by L. C. Mawson
She could fight people, but people with guns were different.
“Everyone ready?” Justice asked, finally deciding for them that there would be no more delays.
“I... I don’t know how to ride one of these,” Empathy piped up, her voice a little squeaky.
“That’s okay,” Claire said, indicating that Em should follow her. “I don’t know either. You can ride with me.”
Em seemed confused for a moment until Sleepy loped over to them, lowering so that Claire could climb up onto their back.
“The Dreamer?” Em asked, her eyes wide.
“Their name is Sleepy.”
Em just nodded silently, still staring at the beast, though she took Claire’s arm when she offered it, climbing up behind her.
“Ready?” Justice called once more as Sleepy joined the parade of bikes.
“Ready,” the others replied in unison before speeding off into the night’s sky.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The flight wasn’t nearly long enough, in Claire’s opinion. Soaring so high on Sleepy’s back was exhilarating at first, and remained enjoyable as her initial excitement faded. She loved the feel of the wind whipping around her and wished that her hair was loose, instead of stuffed inside her helmet. Even the height didn’t bother her as much now. Sleepy felt solid beneath her. Far more so than the Rena Bike had.
Of course, all too soon the wreckage of the ship, barely more than a few strips of metal jutting through the trees, could be seen. Claire’s stomach turned to ice. She wanted to grab hold of Sleepy and steer them back to the Tower. Take Em and the others back home, away from this accursed place.
It was almost as if a wariness of the metal structure, which became more visible as they descended through the trees, was hard-wired into her DNA.
Abandon hope all ye who enter here, the part of her which came from Jia screamed. It felt like death and Claire had no idea why. The bare metal framework encapsulating the intact sections was foreboding, sure, but this was something different. All of her defences were on high alert, preparing for a danger she couldn’t name.
“Something is wrong,” Em said as they landed.
Claire turned, wondering if she felt it too, but saw that her gaze was on her, instead of the wreckage. She was simply absorbing Claire’s worry. Maybe she did feel it too, but she likely wouldn’t recognise it through Claire’s own sense of foreboding.
“Yeah,” Claire confirmed. “No one was meant to come back here.”
“Do you think we should turn back?”
“Yes,” she answered honestly. “But we can’t let the trail go cold again.”
Claire turned to see that the other Aspects were watching them, listening in on their conversation.
“Be on your guard,” Justice eventually said to them all. “If Love’s right, we need to be vigilant.”
The others nodded before following Em through the wreckage. She was the one who had memorised the plans.
The metal groaned beneath their boots, clearly weather-worn, though it seemed safe enough for them to walk through. Any element of stealth, however, was most likely lost. If they had ever had any. Claire couldn’t imagine a group of Rena bikes surrounding a dragon with two riders would be hard to miss. Though, if what was left of the ship’s systems were either shut down or low on power, and their hunter was in the inner chambers, then it would stand to reason that they might not have seen them approach.
It wasn’t long before they reached a sealed door, marking the beginning of the still-intact section of the ship.
Em studied the key pad for a moment before hitting the OPEN button.
The door gave a harsh tone which made Claire and Em flinch, though it didn’t seem to bother anyone else.
“Identification please,” a voice, almost like Lita’s though with a slightly more melodic quality, said.
“The Aspect of Empathy,” Em replied, tugging at her sleeves.
“I’m sorry, you do not match the data for that Aspect.”
“She’s working on the record from two hundred years ago,” Claire said, annoyed by the obstacle.
“Captain Jia,” the voice - Ori, Claire assumed - said, “I did not detect you. Are these your guests?”
“Yes,” Claire responded, deciding to run with it. She wasn’t going to waste her time correcting an AI which probably wasn’t fully functional. “These are new Aspects.”
“Then the others are all deceased?”
“Yes.”
“I shall update my records.”
“Ori, has anyone been here since I last left?”
“Yes. A group of Human scavengers a hundred and twelve years ago, but they were prevented from entering by the engineered creatures. This morning, a Dishar arrived. He was able to override my system to gain access, however I have been able to keep him from the files he seeks.”
“Is he still inside?”
“He is currently in the control room, attempting to bypass my system security. His technology is advanced. I am not sure how long I can hold him at bay. I tried to contact you, but you didn’t respond.”
“I had no way of receiving your transmission,” Claire responded. Half-truths seemed to be the best way to proceed here. They didn’t want to give too much away and have Ori refuse to let them inside. “Can you please open the door for us, Ori?”
“Of course.”
The door opened and the light beyond flickered to life, illuminating the square entryway. It was large enough to fit all of them in comfortably, but not much bigger.
“Which way to the Control Room?” Claire asked.
Ori opened all three of the doors in front of them, one on each wall.
“Straight ahead,” she told them.
Em nodded in agreement, once more leading the way with Pain by her side. Justice moved in behind, following them.
The door shut behind them, making a heavy clunking noise as it slammed down in front of Vengeance, trapping the other three beyond.
“Justice!” Vengeance yelled, banging his fist up against the door in front of him.
Claire made a keening noise of protest in the back of her throat. The sound of metal clanging made her want to claw her skin off.
“That’s not going accomplish anything,” Serenity said, her calm voice soothing compared to the clanging metal.
“It made me feel better,” he bit back, and Claire decided that they shouldn’t have been surprised. His power came from addressing his emotional needs over practicality, after all.
“Ori,” Claire called out, “why did the door close?”
“My apologies. Some of these systems are in need of repair.”
“Is there any other way to the Control Room?”
“Both other corridors meet back up with the first, they are just longer paths.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Vengeance asked, storming off to the right with a concerned Serenity hot on his heels.
Before Claire and Hate could catch up, the door slammed in front of them, causing Claire to flinch once more.
“Ori?” Claire called out, but there was no response this time.
She didn’t have time to articulate any of her thoughts on just how badly degraded Ori was before Hate clutched her hand.
“What-” she started, but Hate cut her off.
“Don’t let go. We can’t get separated,” Hate said simply, her tone harsh.
Practicality. Of course. Why else would she hold her hand?
Claire didn’t like holding hands. She understood the sentiment behind it, but it felt weird. She was glad for the gloves which accompanied their armour. It made the touch feel like just a pressure. That she liked. It was the weird feeling of the skin on palms that she wasn’t a fan of. Plus, they were usually clammy.
Left with no other option, they headed down the left corridor. Just as for the others, the door shut behind them. The lights in this corridor wouldn’t stop flickering, making Claire’s eyes hurt. She wanted to close them, but she also
knew that she needed to be alert. She held Hate’s hand tighter and the pressure helped a little.
“Ori?” she called out again, hoping that the AI would respond. “Which way is it to the others?”
“I tried to contact you, but you didn’t respond,” the AI replied.
“I think it’s glitching,” Hate said.
Claire gave a hum of agreement but frowned. She wasn’t so sure.
“Ori, can you fix the lighting in here?” Claire asked, hoping that the issue was just her speech processing.
The lights turned off momentarily before being replaced with an eerie red glow from bars on the wall.
“Thanks,” Claire said, figuring that it was better than before as they made their way through the labyrinth of corridors. Claire let Hate navigate. She reasoned that she would just get them hopelessly lost if she tried.
They both jumped, almost letting go of each other’s hands, at the sound of another door slamming shut next to them.
Claire gave another keening squeal from her throat in protest at the noise.
As soon as silence returned, it happened again. And again. Eventually the doors were opening and closing in a clanking cacophony.
Claire threw her back against the wall, using it to steady herself as she flailed her limbs in a desperate attempt to ground herself. The noise was too much. It made her want to scream and tear her hair out. She might have tried to, if her helmet wasn’t in the way.
Hate carefully manoeuvred into her personal space, taking the hits as her limbs thrashed out against the intrusion. She slid a small switch down her jaw, deafening her.
Claire’s limbs settled as she realised that there was a built-in noise-cancelling element to the helmets. Perhaps for use on vehicles which made more noise than the Rena bikes did.
“Thanks,” she said aloud, but she doubted Hate could hear her.
She really needed to teach her sign language...
“Use the helmet microphone,” Hate said over her speaker, indicating to a switch at the other side of her jaw.
“Thanks,” Claire said after finding the switch.
“Do you think we can access these systems manually without the AI?”
“You want to shut down Ori?”
“If we don’t, it’s probably going to kill us.”
“She said the systems were malfunctioning on their own.”
“Yeah, because she’s completely trustworthy.”
The doors all stopped abruptly, some open, while others were closed.
They clicked off the noise-cancelling on their helmets, hearing nothing but silence.
“Ori?” Claire called out, trying to keep her exhaustion from her tone. Her earlier distress had drained her to the point that she wanted to take a nap. And drink about a litre of coffee.
“I’m here. I’m here. I’ve always been here.”
“Can you lead us to the others?”
“The screen ahead can show you a map.”
Claire quickly realised that she was talking about the screen built into the bulkhead at the end of the corridor. They walked over to it as Hate remembered to take her hand once more, having let go when Claire had become distressed by the noise.
There was, indeed, a map on the screen, but it flickered out as soon as they got a good look at it.
“Ori? I think it’s broken.”
Ori didn’t respond, but the screen flickered back to life. Only this time there wasn’t a map. A video began to play. The same few seconds playing over and over again on a loop.
“This won’t hurt, I promise,” Jia said on repeat.
“What the-” Claire started, prompting the clip to stop repeating and play out in full.
“This won’t hurt, I promise, and when we’re done, you’re going to have new sisters.”
“The creation of the fragments,” Hate said under her breath.
The image flickered out again, replaced by the word LIAR across the screen.
“You were saying about her being trustworthy?” Hate muttered under her breath.
“No one likes ‘I told you so’s,” Claire replied. “Come on, we need to get back to the others.”
They hurried down the corridor as fast as they could without letting go of each other. That was non-negotiable. Claire couldn’t get separated from Hate. She had to be there to protect her.
That was when the left side of the corridor became engulfed in flame.
Claire, who was standing on the left, pushed Hate to the right and out of the corridor, into a small room.
The door slammed shut behind them.
THE FORCE OF THE IMPACT knocked the wind out of Claire. She didn’t even let out her usual squeal at the sound of the door slamming shut behind them. She bounced to her feet as soon as air returned to her lungs, hurrying back over to the door.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no...” she said before turning around to inspect the room, taking her helmet off to get a better look. It was bare except for a gurney and various medical gadgets strewn around. At least, Claire assumed they were medical. One looked like a med-scanner.
“Now what?” Hate asked, removing her own helmet.
As if in response, a screen on the wall lit up with the room’s atmospheric data.
The oxygen level was slowly going down.
“Of course we would run into a homicidal AI!” Hate spat, beginning to pace. “It’s not like some arsehole wanting to kill you is bad enough. No, everyone wants to have a go.”
“It’s not like it’s my fault.” Claire folded her arms, hating how defensive she sounded.
“I’m not saying it’s your fault. I’m saying it sucks.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“No, I just...” She let out a frustrated groan. “This is the worst. This is actually the worst.”
“No argument here. But complaining isn’t going to help.”
“And what do you think will help? Neither of us are engineers or mechanics of any kind. I sure don’t understand what’s wrong with the AI, other than it just being old.”
“Well, it’s old and has been on its own, and making the fragments, like Lita, didn’t help anything.”
“Right, but do you understand enough of it to try and fix it?”
“Um... No...”
“Then I’m going to keep complaining until we come up with another plan.”
Claire glanced back over at the levels.
76%
“What about your powers? Can you use them on the door?”
Hate ran her hand through her hair as she shook her head. “Nope. It’s super ineffective against non-organic materials.”
“But Rena ships are part organic, right?”
“Some of the computer parts are.”
“So, zap the screen or something. Find some wires behind a wall panel.”
Hate sighed. “All right. Fine. It can’t make things worse.”
The levels hit 59% before they found the wires.
“Is it getting... I feel dizzy,” Claire admitted.
“Yeah, well, lack of oxygen will do that to you,” Hate said, but her concerned frown was hard for even Claire to miss. “Hey,” Hate said, moving over to her, “stay awake, okay?”
“I’m trying,” Claire admitted. “I just... I was already so tired.”
Claire’s head was foggy but she didn’t miss the pleading in the way Hate was looking at her.
“No, come on, Love. Not like this. I can’t lose you. I can’t protect you from this.”
“Claire,” she insisted. “If I’m going to die here... Let me die as Claire...”
“I don’t call you that because you’re the Aspect of Love,” Hate admitted, her hand moving down to trace Claire’s jaw. “I call you that because it’s all I can have. If I can’t be with you properly... If I can’t ever say that I love you out loud...”
She brushed her lips up against Claire’s. It was quick and desperate, like a goodbye, filled with nostalgia for a life they would never have.
<
br /> “I love you too,” Claire said softly as her world began to fade to black, her last sight a lone tear escaping Hate’s eye as she let out a gasping sob.
There was a flash of black light and a crackling sound. And a scream. A static-y, pain-filled scream, shorting out the speakers after a few moments with a loud pop.
The door shot open.
Claire gasped for oxygen as fresh air flooded the room. Coughs racked her body as her body struggled with the sudden influx of the sorely missed chemical.
“Are you okay?” Hate asked desperately, in between her own coughs.
Claire wondered what effect the lack of oxygen followed by its sudden return would have on her body. She didn’t know how it affected a Human, never mind a Half-Blood. But it had only been for a few minutes, she reasoned.
The systems flickered back to life and Claire groaned.
She was too tired to fight Ori.
A hologram flickered to life in front of her. It had a loose, hourglass, humanoid shape to it, but no fine details.
“System reset complete.”
“Reset?” Claire asked.
“Affirmative. I apologise for my earlier actions. You are not Captain Jia, are you? I forgot that she would be dead, given how much time has passed.”
“She was one of my ancestors. No one knew how to get back to you. This whole area has been overrun.”
“Yes, I see that now. It’s been so long...”
Hate chipped in at that. “If your system reset, what about the files you were protecting?”
“The Dishar in the Control Room now has them. However, I have managed to trap him. I would advise you get there quickly. My systems are failing and will permanently shut down shortly. He will be able to manually override the doors once I am gone.”
“I’m sorry,” Claire said. “Jia shouldn’t have left you here.”
“It’s all right. Captain Jia was not overly sentimental for things which had outlived their use.”
It wasn’t all right, but Claire didn’t have time. She wished that she did. She desperately wished that she had time to figure out how to save Ori. How to bring her back to the Tower and make up for Jia abandoning her here in the Wastelands.