by Aline Riva
The Foliage series: Book Three
Sanctuary: Book One
by Aline Riva
The Foliage series Book 3 : Sanctuary : Book 1 by Aline Riva
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
A Kindle Original 2017
All Foliage characters © Nathan Ward 2016
Sanctuary Copyright © Aline Riva 2017
Cover Design Copyright © Nathan David Ward 2017
The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved. No part of this publication be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Sanctuary: Book One
Introduction:
Joy:
Five years after the battle for Freedom City, this is what we have become:
I had tried to see Josh as a hero and a leader.
In truth, he wouldn't have been fit to polish Murdock's boots, let alone be the so called great leader he that thought he was. Josh was no great hero, he didn't have the courage that was needed for leadership - whatever leadership he had in him before had been knocked out of him by the war, by all the hell he had been through before the time of peace came upon us.
But that was no excuse, not when lives were at stake. When he stepped up to take his place within the Circle of Eight and became not only the Chief of City Security but then Premier, I knew my faith in him was already running out. He was going to do only what he had to do and no more...
And while the city was being rebuilt, many of those injured in the battle for Freedom City were turning to a new wave of medical advancement – cybernetics. Suddenly anyone could be a doctor, anyone could set up a clinic and practise the dubious art of cybernetic surgery – because there were no rules, no regulations in place for this new found science we scavenged from the remains of our former android enemies, created by Astral, created by alien tech...
And when I saw Josh in no hurry to push forward laws to protect those dependant on cybernetic maintenance, as the paranoia and hatred grew among the so called organic people against the new cyborg race, I knew it was time to quit his ranks and join the only side I could identify with:
The oppressed.
I used my previous history as a medic and lied about my formal qualifications because, who cared? The old world was gone - I could have said I was a brain surgeon and they would have believed me...So I trained as a cybernetic technician, keeping my promise to General Felix Lynch that I would never stop fighting for his right to life. I'd helped him from the start, when he was wounded and bleeding with half his body gone and now that man is half cyborg I will never break that promise, because of him and also others like him.
Now as I wait for my answer, five years after the battle for Freedom City, I'm thinking of Josh and what he will say - I'm bloody scared too, not for me but for them - because I know he doesn't want to stand up to the others and be a voice for the cyborg community. And this divide is getting worse.
This should be a time of peace, but the peace makers are doing nothing. They just want to live their lives in comfort, forget the old world ever came to an end and close their eyes to the suffering of the cyborgs while they give in to the fear and paranoia of those who hate the ones with flesh fused to metal, denying their right to maintenance, thinking them the enemy because they chose to turn to cybernetics to survive. As soon as I've heard his excuses, I'm on the road with Lynch because anywhere has to be better than this place.
Why should the status of Cyborg mean division from the rest of us?
Don't they know, have they forgotten, this is often the way that wars begin?
Chapter 1 : The Last Factory
The luxury motor home that had once been a prized asset for weekend getaways had taken a considerable battering in the five years since peace had been restored to a world turned upside down by a virus, bombs and finally the Android UNA, who had been overthrown and then at last, with freedom restored, rebuilding had begun.
Now, that motor home was protected by armour plating and wrecked inside from many a rough journey and it struck him ironic that the vehicle once used for weekend getaways had now turned into a vehicle for armed robbery getaways... As he sat in the drivers seat parked beneath the shade of a tree just off a dirt track that led towards their target, Felix Lynch, former General of the human ranking of the UNA, set his steel blue gaze towards the distant building as he thought on all that had happened:
Just a few years back, he had left the army to join the UNA, believing it was a move for the greater good – instead the true android face of those in charge had been revealed, and he had found himself held prisoner, then he had escaped, fought back and after being terribly wounded, cybernetics - the new and controversial technology – had saved his life, leaving him machine from the waist down.
He was sure if he thought about those dark early days the pain would be enough to kill him, but worse pain was thinking on how the new government had banned cybernetic treatment and maintenance. Everyone was scared of robotics, even scared of the humans with robotic parts who had fought for their freedom in the Battle of London...
He turned his head and looked at the young woman sat beside him. Sunlight shone through the window on to her dark hair making it light up with autumn shades as her dark eyes met his pale blue gaze and she smiled.
“No matter what,” she reminded him, “I'm with you.”
His heart filled with deepest love as he looked at Elise, who had fallen in love with him before the conflict, when he still had his legs, when he could still make love, before he was turned cyborg from the waist down because there was no other way to save his life... She had never left his side.
“I didn't want you to be here. This is the last factory to manufacture cybernetic fluid... Once we go in there with guns blazing I can't protect you like I want to,”he told her honestly.
Sadness shaded her gaze as she looked at him and thought on all that had gone before:
Felix would die if he didn't gain access to the fluid needed by cyborgs to keep their human to cybernetic connections working. It wasn't as if he could lose a metallic hand or take off a robotic arm – he was literally half cyborg. His life depended on that fluid...
“And since people started dying when they outlawed cybernetic treatment and maintenance, stealing that stuff means we'll both be guilty in British law of an act of terrorism,” she replied, “And I have no problem with that Felix, because we fought long and hard to try and get that law stopped... now there are no legal channels left.”
He gave a heavy sigh as he slid down the window and let the warm summer air slip inside, the breeze ruffled his wavy hair shot through with grey and in that moment, tiny lines etched on his face seemed as deep as the day Elise had seen him for the first time after the loss of his lower body, when he had been in so much agony it seemed those lines had been scraped deep into his flesh forever as he tried to breathe through terrible pain...
Now the pain was a different kind – not the kind that kept him awake at night for fear of reliving the day he lost his limbs in nightmares, nor was it the kind that had seen him turn into a half crazy wreck as he had learned to live with his cyborg body, neither was it due to the damage the wiring deep in his brain had caused when it had been stuck in there awkwardly when cybernetics had been experimental. This was different – she saw pain in his eyes because he had lived his life
serving his country and now, to save his own life, this former war hero was about to do the only thing he could – and get himself labelled a terrorist for doing it...
“I'll be a wanted man when this is over,”he said quietly as his hands, covered by fingerless leather studded gloves, gripped the wheel.
Elise showed not a flicker of doubt as the ghost of a smile played about her lips and once again that courage of hers that always surprised him came to the fore as she replied.
“Of course you will,” she said, “But you've always been wanted...well, you have by me, ever since I first saw you. I couldn't take my eyes off you!”
Lynch took his gloved hand off the wheel, placing it over hers as he gave it a squeeze and looked into her eyes.
“I know you once said you'd follow me anywhere, but into hell isn't something I'd ask of you.”
“Hell?” she replied, “Hell was back then – when half your body was gone and I thought I'd lose you. Hell was you fighting for life with a cybernetic lower body fused to your flesh and bones. This isn't hell, not here. This is survival.”
The look in his eyes hardened as he nodded, then he let go of her hand, reached into the pocket of his long leather coat and drew out a bandanna, which he tied around his face, covering his nose and mouth.
“Let's do this,” he said, looking once again to the road.
Elise also looked to the road ahead, where far beyond the barred gates they were about the smash through, lie her lover's only hope of survival.
Lynch turned the key in the ignition, the engine roared into life and the wheels screeched as they spun as the revamped, powerful engine of the motor home fired into life, the vehicle kicking up dust in its wake as they sped towards the last functioning cybernetics factory.
The vehicle picked up more speed as the gates of the factory loomed closer.
Lynch glanced to Elise.
“Hold on tight.”
“Don't worry about me,” she said, as she looked down at the hand gun she had just finished loading.
“You might want to cover your face,” he reminded her.
“Nope.”
He caught the look of devotion in her eyes, the one that had never been absent since the day they had fallen in love, and as he guessed a disguise would be pointless, he pulled down the bandanna.
“Then I guess neither of us will hide our faces – they all know who I am anyway. I just wanted to protect you.
“No need,” Elise replied.
“Of course not, Frankie,”he said warmly, for the first time that day using his nickname for her, and she replied wordlessly as she met his gaze, then looked to the looming target, the gates were moving closer by the minute, the world a blur.
“If I have to shoot, you back me up and try not to kill anyone,” he said, and then the vehicle rammed the closed gates, sending the wire fence down with a crash as two guards at the entrance ran for cover, shouting to raise the alarm.
A cloud of dust kicked up about the vehicle as it came to a sharp stop.
“Stay behind me!” Felix ordered, and then he opened the door and jumped down, machine gun in hand as he set his sights on the guards, who had now multiplied to five and had returned armed with weapons.
He fired a volley of shots that hit the ground and sent up a flurry of dust in its wake as bullets danced and slammed into the earth, inches from the guards, who stepped back, clutching their weapons as uncertainty reflected in their eyes.
“Throw down your weapons!” he barked as a crazy look shone in his eyes, “Throw them down and no one gets hurt!”
One by one the men began to carefully lay down their arms. This was the last functioning factory and about to close down, the main protection force that had patrolled this place had left days before, leaving the company no choice but to bring in hired men with access to weaponry, men with no experience other than needing to take a job – any job – none of them were fighters...
“I need the keys to an empty storage unit 27,” he announced, and then one of the men stepped forward, he was older than Felix and his hand shook as he drew a key on a chain from his pocket and tossed it to him. The key landed at his feet and Elise picked it up quickly.
“Unit 27,” she said, and she looked about the yard and saw a long, metal building marked 27.
Felix gestured with his gun towards the unit, and the untrained, unarmed men began to make their way towards it. Elise went on ahead, sliding the key into the lock and tugging open the heavy door.
“Inside!” Felix ordered, and the men filed in, afraid at the sight of the armed man whose face was partly covered, who wielded a machine gun with such ease and confidence.
Elise closed the door and locked it, and then looked to Felix.
“What now?” she asked.
“The map says the storage containers are at the back of the factory – the manufacturing plant is closed down so there won't be any workers inside...we just need to get in, get any remaining cannisters of cybernetic fluid and load up and leave.”
As he spoke he clast a glance to the now empty factory, then looked about the deserted yard to be sure no one remained at large, but it seemed the coast was clear.
He ran around the back of the factory, pausing to lean against a wall as robotic connections buried under flesh screamed in protest somewhere between his hip bone and the place where metal tubes snaked through his guts.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
The short answer to that question was no, but he didn't want to frighten her – he had been two days late with his cybernetic fluid shot and connections were starting pain him where metal met flesh.
“I:m fine,” he said quickly, then turned his sights to the back door that led into the storage area, near a loading bay where trucks once would have lined up, ready to move the goods for distribution.
“This way,” he said, and sounded breathless as he hurried across the yard and over to the door where he hoped, beyond would lie enough cybernetic fluid to keep him going for a very long time...
The door was solid and heavily locked.
Felix aimed his gun and the air was filled with the sound of bullets punching through metal, and then the lock collapsed and the door gave away, swinging jar.
Felix lowered his weapon and grabbed the door, tearing it open. He stepped inside the room and Elise followed, and they both stopped, looking about the wide, empty space in dismay.
“There's nothing here!” she said.
Then a heavy sliding partition slid down at speed through the ceiling, slamming into the ground so hard the floor vibrated and the concrete began to crack under the pressure of the blow, barring the busted doorway and trapping them in the room.
Elise drew in a shocked breath as alarm registered in her eyes.
“We're not alone here!”
Felix looked up.
On the level above, protected by a clear screen, was a man sat at a control desk. He reached for a phone and ducked behind the desk and Felix swung his weapon and let off a hail of bullets that bounced off the transparent barrier as he kept firing, seeing the barrier start to warp as cracks snaked through the toughened glass.
“It's reinforced...” he said above the sound of gun fire...”But not solid enough!”
And another volley of shots punched again at the barrier, as glass exploded. Felix caught sight of the man, he was up and running so he fired again, and he was spun around by the force of the bullet that tore into his shoulder, as he hit the stair way and tumbled down like a rag doll, hitting the bottom with the phone still in his hand. If he wasn't dead, he was certainly deeply unconscious, and no longer a threat to their mission.
Finally, Felix lowered his gun.
“Tell me this,” he said to Elise, “Why keep someone up in control like that if there's no fluid left in this factory?”
“You think someone kept some back?” she asked.
“Of course they did – it would go for a fortune on the black market...And he had a cell phone...Th
ese days with all the rebuilding after the war only those in authority have access to that network...” he shook his head, “Unbelievable...someone in authority wanted to hold a cargo of cybernetic fluid to ransom...Well, its ours now..we just have to find it first!”
Then he raised his gun and Elise watched as shots peppered the control desk on the floor above. Wires sparked as the machinery came apart, and the locked down wall that sealed them inside rose up sharply once more. Then Lynch took a step towards the open door, and as his heavy boot trod on to a weakened floor space beneath a wide, tattered rug, he started to smile.
”I think we just found the mother lode!” he exclaimed, and he kicked the rug aside, opened up the hatch and looked down to see a large, single barrel of cybernetic fluid set snug in its hiding place. As he looked to Elise triumph shone in his eyes.
“Fetch the motor home, let down the ramp... we can hook it up reel it in and leave.”
She clutched at her gun tightly as she looked to the empty yard.
“What if anyone else is out there?”
“Shoot if you must,” he told her, “But make sure you shoot first – you won't get a second chance. I love you. Be careful.”
“Love you too,” she told him.
Elise turned away and headed for the door as Lynch ran over to the bleeding man at the foot of the stair case and snatched his cell phone, then he went back and stood guard over the barrel of fluid, his weapon ready as he watched the patch beyond the doorway that led to the vehicle – he could see through the clear windows of the factory as Elise ran around the other side, looked about and got into the motor home. The roar of the engine sounded, and moments later she parked outside the open doorway. Lynch breathed a relieved sigh as the ramp slid down and he grabbed the cable and started to unwind it – this had worked out much easier than he had expected, even though the cameras in the yard would have caught their faces, at least they had got away with the raid...