by J. N. Chaney
“You know me too well, Al,” I conceded. “Doc’s already left for The Dawn to install the repeaters, one for each of the drones. She’ll be done in—” I paused, looking at Sigmond. “How long was it?”
“Seven hours, sir,” said the Cognitive.
“Seven hours,” I repeated.
“I think I’m with you so far,” said Abigail. “What’s next?”
“Dunno,” I admitted. “We’ll see what’s down there and decide if it’s worth taking another risk. If it is, then at least we won’t have to worry about flying in the dark.”
Everyone agreed on the plan without much hesitation. After all, we weren’t risking any lives by using a drone. Heading back inside, if we ever did, would be the point at which we’d have a more serious discussion, but I’d save that concern for when it mattered.
Alphonse began to leave when the meeting wrapped, but stopped at the door, doubling back like he’d forgotten something. “I meant to ask, but have we learned anything more about why the machines were trying to liquify Petra’s arm?”
I blinked. “You’re asking me?”
“I’m afraid without access to additional data, we still don’t know,” answered Sigmond.
Alphonse nodded, apparently satisfied with not knowing the answer. “Let me know if you figure it out, please.”
“We have a working theory, if you would like to hear it,” replied Sigmond.
Alphonse paused. “A theory?”
Sigmond smiled. “It is merely conjecture between Athena and myself, but I think it holds promise.”
“This is news to me,” I said.
“Apologies, sir, but I didn’t want to trouble you with anything until I knew for certain.”
I walked over to where Abigail was sitting and joined her, taking the nearby seat. “Well, let’s hear it, Siggy.”
“As you know, the trilobites actively break down any foreign object that is not native to this planet. That also includes any materials from the elevated cities, such as Verdun.”
We all nodded.
“Unless these machines are malfunctioning, I believe it stands to reason that such a protocol was intentionally designed by its creator, which implies it has a purpose.”
“Which is what?” asked Abigail.
“Terraforming the planet,” said Sigmond. “Or, more specifically, any objects that do not match a specific criteria. Consider the natural state of the world as it is right now—devoid of life and no sign of any former civilizations, save these elevated cities.”
Alphonse’s eyes widened, and he tapped his chin. “I think I see what you’re getting at.”
“You do?” I asked, cocking my head.
“This planet used to have plants and animals, didn’t it?” asked Alphonse. “Even if they all died from a rotting atmosphere, there should still be remnants of them. Bones, fossils, ruins, but so far, we’ve found nothing. Given what we know from Athena regarding the planet’s history, it’s as though the whole of it was wiped out.”
“Or liquified,” said Abigail.
“Precisely,” said Sigmond.
“All of that material had to go somewhere,” continued Alphonse. “Perhaps these trilobites are the cause of it.”
Abigail scoffed. “Are you implying these machines terraformed everything on the planet?” she asked, pausing. “To a molecular level? All on their own?”
“I believe Sigmond and I are both implying it,” said Alphonse.
Sigmond smiled. “Athena as well.”
“But to do something like that on such a scale,” said Octavia. “It would mean there are far more of those machines than what we’ve seen.”
“Millions,” added Sigmond. “That is, if our estimates hold true.”
Octavia nodded. “Not only that, but if memory serves, when a trilobite collects its organic liquid, it returns underground.”
“Which could mean they’re storing it,” said Abigail.
“Or using it,” added Octavia. “But there’s no way to know where any of this is taking place, is there?”
As soon as she asked the question, the answer seemed obvious to everyone in the room.
Sigmond looked towards the trilobite on the table. “It seems we have yet another reason to send our drones to the bottom of that chasm.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered.
Sigmond nodded. “Indeed.”
TEN
The implication that the pit may hold a path to the trilobite nest sat with me for the rest of the evening. I couldn’t tell you if it was the risk of inadvertently setting a swarm of terraforming death machines loose on the world or the fact that if we didn’t do something, Verdun itself might be lost forever. Either way, something was about to happen here, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to face it.
The following morning, I awoke at daybreak, too restless to go back to sleep. After only ten or so minutes, right when I was on the verge of hopping out of bed, I received a call. “Sir, I have Dr. Dressler for you,” said Sigmond.
I turned on my side. “You just assume I’m awake, Siggy?”
“Your breathing and heart rate suggested you were, sir.”
“Relax, pal. Put old MaryAnn through,” I said.
“Right away, sir,” he responded.
I heard a click, indicating I was connected. “What can I do for you, Doc?”
“Oh, splendid,” she replied. “You’re awake. I’m on my way to Verdun and wanted to make certain you were available when I arrived.”
I twisted around in the bed, plopping my feet on the floor and cracking my neck. “I can be there in ten. What’s the situation?”
“The drones have been augmented with repeaters, as we discussed, but I believe we’ll need to reconfigure one of our ships as well.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“We may need to land, once the drones have done their work.”
“You think we’ll need to leave the ship?” I asked.
“I don’t know, truth be told, but fortune favors the prepared,” she said. “Once the chasm has been sufficiently scanned, Sigmond will be able to navigate our strike ship with exact precision. I suggest transferring all controls to him and raising shields to full strength, once we’re inside.”
I imagined how this might unfold, but without knowing what was actually inside the ground, it left me uneasy. Even with the drones and their scans, there was still potential for a surprise.
But we had little choice in the matter. Considering the growing number of terraforming bugs sitting idly below the city’s scaffolding, something had to be done. If this mission provided the answers we needed, then it was worth the risk.
We hadn’t spent this last month building Verdun for nothing.
“Assemble the crew and have them ready by mid-morning,” I finally said.
“I will, but why not earlier? Do you have plans?” she asked.
“I’m going to check in on Freddie and Petra,” I said.
“Ah,” she said. “About that.”
“What?”
“I was talking to Athena about the incident and I believe we may have something that can help.”
“Something?” I repeated. “For Petra?”
“That’s right. Why don’t you meet me in the medical room? We can tell the girl together.”
* * *
I didn’t go straight to see Petra. It would take Dressler several minutes longer before she made her way over to the building, which meant I could slip into my office for a bit. As soon as I shut the door, Sigmond appeared from the air beside my desk.
“Something I can help you with, sir?” he asked immediately.
I walked behind my desk and opened the small refrigerator. There were several bottles of cold water inside, along with a few pieces of fruit, a half-eaten sandwich, and a few containers of applesauce. I’d brought some of this from Titan and had yet to eat it.
I took one of the apple sauces, a single deki, and two waters, then shut the door.
�
�Ah, an early morning snack, is it?” asked Sigmond.
“Not for me,” I said, walking towards the door.
“No?” he asked, tilting his hard-light head. “Am I to assume, then, that you’re delivering that food to someone else? Perhaps the young man in the next room, who hasn’t left the premises in nearly twelve hours?”
“Don’t get smart, Siggy. Kid needs to eat or he’ll fall over. I’m just making sure he doesn’t.”
“Might I ask, sir, how did you even know he was still there?”
“It’s Freddie,” I said, simply, and proceeded into the hall.
I left my office and made my way to the medical room. The door was cracked, but the soft glow of the pod leaked into the corridor, almost like a beacon.
As I eased closer to the room, I spotted Freddie in the same chair as before, but he wasn’t asleep this time and heard me coming. “Captain?” he asked, even though I was still in the hall.
I nudged my foot between the crack and slid the door open all the way. “Brought you some food,” I muttered, walking up to him and releasing the water, fruit, and applesauce cups into his lap. He fidgeted, surprised, and scrambled quickly to keep them from falling.
“Th-Thank you,” he said, snagging one of the bottles a few centimeters from the floor.
I watched him open the seal and drink it, guzzling the water down so fast I thought he might choke. He gasped afterwards, then bit hard into the fruit, a stark look of relief on his face.
“Don’t starve yourself next time,” I said, crossing my arms as I leaned against the wall. “You won’t do her any good if you pass out. Then we’d have to put you both in a pod.”
He didn’t answer but kept on eating. I wondered if the thought of food had even crossed his mind before I put it in front of him.
Petra was fast asleep, but the sudden fuss seemed to wake her, and she cracked her eyes. With a light groan, she turned to see Freddie finishing the fruit in his hand.
“Dressler should be here in a few,” I said, before the girl could ask what was going on. “She’s got something to talk with you about. Something to do with your arm.”
“My arm?” she asked, her voice still weak from the sleep.
“Don’t ask me,” I said, plainly. “I’m just as clueless as the two of you.”
“Here, Petra,” said Freddie, peeling the lid off one of the cups.
She smiled and took the applesauce from him. She sipped the food and I wondered if I should have brought a spoon.
“Oh, wonderful,” said a voice from the door. It was Dressler, stepping in from the hall with a large case in her hands. “Everyone’s here.”
“What’s that?” asked Freddie, gawking at the box.
The doctor didn’t answer, choosing to instead slam the case on the nearby table. She rolled it towards the front of Petra’s pod.
“Doc says she’s got something that can help,” I explained.
“Help?” asked Petra.
Dressler cracked the lid. “After your incident, I spoke with Athena about something I had discovered in the database regarding human cybernetics. Specifically, limb supplementation. As it happened, the medical ward on Titan still had a small number of these in storage.” To everyone’s surprise, Dressler lifted an actual arm out of the box, its skin matching that of Petra’s, exactly the same size as the one she had lost. “Adjustments had to be made, of course, but Athena assured me she could make them within the day. All that remains—” She hoisted the arm against her chest and brought it closer to the pod. “—is to put it on.”
Petra’s eyes widened at the gift that she’d just been presented with. “Y-You’re giving me a new arm? But I—”
Freddie touched her hand with his. “This is incredible! Petra, isn’t this amazing? You’re going to have a new arm!”
“It won’t be the same,” said Dressler. “You’ll feel the difference, and it will take some time to adjust to the weight and strength differences.”
“Like any other prosthetic,” I said.
“No,” corrected the doctor. “This is different.”
She motioned for Petra to ready her shoulder, bringing the end of the arm to her stub. The girl squeezed inside the end of the arm.
Dressler, who was still holding the machine, looked directly into the girl’s eyes. “Brace yourself.”
Petra looked confused, but only for a second. The arm clenched around her flesh, emitting a strange mechanical sound as it gripped hold of her body. Her eyes widened as the pain hit.
She screamed instantly, pulling back into the pod as her eyes strained. Petra tried to grab the arm to yank it away when Dressler took her hand and pinned her down. “Hold her!” shouted the doctor to both Freddie and myself.
We were quick to do as she said. I took the girl’s legs and kept her from kicking, while Freddie relieved Dressler of the hand so she could focus on holding the arm in place. Freddie looked horrified by the way his woman was squirming, but I had to admit this kid knew when to step up and push through the fear.
“Is this supposed to happen?!” I snapped, throwing all my weight on the girl’s ankles as she continued to squirm.
“Just a few more seconds,” assured Dressler. “It needs to connect to the nerves.”
As soon as she said the last word, I heard another clamp inside the arm, causing Petra to jerk away from the shock of it. We held her in place, however, and she settled in short time.
“There we are,” said Dressler, still holding the arm, but looking more relaxed. “Do you feel anything?”
Petra was breathing heavily, sweat on her forehead. She nodded, licking her dry lips.
“Good,” said the doctor. “Try to move it.”
Freddie and I let go of her and eased back, giving the two women some space.
Petra’s eyes fell on the arm, and she seemed to focus on it for a time, although it felt like a full minute.
Freddie swallowed, then opened his mouth to say something, probably out of concern. I anticipated a question about whether the arm was working properly or if maybe we’d missed something in the graphing process, but then—
The index finger on the mechanical hand suddenly twitched.
If we hadn’t been watching for it, I expect we would have missed it altogether.
Freddie and I stared with wide eyed expressions, taking a step closer.
“Again,” ordered Dressler to the woman. She held the arm with both her hands. “Anything at all will do.”
This time, the finger moved three times the distance as before. It clenched, nearly touching the palm, and returned.
Freddie smiled and gasped at the same time, but still didn’t say anything. He was too transfixed by what was happening.
“Once more,” said Dressler.
Petra did as she was told, bending the finger even faster than before. Then, without being prompted, she moved her middle finger, followed by her thumb. In seconds, she had all five fingers bending together, like she’d been doing it all her life.
“Now the wrist,” said Dressler.
It took her a few seconds to comply, but she finally managed it. Petra bent her wrist, moving her hand in a circular motion.
Dressler nodded, looking as stoic as ever. If she was excited or proud, she wasn’t showing any of it.
She released Petra’s arm, letting it fall on her stomach. Freddie flinched as it hit, but Petra raised her other hand to reassure him. With all three of us watching, the girl tried to move the arm. First the fingers, then the wrist, and finally—
Petra managed to lift the artificial arm just above her waist.
“I can feel it,” she said, tears seeping out of her tired eyes. “I can feel all of it.”
ELEVEN
We watched Petra continue to use her new prosthetic arm for nearly an hour before I decided to head out. I still had a mission to do today, which meant certain priorities had to be attended to.
I called Freddie and Dressler into the hallway, putting some space between
us and the medical room so Petra couldn’t overhear us. I wagered the last thing she needed right now was talk of anyone doing another job in the same place she’d just lost her arm. Even with the new one, the trauma of it wouldn’t soon be erased.
“I assume this is about the mission involving the drones,” said Dressler, walking over to me.
Freddie was right beside her, looking over his shoulder at the medical room’s cracked door.
“You assume right,” I said. “We need to get this job started. I’ll be needing you with me, Doc.”
She nodded. “You’ll have me.”
Freddie shifted his weight from one foot to the other, clearly nervous to ask me what I already knew was coming. “If it’s alright with you, Captain, I—”
“Stay here and look after your girl,” I interrupted. “That’s your assignment today.”
He paused, briefly, but then smiled. “Right. Thank you.”
I smacked his shoulder and motioned for Dressler to follow me. “We’ll see you back here tonight, Fred.”
The doctor and I left him there, heading straight into the street. As the outer door closed, I heard a voice calling for me. “Captain!” it yelled, pulling my attention.
I spotted Octavia and Abigail, walking towards us. They were each wearing their full gear, including a holstered pistol. “Seems the two of you are ready to go,” I said as they approached. I purposefully eyed the gun on Abigail’s hip. “Where’s the rifle?”
“I don’t want a repeat of last time,” she replied, referring to how cramped the ship had been, making it difficult to draw her rifle.
“Good thinking,” I said, then looked at Octavia. “How’s the crew? We ready to go?”
“Alphonse and Verne are already there,” she told me.
I nodded. We were only taking a single ship this time, which meant the crew had to be limited to only six. Thankfully, I’d already planned on replacing Freddie with Verne ahead of time to give him a chance to rest. Gods knew he needed it. “What about the drones?” I asked.
The comm in my ear clicked. “They can be deployed within a few minutes’ time, sir,” responded Sigmond. “Simply give the order and it shall be done.”