hybrid? The other hybrid said she wasn’t one thing or the other. Maybe you’re being selfish.”
“Fuck off, Tag. Don’t try to manipulate me, you’re not smart enough. If you want Lolo to put her life on the line, then you ask her.” Stepping closer, Judge jabbed his chest. “But do it nicely. No bullying.”
Joker had been listening to their argument, and now he snorted with restrained laughter. “Bros before hoes.” Then he scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Whatever a ho is.”
“Whore,” Brook said confidently. “You just said brothers before whores, which is kinda rude so maybe you should shut up.”
While they’d argued, Lolo had been standing by the door to the Bridge, and now she stepped forward until they could all see her. “I’ll go.”
The fierce expression on Judge’s face melted away at the sound of her voice, making him realize he was defending Lolo for a reason. While he’d been inside the pod being repaired, Judge had formed a relationship with her, meaning when it came to Lolo he was fighting a losing battle. As the other hybrid had said, the Defensors were loyal and, once a bond had been forged, there would be no breaking it. Although Judge might not be in love with Lolo, he felt strongly enough to protect her from him.
Sighing and turning to Lolo, he dipped his head hoping to seem less intimidating. “I’m not sure what you can do, but I need any help you can give me to find the Dead Force.” Raising his hands in surrender, he added, “Without them all I have is Merc’s army and I don’t trust him.”
Brook’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What’s wrong with Merc?”
In unison, he and Judge replied, “He’s an asshole.”
“He protects us.”
Half-turning to look at Brook, he asked, “At what price? He takes whoever he wants to be slaves. How is he any different from the aliens?”
“I’m not his slave.”
“We are all slaves,” Jessica said softly. “One master creates another until even they too are slaves.”
The truth in Jessica’s words ended the argument, and they all turned to look at her. He wanted to free the real Jessica if only to meet the one person who had stood up to the aliens. She was better than they were, worthy of the life she’d freely given to them. Was he her slave? If he was, then it was the first time he was happy to be one.
Seeing them looking at her, Jessica said, “Go to the city. Find the Dead Force.”
He and Judge looked at one another and, without needing to speak, they both turned to leave the Bridge. As he walked, he barked commands through his headgear. “Rok. Ash. Gear up, full loading. We’re heading back to the floating city.”
All he heard back was Rok’s gleeful drawl. “Cooool.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Forever Human
For the second time in as many days they were heading into one of the cavities on the floating city. This one was taller and larger than the other cities, making him suspect it was a main base. If Earth was a forward operating base, then it probably supplied others as part of the primary operation, whatever that really was. The main difference this time was they’d arrived by shuttle, which meant the aliens would know they were inside the city. There were pros and cons to being more discreet, but he decided the risk of being cornered was too great. Without the shuttle, their only escape would be to jump from the city and, dead or not, he didn’t think they would survive falling a mile to the surface.
The Extrema had swooped into the atmosphere three times now, but neither Jessica nor Joker could explain why the aliens hadn’t attacked them. Even a shuttle arriving in their city hadn’t raised any alarm. Were the aliens so confident in their superiority they weren’t paying attention, or did they simply not care? The hybrid had described them as flock, meaning they were no more than livestock to the aliens. How much attention had he paid to the chickens roaming around her cabin? None. He was confident the chickens were too stupid to do him any harm. Knowing the aliens viewed them as chickens annoyed him. If nothing else, he intended to let the aliens know they weren’t top dog, not on his watch.
“Flak. Hawk. No fucking around this time. Keep us on cam and be where we need you.”
From his tone, it was clear he wasn’t tolerating anymore clowning, and both men replied in unison, “Roger that.”
“The moment we land we’re out and moving. Rok, you’re on point. Shoot anything in your way. Ash, you’ve got our six, same deal. Lolo, stay between me and Judge. Our target is the room with Jessica.”
“Can we find that room again?” Judge asked.
“I remember where we went,” Rok replied confidently.
“We’ll keep moving until we find her. Rok. Ash. You hold the perimeter while we take Lolo to Jessica.”
“Roger that, but how do we get out again?” Rok asked.
They would have to shoot their way out, but the aliens spat a type of acid where even a small amount burned through their armor. It had been enough to wipe them out when they’d fought with the aliens inside the chamber. If one of them fell under an acid attack then, unless they were willing to leave a man behind, they’d be stuck inside the city. He suspected the aliens wouldn’t kill them, but their protocols would be reset, meaning they’d return to being mindless drone fighters. There was no way he’d let them steal his identity again. Jessica needed them, otherwise she would die pinned to a wall, used and abused until she drew her last breath. Just thinking about her dying that way made his jaw flex with anger. They had one chance to make a difference and he wasn’t going to waste it.
“Flak. Hawk. Monitor our progress. We might need a diversion.”
“Err, the shuttle isn’t armed, Tag,” Hawk replied.
“I don’t care how you do it, just give the aliens something else to worry about.”
“We could open the back and unload a KLAW into one of the cavities,” Flak suggested.
“Aimed at what?” Hawk asked.
“Who cares? Tag just needs a secondary site.”
Whatever they could do with an unarmed shuttle was all he had. Leaving Flak and Hawk to argue out the logistics, he turned to Lolo. “Can you cut Jessica loose?”
Lolo was sitting opposite him on the shuttle, leaning back into her seat. Hearing his question, she shrugged, clearly unable to answer. Although she’d agreed to help them, he still wasn’t confident she was loyal to their side. Like the hybrid, she wanted to be human, but nothing changed the fact that she wasn’t. No matter what she wanted to be she was now more alien than she was human, which meant he could never be one hundred percent sure about her.
Fixing her with a hard stare, he said sternly, “If you can then do it. We’ll cover you.”
Judge was sitting next to Lolo and he rolled his eyes at him. “What the hell is gonna make you happy, Tag. Her blood?”
Harrumphing at Judge, he snapped down his faceplate. “She doesn’t have any.”
“You’re a pain in my ass, Tag.”
Sounding more professional than they had been since waking on the ark, Hawk intoned, “Coming in on the target landing zone.”
“Battle rattle!”
Caught in the stiff winds of a high altitude, the shuttle was dipping and swaying from side to side.
Rok was at the rear of the shuttle with his hand ready to hit the release to open the door, and he stood behind him with Lolo in front of Judge. The harnesses on the shuttle were rattling loudly, and he was being thrown from left to right. Hitting the cavity and force field around it was like crashing into a wall.
“Breaking through the forcefield now,” Hawk said calmly.
“Ya don’t say,” Rok replied sarcastically.
The forcefield was no doubt designed to stop the aliens from plummeting to their death, but it was no barrier for a shuttle. Their tiny ship tore through the shield and landed with a thud. Momentum carried the shuttle forward until it slammed into the wall on the other side. Rok had already hit the release and the back door was open. The ship skidded and twisted until the rear door was no longer blocked by the white wall.
“Go. Go. Go.”
A KLAW was heavy and Rok clunked down the angled door from the shuttle. Following him onto the white floor, he moved to the right. Lolo came down the ramp next and then Judge. Once they were clear, the shuttle rose from the floor, easing from the cavity until it was free of the city.
“Move forward. Maintain tempo.”
Rok didn’t need to be told and he was already walking through one of the gaps in the wall. “Four enemy ahead.”
“Weapons free.”
The KLAW exploded with smoke and bullets, cutting down three men and a woman wearing the now familiar blue jumpsuits. Without changing his stride, Rok continued marching through the room. He caught sight of another flash of blue through a gap in the wall.
“Enemy sighted. Ten o’clock. Firing.”
Even as he spoke, the bullets were leaving his gun, but he wasn’t sure he hit the target. Ordering his eye cover to infrared, he couldn’t see any bodies on the floor, but maybe they’d lost their heat signature, or perhaps he couldn’t see through this type of wall.
“Move forward,” Judge ordered.
They hadn’t stopped moving, not even for a moment, but Judge was right to keep them focused. Deep inside enemy territory, with only their guns to defend them, all they had on their side was speed. Passing through the gap in the wall, he stepped over the bodies dressed in blue. Despite being riddled with burn holes from Rok’s bullets, there wasn’t enough blood. One had a smear across her cheek with small dark patches around the entry points, but they should have been lying in pools of blood. If it weren’t for the burn holes in their clothing, they could have been unconscious rather than dead.
“Judge, aim for the head.”
“Why?”
“The KLAW rips them apart, but I don’t think alien bodies are the same as humans.”
“Fair point.”
They should have talked about how to kill the Defensors, but killing one of their own went against everything he believed in, which meant he hadn’t wanted to think about it. According to what Jessica had shown them, a Defensor’s brain was both biological and machine. During their last attack, the KLAW had torn the Defensors apart, but he and Judge only had carbines. Even on fully automatic fire their carbines weren’t as effective as a KLAW.
Still following Rok, he asked, “Judge, what kills a Defensor?”
“A KLAW puts ‘em down. We saw that last time.”
“We’re not carrying a KLAW.”
“Then a head shot solves most problems.”
That might be true, but during a fierce firefight a soldier relied on firepower more than accuracy. If they were confronted by more than one Defensor, then they’d do better with a bomb. “Keep the frags close.”
“Always do.”
Rok led them into the room where they’d found Beanie and, just like before, there were lumps inside the walls. The funny little creature had grown on him, making him wonder if the aliens had caught it. Was Beanie now a lump in a wall? He hoped not. What kind of city needed to be fed live animals? Were they even in a city, or was it another species being held prisoner by the aliens? If so, how were they forcing it to do what they wanted? Even as he asked the question he knew the answer. The aliens turned strengths into weakness, using every species in a way that meant it couldn’t fight back. They’d found a way to take their army and used it against the people they’d sworn to protect. His face burned with shame at the massacre he must have been part of. He could imagine the confusion and fear their attack had caused, leaving the cities and people crippled, unable to ever fight back or even aware they were under the control of an alien force.
Beyond the room with the lumpy walls was another with the pens containing Beanie lookalikes. The furry creatures might appear to be large rabbits, but he suspected they were smart in much the same way a dog or cat was. Maybe not smart enough to be fully sentient, but not dumb like a farm animal. When it had been stuck to the wall, Beanie had howled like a terrified dog, making him want to save it. Seeing the pens stuffed with wide-eyed and flat faces staring at him, he felt the same urge to free them.
Rok half-turned to look back at him. “What about the little guys?”
He didn’t want to give away their position yet, and he nodded at Rok. “Do it on the way out.”
The next room contained the tubes with the reptilian and elongated aliens. In the short period of time they’d been away the aliens had rebuilt the prisons. Once again, the tubes were full of alien species, crushed together until they couldn’t move. During their last recon, the trapped aliens had proven themselves to be fierce fighters, which was something he could respect. Merc might have offered him a human army, but he’d take the reptilian and elongated aliens over them any day.
“Ash, shoot open the tubes, but don’t hit the aliens inside.”
“Roger that.”
“Rok, stay with Ash and guard the entrance.”
Leaving Rok and Ash to defend the gap leading into the room, he entered the chamber where Jessica was hanging from the wall. Nothing had changed. Wires and tubes still ran through her body, making her tilt forward above their heads. Although her expression was blank, he knew she was in there, directing the robot Jessica to keep them safe. If it hadn’t been for this woman, he would still be a mindless drone fighter, forced to keep the last of their species under control. The moment he’d met Jessica on the ark he had trusted her, but he hadn’t realized she needed him to save not just her, but the whole world. He could have seen it as a burden and yet it wasn’t. Jessica had given him a mission, one that was making use of his pathological hatred for the aliens.
“Lolo, step up.”
He didn’t need to tell Lolo what to do, she was already running toward Jessica. “What have they done to her?”
“You tell me.”
Judge shouldered his gun, boosting Lolo until she was standing on his shoulders and able to reach Jessica. Touching her face with a trembling hand, Lolo said softly, “Jessica?”
Looking up at Lolo, he said, “I don’t think she’s aware.”
Tracing the wires and tubes running in and out of Jessica’s body, Lolo replied confidently, “She knows you’re here.” Looking down at him, she added, “Her body is dying.”
Jessica had already told him that she didn’t have much time left, but he hadn’t told Lolo that. “How do you know she’s dying?”
“We’re connected.”
“How?”
“The aliens are telepathic. It’s how we…they communicate. They have access to Jessica.”
“Can you talk to her?”
“I am, Tag, and she’s tired.”
Jessica’s body loomed above him, her face seemingly peaceful, but he knew it was only a facade concealing her suffering. “Can you get her down?”
Lolo shook her head and waved at Judge to lower her to the floor. “No. She’s hardwired in.”
“To where?”
“Think of it like wifi. The aliens are connected through hubs, which redirect their comms to one another. Jessica is a hub. They direct instructions to the arks through her, and she sends messages to the robots on the
ships.”
“Why don’t they talk to the robots themselves? Why use Jessica this way?”
Lolo’s shrug was so human it was hard to believe she wasn’t one. “Why do something yourself when you can use someone else to do it for you.” Her mouth dropped, and she shook her head sadly. “It’s only cruel if you acknowledge Jessica is sentient.”
His stomach sank. “Does that mean we can’t get her out?”
Standing in front of him, looking as unhappy as he felt, Lolo shook her head. “Jessica will have to free herself.”
Her answer sounded stupid, and he asked abruptly, “How’s she supposed to do that?”
Lolo touched his arm. “Jessica needs arms and legs.” When he looked at her blankly, she added, “You need to bring Jessica to Jessica, then she can direct the robot to free her.”
“You mean we have to bring the robot version of Jessica?”
She nodded and then turned to look at Judge. “I have to join them.”
Judge gave her a worried look. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You need the Dead Force, but the only way to find them is if I join the aliens.”
“They’ll kill you.”
Giving Judge a sly smile, Lolo shook her head. “I survived Tag trying to kill me.”
Something about the way she’d answered Judge left him uneasy, but gunfire erupted from the next room, meaning Rok and Ash were under attack. Even as he turned toward the gap in the wall, Rok’s voice sounded through his earpiece. “Taking fire from Defensors.”
Pushing Judge toward the door, Lolo said firmly, “Go. Be with your own kind. Once I find them, I’ll tell Jessica where the Dead Force are.”
Although he hesitated, another burst of gunfire from the next room was enough to make Judge move toward the gap. “Stay alive.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: If Walls Could Talk
“Defensors, stand down.”
“Repetitive, little fuckers, aren’t they?” Rok said, firing another burst through the gap in the wall to the next room.
Ash was moving across the floor, shooting at the bases on the glass tubes containing the aliens. The tubes were exploding in a shattering of what he assumed was glass and reptilian aliens fell to the floor. Quickly finding their feet, they were rising and standing tall. Elongated aliens were using their skinny limbs to claw across the ceiling. Some of the aliens were bellowing and others hissing, but no one understood what the other was saying. The room was erupting in frenzied movement as Ash continued shooting the tubes.