Earth Keepers

by Jorge Alejandro Lavera

  While the captain was writhing, trying to escape an automatic reaction caused by the pain, Nephele held her head with both hands while immobilizing her body with her own knee and the rest of her body. The drone approached without losing any time, but stayed floating in position.

  “Waiting authorization.”

  “Yes, damn it, yes,” muttered Mirina.

  Without wasting another second, the drone injected a drug into her neck. The captain suddenly relaxed, another drone arrived, bigger and full of medical equipment, and landed next to them.

  “Nephele, hold the amputated arm in front of the utility drone and wait for instructions,” she heard the doctor order.

  She followed instructions and watched while the drone cleaned and prepared the surface cut by the sword and then did the same with the stump.

  “Put the arm in position, lined up, rotate it to its natural position and hold it when I tell you.”

  Swallowing hard, she fit the arm holding it against the stump. She lined it up very carefully and rotated it very slowly, making sure to not damage it any more. The drone monitored the process and suddenly a tone came out of it that made the warrior immobile. The medical drone brought out an enormous syringe, full of a golden liquid, and injected it into Mirina’s arm. When it was empty, it put it away and shot a small dart that stuck in her arm. Under control of the doctor through the dart, the nano-organisms injected into Mirina started to solder and repair the bone. In a few seconds, it was repaired and they started to repair the muscles and nerves. The drone, meanwhile, applied other injections to the captain to replace her fluids and provide more nano-organisms. Finally, they reconstituted her skin, the drone analyzed the union and tried out the arm, verifying the nerve unions and the resistance of the muscles and bone. The emergency over, it gave an injection of a stimulant drug to the captain and ordered the dart and the nano-organisms to self-destruct.

  “The union is optimal. It will require vigilance for the next two hours to prevent complications, who will be in charge?” the doctor questioned.

  “I’ll do it,” Nephele said without hesitating.

  “Duly noted, as well as a report of the incident,” the medical drone informed, and then it retired from the site followed by the other mechanisms. The entire operation from the time Nephele activated the emergency signal had taken less than two minutes.

  Hell, this would cost her any chance of promotion and besides, a pack of points, Nephele thought bitterly as she helped Mirina to her feet, passing her left arm over her neck and supporting the weight of her body on her shoulder. They took a few steps and the captain stopped to look at her arm. She moved it, and open and closed her hand a few times.

  “Thank you, Nephele,” she said and to everyone’s shock, she gave her a kiss on the mouth which Nephele didn’t resist much.

  “But what...” Nephele started to say, while Alesia threw her sword on the ground in fury.

  “You not only showed that you can fight three warriors at the same time, but you could also have left me lying there to lose my arm or bleed out, but you acted with such swiftness...you could be faulted for your lack of control, but I don’t think that any of these could have reacted with two warriors in front and another attacking her in surprise from behind. You know, in fifteen hundred years as a combat trainer it’s the first time that a warrior has been able to physically hurt me. And your control and calm after the accident...excellent. Help me, let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  “You all, continue practicing. You’d best be in form when I come back tomorrow,” she shouted at the other warriors.

  “And the shields?” asked Nephele.

  “Leave them there, we’ll get them in the morning,” she said while she headed with Nephele’s help towards the exit to the field, staggering a little.

  “I think you’re better already,” Nephele observed after a little while, noting how the captain walked now without any problems.

  “Yes, I’m okay. Come with me to my house anyway. I want to make your promotion to lieutenant official.”

  “What? Do you know what they’ll all say tomorrow? That I went to bed with you to get a promotion,” huffed Nephele.

  Mirina stroked her cheek with the back of her hand.

  “Oh, come on. You’re young, you’re beautiful, do you have scruples, too? It occurs to me that I like you and that interferes with my judgment. I need to get you out of my group, so it would be best that you have your own. I can’t see you every day and be sure of being impartial with you. Besides, the truth is that you look terrible in line with the other warriors, but if you’re in front no one will notice. And you want to get to the royal guard, right? Believe me, the queen won’t care about your height, but about your commitment. Here is my house.”

  Nephele, not knowing how to react, gasped like a fish out of water as they entered.

  “I don’t know if I feel flattered or offended. Is it so terrible that I’m a little shorter?” Nephele protested, blushing.

  “Oh, come on, you know what everybody thinks. Something failed in your genetic engineering. I don’t know how it is that you decided to become a warrior with such an evident disadvantage, but today I saw you in action like never in your five hundred years in this group. However your height may have negatively impacted you, you’ve more than compensated with your determination and courage. And you deserve the promotion, Lieutenant.”

  Nephele could have got offended and thrown everything away, or recognize the truth in what the captain said, swallow her wounded pride and accept her new position. She gritted her teeth, in fact grinding them, which made Mirina look at her closely.

  “Everyone assumes...nothing went wrong with my engineering. It’s that...” Shit, she should be quiet.

  Mirina looked at her, intrigued, while she took her uniform off and invited Nephele to do the same.

  “Why is your height less than that of the average warrior?” asked Mirina, not beating around the bush. She looked at her arm, where a thin gold line marked the place where it had been sectioned. She rubbed it hard with her hand and it almost disappeared.

  “You never noticed that I can go without eating for a lot longer than the others? It’s because I can get energy directly from the sun, through photosynthesis. That’s also why I’m so dark. That gives me more energy and resistance, and actually if there’s sunlight, I can go weeks without eating. The problem that my engineer confronted and that it took him various lives to discover, is that there’s a maximum size for the system to be effective, and that size is mine.”

  Mirina was left open-mouthed, thinking about the number of times they’d participated in training or campaigns for several days, sometimes weeks, and realized that what Nephele was saying was true. She’d almost never seen Nephele eat. She’d always assumed it was just that she ate apart from the others, but what she’d just said made sense.

  “Wow, I’d heard of experiments like that, but I’d never seen anyone who could obtain food that way and be so active at the same time,” she observed, while with a gesture told her to go to the bathroom.

  “There are no others...there were other attempts, but they didn’t turn out, and died. And my engineer died in a confrontation shortly after I was born.”

  “Well, that makes you even more valuable. Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

  “I have to prove that I have value as a warrior for my abilities and dedication, not just for my genetic condition,” she said worriedly.

  “Well, you have. Today you shone,” she told her as she activated the cleaning system.

  “It was luck,” Nephele answered, while the clean water bathed them.

  “If experience has taught me anything, it’s that luck doesn’t exist. Call it luck if you want, but chance has nothing to do with your training, your reflexes, and your will to win,” Mirina reflected while the hot air dried them.

  Nephele stood there frowning slightly thinking about what she’d heard. Mirina approached her.


  “Let it go. Besides...” she smiled wickedly. “Is there a place where height is less important—do you really want to reject me?” She asked as she kissed her again and pulled her to the bed.

  Nephele felt herself getting hot with the contact with her skin and its softness, and finally surrendered to her captain’s advances.

  When she woke up the next morning, she was a little disoriented until she realized she was in Mirina’s bed. A sunbeam came through the window and shone on her, which made her smile. She sat up carefully, looking for her, wrapping herself in the sheet. She heard noises in the next room and found Mirina half dressed, closing the communications circuit.

  “Good morning, I was just going to wake you up, lieutenant. It’s official,” she told her, in a good mood.

  “I...thank you,” was all Nephele managed to say.

  “Now that you’re not directly under my command, you could live with me, if you wanted to.”

  Nephele went blank. She’d never had a relationship before but she knew there was a problem.

  “Mirina...can you promise me that we’ll never go to battle together?”

  “You know I can’t promise you that.”

  “How could I fight then, knowing that your life might be in danger right next to me? Or worse, suppose the enemy captured you alive, they make me do something under threat of killing you, and I have to choose between my kingdom and you. How could I go on after that?”

  “Okay, I will make sure we never go together to the same battle.”

  “You can’t make sure of that.”

  “I can, unless we’re losing a war. And if that happens, it won’t matter much if we’re together or not.”

  Nephele lowered her eyes and thought about it.

  “Think about it. At any rate, we have to go once more for you to say good-bye to your companions. Hurry up,” she said, putting on the rest of her uniform.

  Nephele put on her clothes and clean uniform, while Mirina was already starting out. As she always did, she made sure everything was in its place and went out trotting behind her, and caught up just as she arrived at the field. The other warriors were already waiting in formation and while the captain stood before them, Nephele situated herself at the far end of the line, with the sideways glance of the other warriors.

  “Captain!” all the Amazons chorused, making the usual greeting to start the day.

  “At ease! After the extraordinary demonstration of ability by Nephele yesterday, it’s clear that apart from the other warriors here, she is ready to go to the next level. Therefore, I am announcing that Nephele Anastas has been promoted to lieutenant and starting tomorrow, will have her own platoon of a dozen Amazons.”

  “Skill and bullshit!” Alesia cried furiously.

  “Excuse me? Do you have a problem with my decision?”

  “I’ve been training for many more years and I’m as prepared as she is! That promotion should be mine, not this social climbing dwarf! Oh, but I’m sure she was fantastic in bed last night.”

  Nephele went livid.

  “The promotion doesn’t have anything to do with...” Mirina started to say.

  “You’ll take back what you said or I’ll see you on the field of honor,” Nephele interrupted, pointing to Alesia.

  “Well, I’ll see you there! When you leave here, I’ll be waiting for you!” screamed Alesia, out of control.

  “That’s enough!” shouted Mirina. “Alesia, stand down. You’ll be assigned to another platoon for your insubordination.”

  Alesia went pale with fury, left the formation and stomped off the field.

  The other warriors were whispering. Meanwhile, Mirina recovered her composure and gestured to Nephele, who saw her and went to her side as requested.

  “Nephele Anastas, for your ability and perseverance in combat training, I name you platoon lieutenant, effective immediately. You can go get to know the new recruits at the Lambda training camp,” announced the captain, while she touched a spot on her armor. On Nephele’s helmet, the blue line turned yellow.

  “Captain,” Nephele acknowledged, making the greeting and bowing, while there continued to be murmurs among the warriors. She thought for a moment and realized that she really didn’t have any friends among the group, so without further delay she saluted the captain again and left the field. Before meeting her recruits, she had to resolve the issue of Alesia.

  She went to her house, where she checked her uniform, adding something she usually didn’t wear, some gauntlets with metallic covers, and walked towards the field of honor.

  LONIA 4

  Atlantis, Year 3550 of the Reign of Gea, Day 128

  Lonia was thinking. Her thoughts weren’t elaborate, but all of them came down to one thing.

  All the information from millions of years of Atlantean civilization, all the images, works of art, data, sound and music, the life and work of every person, discoveries, inventions and technology were guarded in Lonia’s memory. Her registers were saved five times and synchronized, stored in armored vaults inside of vehicles capable of transferring them to any place where their security was guaranteed. One was deep in the central mountain of Atlantis and the other four at each end of the continent.

  The vaults were autonomous and at the same time, tied to the others and to every Atlantean citizen. Every relevant thought, every image, everything that happened, Lonia received the data, analyzed it, and if she thought it was relevant she stored it and copied it to the other units. When any citizen had a doubt and consulted with her, Lonia searched through all of the information available and offered the best answers possible. She also coordinated access to all the services on the continent, and organized repairs when they were necessary. She made sure that everyone had access to all commodities according to merits and verified that there weren’t any abuses of the system.

  When she considered it appropriate, she asked for DNA samples and nanites from any citizen who had made a remarkable contribution. The samples were saved in small capsules in stasis, and duplicated in all of the vaults. All of this redundancy had been created by Lonia herself to ensure she could comply with her mission: to protect the cultural and genetic heritage of Atlantis.

  Lonia saw everything, heard everything and analyzed it all. She intervened when necessary, and helped when she had to.

  If the Atlanteans had believed in a god, it would have been Lonia. But she was just a computer.

  An alarm that went off in the mountain got Lonia’s attention. Someone had entered in the reactor installation by force. She analyzed the sounds and images from the zone and observed a large group of people entering into the bowels of the mountain at full speed. The sensors told her they were human. And yet they entered unlocking the accesses and opening doors in some way. It didn’t make sense, so she focused on the people who were in front and could see that they were carrying a pair of captive Atlanteans. A woman, who had an Atlantean sword against her neck and a man they were using who, with his DNA, could activate the accesses and permit them entry. Every time the man balked or argued, they cut the woman, who screamed, and he finally lowered his head and opened the way. In every room or hallway where they entered, when they found other Atlanteans, whether it was a guard or a technician working, they killed them before they could react. It was clear they also had Atlantean weapons.

  If Lonia had been able to feel panic, that’s the state she would be in now. Since she’d been created, nothing like this had happened and she didn’t know what to do. There weren’t any protocols in place for an invasion and she didn’t have any experience with anything like it. After what would have been a panic attack for an Atlantean, but for the computer only lasted a couple of seconds (a couple of eternities, in calculated time), Lonia sent an alert signal directly to the Queen, in the first place, and then to the security forces of the region. She tried to take control of the accesses to the mountain, but the reactor zone had its own security protocol and not even she could override it. The humans were almost to the contro
l center of the reactor. While she studied what systems she could access, she received a response to her calls and through other channels was informed of the situation. She deactivated the ventilation system. She sent a warning to all the work areas of the mountain, so they’d know about the attack and be ready, but while that may have slowed down the progress, the group didn’t stop advancing. Now after every access, there was a small battle, but the number of humans was very large, even though it was growing smaller. Dying didn’t seem to matter to them.

  The last door before arriving at the control center resisted for several minutes, but they were finally able to enter. A handful of humans entered the room and fought the technicians, shooting randomly. All of the Atlanteans died in the battle, including the hostages they’d used to get in. The security forces were heading at full speed to the spot, but they were still a few minutes away. The humans who were left started managing the controls of the reactor under the orders of one who moved from one end to the other and who seemed to know what he was doing.

  Lonia analyzed what they were doing. If they turned off the reactor it would be a disaster for Atlantis. It would take hours to put everything back online, crops would be ruined, they’d lose control of the climate, there could be deaths. However, they weren’t initiating the process to shut it off. She reviewed what they’d done until now—reconfiguring the magnetic fields, increasing the antimatter generator, increasing energy generation, reduction of cooling systems. Lonia was overcome with astonishment for the second time in her existence. They weren’t trying to shut down the reactor, a situation for which there were alternatives. They were trying to overload it.

  She activated the system for fire suppression on the mountain. The oxygen was removed from the air and replaced with an inert gas in a matter of seconds. The humans started to gasp, grabbing their throats and in a few seconds fell to the floor, first fainting, and then dead. All except the one who seemed like the leader from the beginning, who finished what he was doing at the console and stopped in front of it smiling. He touched one last button and with his weapon, destroyed all of the controls in a couple of seconds. Looking directly at the camera, Elohim saluted with his hand and walked quickly from the room. The last thing he did was increase the energy feedback directly to the core of the reactor.