by M. R. Forbes
Nathan put his hand on his sidearm. If the Other was real, it was probably better not to threaten it. If it wasn’t real, hopefully it would just let them past.
James reached the broken window. The Other hadn’t moved a muscle, and Nathan was starting to lean toward hallucination. Why would it stand there otherwise? Then again, something caused the hallucinations. Something made the soldiers in the base kill each other. Had they opened the gate? Had the Other come through? Was it controlling their minds?
If it was, if it could, would it be a good idea to let Tinker find the artifact and open it? Would it be a good idea to allow more of the Others to come here?
James put his hand on the window sill, his glove protecting him from the broken glass. He raised his leg up and over, joining the Other in the corridor. He stood directly in front of it, nearly a head taller than the alien. He looked down at it but didn’t try to touch it or point his gun at it. He shimmied around it to the left toward the exit before motioning to Nathan.
“It’s a fake. Come on.”
Nathan started toward the window, eager to get out.
The Other finally moved, turning to face James. The pieces of glass began to rise around it, dozens of small shards hovering in mid-air.
“What the?”
The shards launched toward James like flechettes from a railgun, slamming into his armor and piercing through to his flesh. Two dozen holes appeared across his body, and he grunted and fell backward, slumping to the ground.
Nathan’s heart rose to his throat. He still didn’t know if the Other was real, but it was definitely not friendly. Was this how he was going to die?
He snapped the pistol back on his armor and grabbed the plasma rifle from his back, turning it on. The Other shifted back to face him, raising a hand toward him.
A second window beside the Other started to crack and splinter.
Nathan switched his weapon to stream mode and fired. Not at the Other, but at the window closest to James. Superheated gas washed over the glass, reducing it to liquid as the window beside it finally came apart, leaving the alien with a hundred shards to throw at him.
“No!” he shouted, throwing himself behind the large tank as the shards all launched his way. He heard them hit the tank, glass against glass. He looked up and saw it beginning to shatter.
Nathan bunched his legs and then burst out from behind the container, charging across the room toward the freshly broken window. The Other watched him, barely moving.
He reached the window, jumping and ducking at the same time, making himself small enough to fit through the opening. He landed in the corridor, slamming into the opposite wall and bouncing back.
James’ spider appeared on his right, leaping toward him, its razor-sharp legs reaching out to cut him.
He caught it on his arm, the blades sliding over and off the plates and into the thinner armor below. They dug deep into his skin, sending burning pain along his entire arm.
“Gahhhh,” he cried, turning his arm and slamming it into the glass. A few pieces fell off the spider, but it held on tight, raising one leg, reaching up his arm and digging in.
He dropped down, swinging it at the floor instead. It hit hard, losing more of itself but still climbing slowly toward his face.
“Damn it,” he said, grabbing his laser pistol with his other hand. He put the muzzle against the spider’s metal shell and fired, sending a beam straight through.
It went limp on his arm. He looked up at the Other.
It was gone.
Illusion? Hallucination? Or was it on the move? He had no way to know. He didn’t care right now, anyway. He grabbed the spider with his other hand, yanking it off him and tossing it away. The multiple stab wounds in his arm hurt like hell and left it limp. He growled through the pain, putting his rifle on his back and bending over to check on James. The general was still alive, but his breathing was shallow, his body riddled with glass. Nathan worked on lifting James and getting him into a Spacer carry, balanced over his shoulder to get him away from the lab.
Then he ran as fast as he could, back to the non-functional lift. It took all of his strength to lift James to the top of the cabin, leaving him winded.
He climbed up after James. The climb wire was still there, and he put his hand on it, pulling to feel its strength. The cable was thin, but it was coated with something to make gripping it easier.
Nathan looked up. He could barely make out the edge of the shaft twenty meters above them. He wasn’t sure he could climb that far with James on his shoulders. He had to drop some of the extra weight.
He removed James’ rifle and sidearm, and tossed his aside too. Then he unclasped James’ body armor, unzipping it and pulling it away. He lowered it to the location of the glass.
As James’ flesh became visible, the wounds disappeared.
“Damn it,” Nathan said.
It had been a hallucination after all. He knew from experience it had seemed real to James, and that his mind would be convincing his body it was dying. He had to get him stable, and he couldn’t do that down here.
He removed his own armor, shedding another twenty kilograms of weight and leaving him in a t-shirt and underwear. As he lifted James into another carry, he felt stupid for not removing the extra weight before raising him to the top of the lift cabin.
He grabbed the climb wire and started pulling them up, keeping a delicate balance between holding the wire and preventing James from falling off. It took forever, and by the time he finally raised James over the edge and let him go, his entire body was sweaty and shaking from the exertion.
He dragged himself from the edge and out onto the floor, staying on the ground beside James and checking the other man’s pulse.
Still alive.
He stayed on the ground while he caught his breath.
“Nathan.”
He groaned when he heard the voice. Niobe’s voice.
“Nathan, help me.”
“I told you to fuck off,” he growled, pushing himself to his knees. He wished whatever was causing the mental distress would give up already.
“Nathan. Please. They’re coming for me.”
He shook his head. It worked better when he couldn’t be sure if it were real or not.
He picked James up again, carrying him over his shoulders. His legs were burning, but he forced himself to move, down the corridor and into the hangar.
He wasn’t all that surprised to find Niobe there. She was on their bed in her work clothes. The Stacker replica was standing beside her. She raised her head at his approach, her eyes accusing.
“Why didn’t you help me?” she asked as the replica stabbed into her with Yamaguchi’s knife.
He felt sick and nearly dropped James from the sudden weakness. Damn it. It wasn’t real. He didn’t have to look at it. He just had to remember it wasn’t real.
She screamed as the knife went into her, again and again. He walked right past the scene, his heart thumping and a weight of anguish pressing against every muscle in his body, begging him to stop and end his fight. No more guilt. No more pain. No more questioning what was right and wrong. He could be with her now and forever.
He slowed, glancing over at James’ head. Maybe that was the right thing to do? He could change the outcome for everyone so easily. Kill James. Kill himself. Who knew what would happen then? He wouldn’t have to worry about it.
He freed a hand to start reaching for his sidearm. He released it from his armor, lifting it toward James’ head.
The other man’s eyes opened slightly. “Nathan?” James said, his voice weak.
The sound freed him of his mind. He snapped out of it almost instantly.
“General,” he replied, feeling a massive sense of relief. He put the gun back on his hip. “Don’t die on me, sir. We’re almost out of here.”
James was out cold again, eyes closed and head hanging. Had he imagined that he had woken up to speak to him?
Damn, he hated it in here.
>
He ran as fast as he was able to across the remaining distance to the opening leading outside. He stumbled out into the darkness and made his way back to the Pulse.
He carried James up the ramp, placing him on the floor of the crowded hold and hitting the controls to retract the ramp before rushing to find a medical kit. He grabbed it and raced back to James, taking out patches and sticking them against the man’s unharmed skin. Then he held salts in front of James’ face, waking him up.
“General,” he said, waking him up.
James was dizzy, his head rocking back and forth.
“We’re on the Pulse. I patched you up, see?” He held James’ head steady to show him the patches. “You’re going to be okay.”
James perked up when he looked at the patches. “I’m going to be okay,” he repeated. He coughed once. “You saved my life.”
“I guess so. Hold on tight, General. I’m getting us the fuck out of here.”
He helped James up, getting him over to a seat and buckling him in. Then he ran back to the bridge, dropping into the pilot’s seat and using the control pad to power up the ship. The displays flashed on, shifting to night vision mode as he hit the controls to bring the main thrusters online.
A figure appeared in the display to his left, near the compound.
The Other.
He hit the thrusters and the Pulse began to rise. The Other was watching, but not reacting.
As Nathan punched the throttle to send them hurtling into the sky and away, he couldn’t help but wonder whether or not the alien had been real after all.
Chapter 29
Hayden, Pyro, and Gus continued heading away from Fort McGuire, following the cleared roads beyond the gates in a generally western direction. Hayden was operating under the assumption that the Liberators had already cleared a path from the forward base to Edenrise, and while he preferred not to run into any more of Tinker’s militia, he also preferred to stick to roads that would get him where he wanted to go. While Isabelle had maps of the area stored in her head, that head was as flat as a pancake and lying somewhere in the middle of the fort.
It was an unfortunate circumstance to lose the robot. She was a powerful weapon, and had saved his life more than once in a very short span of time. He had learned that loss was the norm out here. There was no life expectancy. Only life as long as you continued to fight for it, and in a lot of cases as long as you got lucky.
He figured he was pretty much out of luck by now, but there was no way he was going to stop fighting. There was too much at stake.
“My dad used to tell me stories,” Pyro said. She was in the back seat, stretched across the dry, cracked leather, her legs draped over Gus’ lap. “Stories that were passed down from his father and back to the war.”
She held up her replacement arm. Like the one she had given Hayden, it was too big for her body and designed to be attached to a more muscular male. Unlike Hayden’s however, it wasn’t particularly unique. It looked like a cheap, mass-produced appendage, like those made for the soldiers who were having trouble keeping their limbs in battle against the trife. In truth, Pyro and Gus were far from being the first mongrels on the planet.
“This thing has survived centuries,” she continued. “My grandfather used to tell me stories about it. About how he used it to kill trife. One after another. One of my great-grandfathers — who the hell knows how many greats back — was a badass, Sheriff. A serious badass.”
“So was mine,” Gus said.
“Yeah, so was yours,” Pyro agreed. She paused a moment. “Sheriff, I don’t think either of our greats were as fucking badass as you.”
Gus laughed, speaking with a deeper, scratchier voice and an accent that better mimicked Hayden’s. “My name is Sheriff Hayden Duke. I know you’re my enemy and you’re trying to kill me, but don’t worry, I’m gonna to help you defeat two armies of trife and some freaky monster you created, and I’m gonna do it without letting you kill or catch me or break a sweat.”
Pyro laughed harder. Hayden smirked at the impression.
“Not bad,” he said. “But I’m not a badass.”
“Yes, you are,” Pyro said, lowering her voice. “My name is Sheriff Hayden Duke. I’m the only one whose van escaped from a deadly virus that somehow didn’t get inside and kill me and my passengers.” She returned her voice to normal. “That’s seriously badass.”
“That was luck,” Hayden said. “And aerodynamics. I’m no different than either of you. Less than a year ago, I didn’t know anything about this Earth.” He sighed. Everything was so much simpler then. If someone had told him at the time that he would come to miss it, he would have said they were crazy.
“The key to survival is adaptation,” Pyro said. “That’s what my greats always said. That’s what my dad passed on. The trife adapt better than we do. That’s why they won.”
“Tinker can end the war with the trife,” Hayden said. “He has a means to kill them. But if it kills everyone else on the planet besides his people in Edenrise, is it worth it? Not to me because I have family out there. A wife and child and other people that are counting on me to protect them. What about you two?”
Hayden glanced back at them. The smiles faded from their faces as they considered the question seriously.
“I don’t want your family to die, Sheriff,” Gus said. “But I don’t know. If we make it to Edenrise, if we’re safe there… It’s tempting. I have to be honest.”
“I appreciate the honesty,” Hayden said.
“You said we’re headed to Edenrise,” Pyro said. “You must have a plan, Sheriff?”
“My plan is to get an audience with Tinker. To talk with him. He’s got an energy shield around Edenrise. I want to know why we can’t make more of them. If we can start getting people there, we can save a lot more lives. It’ll take some time, but I believe it’s the right thing to do.”
“What if he won’t listen?”
“That’s why I need to ask you where you stand. If he won’t listen, I might need your help to stop him. Are you with me?”
They were both silent for a minute.
“I don’t know if I want to help you stop him,” Gus said. “I know you’ve got family out there. I understand where you’re coming from. I’m sorry, Sheriff. But this isn’t about a few people. This is the whole planet. I think about all the stories I’ve heard. The death. The destruction. The pain and loss. The people at Crosston, a lot of them were outsiders originally. Nomads. Wanderers. They found a home there, but their history had nothing but struggle in it. Tinker can end all of that? He can help us start over? Even you have to feel the pull, at least a little bit.”
“I do,” Hayden admitted. “But I also know we’re making progress out west. We’re clearing areas of trife. We’re starting to rebuild. It’s not as easy as snapping your fingers and making it all go away, but it also means more people survive. If Tinker succeeds, he’s going to have all of the soldiers. He’s going to have all the control. I can’t help but worry about that. He’s already proven he’ll sacrifice anyone he has to in order to get what he wants. Pyro, the only reason you’re here and not in Edenrise with the rest of Crosston’s women is because you’re sterile.”
“I know, Sheriff,” Pyro said. “Right now I don’t know what I would do. I can see both sides of the argument. I agree that Tinker is dangerous. I agree that he might not be the best person to have control over all the humans left on the planet. But like Gus said, I also know what it’s like out here, and what it was like in the past. To wash it all away? To start fresh? This isn’t just about me, either. Even if we never make it to Edenrise, my opinion would be the same. I’m just not sure what that opinion is yet.”
“Fair enough,” Hayden said. “Neither of you need to decide whether or not you’re with me in Edenrise until we make it to Edenrise. I assume you’re both with me until then, at least, right?”
“Pozz that, Sheriff,” Gus said.
“Ditto,” Pyro said. “We’re with
you. Someone has to get us there safe.”
“I’ll do my best,” Hayden said.
They were still a long way from Edenrise, which meant they were still a long way from being safe. Not that reaching Tinker’s city was any guarantee, especially for him. He had no idea how Tinker would react to his appearance there after the Iron General had been trying so hard to kill him. He didn’t expect a warm welcome, but he hoped the man was civil enough to listen to what he had to say. It was a risk. A big risk. But it was one he had to take.
He watched the road ahead. Junked cars rested on either side of it, sometimes in lines, sometimes in large piles like they had been shoved aside and stacked by a bigger machine. He scanned ahead to the horizon, looking for movement. Soldiers, trife, nomads, or any of the other dangers that littered the planet.
It occurred to him that he hadn’t considered where Proxima fit in. The Iron General had killed both the Centurion Spacers and the Trust operatives sent to retrieve Nathan, and both factions were sure to investigate, if not retaliate. What was going to happen when they came back to Earth and found most of the life on it dead, with only Tinker and Edenrise protected? What if they decided they wanted to come back to their homeworld now that it was safe? The Centurion Space Force wasn’t massive, but it could certainly handle one city. Maybe Tinker wouldn’t be in control for very long after all? Maybe having Proxima retake Earth wouldn’t be a bad thing?
How was it that Proxima Command didn’t know about Edenrise already? Or did they?
Hayden didn’t doubt Tinker had thought about all of this. He didn’t doubt the man had a plan to deal with it. He also couldn’t imagine what it might be.
Chapter 30
“Sheriff,” Pyro said. “Sheriff, wake up.”
Hayden’s eyes snapped open. The botter was standing over him, a small smile on her unworried face. He relaxed immediately, calmed by the lack of panic in her expression.