Mimi of the Nowhere

by Michael Kilman

  Shannon tugged at her arm, but Mimi remained immobile. Her mind had gone blank as the empty white eyes stared into hers. There was no pupil, no sign that there was anything behind the blank white surface in the Recycled Runner’s eyes, and yet she felt she could not look away. Flashes of red light. Fireworks in her vision.

  It stepped a little closer, raising its arm. Its hand opened. The shape of a claw. A perfect fit for Mimi’s neck. Daniel would know its tenderness. She saw what would happen. She saw it would crush her windpipe and then lift her on its shoulders and take it to the place where it was born.

  In her mind, Mimi saw as a drill descended from above, screaming its angry motion as it pierced her forehead. The smell of burning bone licked her nostrils as it dug deeper.

  Shannon was shaking her. She was screaming. It was distant though, like thunder trumpeting the horizon a thousand miles away. The image of the drill vanished as Shannon slapped her and tried to yank her from where she stood. No movement. She felt the heat of Shannon’s hand a second time, but could not move.

  The creature reached her. It slide its fingertips around the edge of Mimi’s throat. And, as if expecting a soft silken glove, Mimi tilted her chin up, ready to accept the metal hand and the invitation to become a part of their legion.

  Then, Leahara was there. She threw her body against the creature, but it did nothing. The metal suit weighed hundreds of kilos and Leahara only staggered it. It stood watching, unmoving, waiting, considering.

  Its metal gauntlet expanded, the fingers widened, and it reached out and gripped Leahara by the top of the head. Metal fingers squeezed. Mimi could only observe. It was like watching a vid screen as she heard her sister scream in agony.

  Shandie ran up and tried to knock the arm loose, but the creature that had been Daniel swatted her away with little effort. Shandie hit the ground and smacked the back of her head on the concrete. Her eyes closed.

  Its fingers tightened, and Mimi could hear Leahara's skull groaning under the pressure. It was a sound she would remember for the rest of her days. The Recycled lifted her off the ground with only its single arm. The other dangled at its side. Leahara’s legs kicked as it raised her up. Then with a quick jerk of its wrist, it wrenched Leahara’s head to the side. Mimi heard a terrifying snap, and Leahara’s body went limp. The creature dropped it, letting the body fall to the floor.

  Shannon shrieked.

  Mimi thought of her training. The red veil was still over her, but it seemed a little weaker now. She tried with all of her might to reach into the creatures' minds, to implant suggestions to them, but there was no use. Someone or something was controlling them.

  There was the clash of metal. The noise ruptured the veil and Mimi was free to move again. She looked over, and someone in one of the large metal suits was crashing its way through the Recycled. Armed with a long blade, it severed the head of the creature that was Daniel, unprotected as it was, it dropped to the ground. A fountain of blue liquid pumped from the creature’s neck.

  Serah shouted into Mimi’s mind, and it almost knocked her off her feet. “Run, dammit!”

  The woman moved with a grace and a speed that Mimi wouldn’t have thought possible in one of the large metal suits. The suit crouched down and then, with a hard push from the legs, jumped up into the air and flipped backward, sweeping a blade across two more of the Recycleds’ necks.

  They turned her attention to Serah. Mimi knew there were too many. She guessed that there had to be more than a hundred now. All moved toward Serah, who, despite their numbers, appeared to be taking them down, one after another. Then, several of the creatures broke into a run and moved with incredible speed. They knocked Serah off her feet for a moment. She rolled in the suit and jumped back up.

  “I said run, you asshole!” Serah shouted again. “I got this.”

  Mimi knew that was a lie, but she grabbed Shannon by the hand and ran over to Shandie. Her mouth was open, her eyes closed, and Mimi checked for a pulse. There was none. She noticed a large puddle of blood under her head. The creature had killed her with almost no effort.

  It was too much. Rage came then. Mimi saw red. But this red did not come from the outside of her; it came from the inside. It poured out of her as she focused her mind on one of the Recycled. One creature that had been moving steadily toward Serah fell to its knees and screamed in agony for a moment and then dropped with a large crunch, face first into the concrete. Mimi focused on two more, and they too fell to the ground until they lay motionless.

  Several dozen of the creatures shifted their focus from Serah to Mimi. For a moment, the red in her burned like a newly formed star, but as more creatures turned their attention to her, anger evaporated, and fear replaced it. There were too many, and now they were interested again.

  She looked at Shannon, whose eyes were like glass, whose mouth gaped open at her. She could tell what Shannon was thinking. Shannon remembered how Mimi had entered her mind and there was terror in Shannon’s face.

  Mimi felt the guilt but shook her head. “Later. Let’s go.” Regardless of what Shannon thought of her now, she couldn’t let anything happen to her.

  They ran. Behind them, the sounds of combat continued as Serah did her best to stop the reanimated army.

  But it wasn’t enough. There were too many and only one Runner. Mimi wished that she knew how to pilot one of those suits.

  The exit was close then, only a few dozen meters away. Running as fast as they could, they reached the base of the steps and stopped. More of the creatures poured in from the exit, a wall of recycled flesh and metal. Shannon and Mimi retreated a few steps and turned to look back, remembering that Serah had said this was the only exit. She looked for something, anything to help defend herself or hide behind. There was nothing.

  As she turned back toward the exit, the noises of combat behind evaporated. She glanced back and saw that the creatures had Serah pinned and were trying to tear her armor off.

  They were trapped. This time, all the creatures descended at once. She knew they would leave nothing to chance this time. Mimi grabbed Shannon and pulled her close.

  “I love you Shannon. I’m so sorry for everything.”

  “I love you too Mimi, and I’m sorry too.”

  Both wept as the circle closed. The air seemed to compress around them. It became hard to breathe.

  One creature grabbed Mimi by the arm and pulled her away from Shannon. She resisted, but its hand was strong. Mimi felt something snap under the stress of its power and she cried out in pain, her arm broken. She did not take her eyes off of the woman she loved, and as the creature dragged her away, she held Shannon’s hand with all of her strength. But it wasn’t enough. She felt their hands part.

  “Run Shannon. Please. Run. Get out of here."

  But before Shannon could move, another creature grabbed her and dragged Shannon in the same direction as Mimi.

  Mimi looked up at the creature’s face, the one that had her. It was smiling. Hungry rows of sharpened teeth bared for all to see.

  In that same moment, its smile vanished. It shook its head back and forth, slowly at first and then much more rapidly.

  The creature dropped her broken arm. It shrieked and fell to its knees. Mimi looked up at Shannon, she too had been released, and the creature that had held her was in the same kneeling position, shrieking in the same high-pitched wail. A chorus from hell.

  Then they were there. Around her. All of them. Her sisters picked her up with great care and Noatla and Fatima walked toward the hoard of reanimated Runners.

  There was fury in both women’s eyes. Fury that Mimi had never thought possible with those two. Their faces were both darkened with rage. Eyes of lighting. As they walked towards Serah’s downed metal suit, the creatures that didn't flee fell to their knees. Four other sisters joined the march and Mimi, despite her broken arm, ran to join them. With her sisters, she pushed on the mind of the creatures and one by one they either fell in agony or scattered to the corners of th
e massive underground area, fleeing in many directions.

  The creatures were gone. Dozens of their bodies lay on the floor, most face down with a trickle of blue liquid leaking from their ears. The blue fluids gathered in puddles around the room.

  They reached Serah. Sister Vala helped her out of the EnViro suit. She was alive, but she had one of her arms and both of her legs broken. Vala and Patricia picked her up and carried her as Noatla inspected the body of Leahara, and Fatima inspected the body of Shandie.

  The sisters of the Order of the Eye gathered their dead and their wounded and departed to the safety of the lower library.

  Chapter 14

  Cold Storage

  FOUR DAYS PASSED. MIMI lay awake in her hovel, alone, her arm healed from an alcove. She reviewed the events of the last month. She couldn't believe so much had happened in such a short period, not when the centuries had stretched out so long into her past.

  That morning, the order held a memorial service for Sister Shandie and Sister Leahara in the library. At the end, they burned the bodies so there was never any chance of them being recycled. Lots of shed tears and shared stories. For Mimi, a lot of guilt.

  Over and over again, her sisters told her that Leahara and Shandie's deaths were not their fault, that if they had known what would happen, they would have all went in together. That none of them could know the future.

  Still, she had struggled at the memorial service. But she spoke of her short but meaningful friendship with Leahara and how Leahara had reached out to her and made Mimi feel welcome. Now, Mimi felt like a part of the sisterhood. That wasn’t the problem.

  There was a flash of another mind. For a moment it was jumbled and then she recognized it. She threw on some clothes and stepped out of her hovel.

  “Evening, Mimi. How are you feeling?” said Noatla, her voice even.

  Mimi shrugged. “I don’t know. How am I supposed to feel?”

  Noatla moved forward and embraced her. It was the first time the Matron had ever done so.

  Noatla said, "It’s time to go see her. We will go together, you and me. I wish to speak with you at length.”

  Mimi nodded. They walked.

  When they reached the pipe they had to crawl through to get out, Noatla said, “How in the hell do you climb through this all the time?”

  Mimi smiled and shrugged. “I guess I’ve been crawling through this pipe for so long I don’t even think about it. Also, you have at least a foot on me in height. It was never easy for Shannon, either. At least she won’t have to worry about it now.” Mimi’s smile evaporated.

  “She'll be okay now. It may take getting used to for both of you, but she will be alright.”

  Mimi nodded. But it didn’t make her feel any better. She wished it could be how it was before, those few short weeks when she and Shannon had spent every waking moment together. She longed for it.

  They crawled out the other side and paused a moment at the staircase that led up to the street level of the city.

  Mimi said, “Noatla, will you wait for a few minutes? There is something I need to get.”

  Noatla nodded. Mimi flew up the steps and sprinted out onto the streets.

  MIMI RETURNED A FEW minutes later with a small package under her arm.

  Noatla glanced at it. “You know you could get in a lot of trouble for that.” But the smile never left Noatla’s face.

  Mimi shrugged and shared her own smile.

  Noatla led Mimi down another corridor. It was the remains of an ancient subway line. It was dimly lit, and many of the lights were long burnt out, others flickered. Mimi had walked down it before, had explored it looking for salvage, but when she had found nothing, she had not bothered going down it again. After several long kilometers, it came to a thick metal door that Mimi had never got through.

  They walked for a while without words. The surrounding bedrock cultivated silence.

  Noatla broke the silence. “We need you now. I hope you felt it when you stood with your sisters and drove those creatures back. We need you now more than ever. It will take time to find new sisters.”

  “Noatla... I...” Mimi paused and took a breath. She kicked an old rock along the track, the sound echoed. “Don’t you see, Matron? I’m cursed. Everyone I have ever gotten close to is dead or have had their lives destroyed. I’m like a shadow, like a thing that blocks out the light in the world and now...” She was crying. “Now, Leahara and Shandie are dead, Serah only just barely survived, and Shannon’s life will never be the same.” Her voice quavered.

  Mimi stopped walking as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Then Noatla embraced her again and held her for several minutes while the tears streamed down the side of her cheeks. She could taste the salt and let her chest heave as she wept.

  When Mimi calmed, Noatla broke the embrace but grabbed Mimi’s hands and held them. Mimi looked up into Noatla’s big blue eyes, and the woman was smiling at her.

  “Mimi, all shadows are cast by light. There is a moment, a chance, when you face your greatest darkness, that you can turn, just a little bit, and trace the source of the shadow unto its origin. It is in those moments you have the chance to understand something about yourself and about the world that you may have never seen before. The darkness of your past is an opportunity. You are not the things that have happened to you. You are not your talents or your weakness, you are what you choose to be. There is no shadow you can cast that love, friendship, and kindness cannot overcome. Stay with us Mimi, let us help you see that you are not a shadow, but a powerful source of light.”

  Mimi didn’t know what to say. So, instead, she resumed walking. She thought again about all that had happened. About all the pain she had seemed to cause, but it seemed different somehow. She looked up at Noatla, eyes suspicious.

  “Are you soothing me?”

  “Only a little, Mimi. I don’t want you to be overwhelmed. If you like, I’ll stop. But I promise I am only trying to let your emotions rest a little. They’ve had quite an ordeal recently.”

  Mimi thought about it, “No... it’s alright. It’s helping. I feel like my mind is clear for the first time in days.”

  “Good, that was my intention.”

  Mimi nodded. A thought occurred to her.

  “Did we find the Recycled? What happened to all those bodies?”

  Noatla’s demeanor shifted a little. She tried to hide it, but Mimi saw the ghost of that same fury she had seen when Noatla had attacked the Recycled. “No Mimi, many of them have disappeared. Vala, Patricia, and Rebecca have been searching all of the underground, but several dozen are unaccounted for. The others we found have yielded no clues to what happened. As for the bodies, we managed to convince the inspectors that it was a serious malfunction in their suits and a clean-up and engineering team has been combing the Runner Docks for the last few days."

  “Do you think it was... that woman? That Miranda?”

  Noatla sighed. For a moment Mimi didn’t think she would answer. Noatla almost never showed any signs of impatience, at least not from what Mimi could tell, but here was one. Noatla recovered herself.

  “Forgive my impatience, Mimi. It’s just that I have had this same conversation with several other of your sisters already. Some insist it is the only explanation for what happened while others insist that Miranda is long dead.”

  “And what do you think, Matron?”

  “I think it is a bad idea to take anything off the table right now. I think it takes someone of extraordinary power to control that many Recycled in such an efficient way. I think that only someone who was furious with us would attack us like that and I think besides Miranda, I am not sure if I know anyone who meets all that criteria.”

  “So you think it was her.”

  “I don’t know, Mimi. When Mex fell, there was another group of people that Miranda worked with that we thought were gone. But we have been hearing rumors from other cities that they're still operating.”

  “Who are they?”

&nb
sp; “They were known, or perhaps, are known, as the Children of Gaia. They are...well, they seek to destroy of all the cities. The Order of the Eye was founded to combat them, to stop them from destroying what’s left of humanity when migration began. They worked with Miranda before the fall of Mex and we, perhaps in our optimism, thought both threats had ended and that we could be content with watching and making sure the city was safe. Perhaps this was foolish. It need not be Miranda if the Children of Gaia have returned. For Miranda was not the only rogue sister amongst their ranks.”

  “So you are saying they’re in the city? These Children of Gaia?”

  “I'm saying that perhaps simply watching may be at an end. We must be more vigilant, and we must not hesitate at anything suspicious or strange. Most of all, we must replenish our ranks, and we must not lose the ones who are already among us. We really do need you right now, especially since you have such an unusual talent. I have some... missions for you.”

  “Missions?”

  “Yes, since you can skim technical information, there are things in the city we could learn and use to our advantage later.”

  Mimi nodded. She said nothing in reply, but she knew how Noatla was watching her.

  "Matron, what about the AI? Could it be causing some of this?"

  Noatla considered this for a moment, then said, "If somehow the AI were fully aware, it would certainly have the resources to control so many of those creatures efficiently. And we don't know the process of how they create the Recycled in the first place." Noatla paused for a moment and then smiled. "You see Mimi, this is exactly why we need you. This kind of investigation is suited for your particular skill set."

  Mimi said nothing, but she hungered for answers.

  Then they were at the door.

  Noatla said, “AI, would you unlock the door please?”

  “Senator Noatla Lightfoot, I am sorry, but an access code is required for entry.”