Farthest Reach

by Lauren Moore

  Taylor’s rifle fired again, and again Alvarez dodged neatly out of the bullet’s path. The bullet ricocheted off the top of the mech, sending sparks down on Vanderberg’s head. Alvarez’s head whipped around, zoning in on a point hidden on the rocky hillside.

  Misty wisps followed her as she leapt off the mech. Alvarez landed in a low crouch and dove at the mech’s legs. Before impact, her Ringhead armor transformed her arms into twin blades. In a blink, she sliced through the knees, sending it toppling with an ominous creak.

  The blades vanished into fog and Alvarez sank clawed fingers into the mech suit like it was made of cheese. She lifted the multi-ton exo and flung it in a spectacular arc toward the hill—the very hill where Taylor and Yazzie had holed up.

  So much for his backup.

  Delivery

  Alvarez marched toward him, icy vapor cascading off her shoulders. Cold energy pulsed from her body in waves, each pulse igniting pain and nausea. His left hand dropped to the butt of his gun and he tensed his feet inside his exo boots. He swept the clearing at a glance. If he made it to the bird, he had a slim chance, maybe even pick up what was left of his crew.

  Another wave of Ringhead energy pulsed out and nearly drove him to his knees. Alvarez closed to within twenty feet. “Stop being stupid, Harding. I already broke your mech. Give me the serum.”

  Another wave of mist flowed over her shoulders, revealing icy gauntlets tipped with razor claws.

  Harding bolted, the exo boots launching him toward the break in the tree line Vanderberg had created. Cold air whistled past his ears as he leapt over the snow. The tree line rushed toward him.

  Pain exploded along his side as Alvarez crashed into him, the two of them landing in the snow and tumbling. A sickening wet pop pulled at his left shoulder and Harding screamed. The sky and ground seesawed violently as they rolled to a stop.

  Alvarez rolled herself over and landed on him, straddling his gut and knocking the air from him. “Son of a bitch! Had to do it the hard way, didn’t you!?”

  She pinned him to the ground with one arm on his chest, squeezing him slowly under his armor. Black spots clouded his vision. Her other hand shot out, snake-like, and grabbed his right hand by the forearm. The icy claws encircled his arm and crushed inward, grinding his bones against each other.

  His left arm was useless, numb from the shoulder down. He stared up at Alvarez, her eyes glowing blue beacons, cold mist billowing from her shoulders. A bone in his arm cracked, slowly giving way like green wood. A stab of pain raced past his elbow and jabbed him in the armpit. He bellowed in pain, the force of it straining his jaw, and his hand flew open.

  Alvarez dropped his arm and she caught the ice sphere as it fell. He instinctively pulled his arm in when another shining blue light caught his attention. There, molded into the forearm of her armor, a brilliant pinpoint of crystal blue Ringhead energy. The Yasenevo Star, right here, after all this time.

  With each pulse of the Star, the nausea in his chest threatened to crawl up and burst forth. But Harding remained transfixed on the Star, drawn into the depths of its light. The hell with the serum. He’d take the Star and call it good. He reached up and touched the Star.

  The world broke.

  The snow-capped mountainside disappeared, replaced by a psychotic jumble of flashing images searing into his mind. He might have been screaming. Alvarez might have been screaming as well. He distantly felt tears rolling down his cheeks and his throat going raw. More images slammed into him. Ringheads. Ships as vast as cities in the blackness of space. Terrifying monsters with mouths dripping blood. Soldiers flayed open and screaming for their mothers. Soldiers torn apart on the battlefield.

  Alvarez clenched her hand into a fist and a crystal white needle extended from her wrist. Cold green fluid flowed into the needle from her wrist.

  <>

  Oh, god. No, no, no! Harding flinched, trying to scrabble away, but she held him fast. He’d never thought she would actually kill him.

  She drove the needle into his chest, a bitter cold spike brushing past his armor like tissue, delivering its frozen payload into his heart. Cold fire flooded his chest and ran down his limbs. He gasped once, his spine bowing off the ground, and collapsed, senseless.

  Collateral Damage

  Harding awoke to a warm, wet sensation on his face. Shit. I’m bleeding out. Dog breath made him reconsider his assessment. He opened his eyes slowly and smiled at Mochi’s snout pressed into his face. The smile only made the dog renew lapping at his face with extra effort.

  Tomoko sat on the snow beside him, fiddling with an autodoc secured to his arm. She looked at the two of them. “Baka! Think of all the germs.”

  Harding tried to sit up and managed to get to his elbows. “I don’t mind.”

  “I’m not talking to you.”

  He scratched Mochi behind the ears. “Pretty sure he doesn’t mind either.”

  Tomoko pushed him back down. “Lie still. The autodoc is nearly finished.”

  Harding tensed and tried to get up again, searching the clearing. Tomoko pushed him down again. “Cam left. I don’t know where she went.”

  “My crew?”

  Light footsteps came up behind Tomoko, and Yazzie’s impressive shadow fell over them. Her face was a maze of scrapes and bruises, her left eye nearly swollen shut. “Here, sir. Sir… Vanderberg didn’t make it and Taylor’s in a bad way.”

  “Shit.” The weight of the mission’s failure landed on him, muting everything around him. Vanderberg had a sister and niece in Florida. He doubted he’d have time to visit them before the Bite finished him off. What a waste.

  He rolled to his side away from Yazzie. He couldn’t look at the recrimination on her face. They both knew that Taylor shouldn’t have had another pull of Big Blue. The alien tech had proven too big a lure for the sniper. He would die with Taylor’s life on his conscience. She had refused the Anti-Freeze last year when the distinctive black and blue ligatures of Frost Bite had started disfiguring her body. Hell, he understood that decision better than most people did, but he should have taken Big Blue away from her.

  The autodoc beeping brought him to the present. Tomoko removed the cuff and cocked her head to the side with an odd, tense expression on her face as she studied the readout.

  He turned to face the music and let Yazzie help him to his feet. “Where’s Taylor?”

  She gestured to Tomoko. Tomoko did not look up from the autodoc. “Ms. Taylor is sedated and resting in my facilities. She can’t be moved right now.”

  Yazzie pressed her lips together and the strain of the day showed on her face. “I’m going to head inside and check on her, sir.”

  Harding nodded. He would need to do the same soon.

  As Yaz turned away, Harding saw Tomoko dismantling the autodoc. She pulled out the memory chip. She stood and offered the chip to him.

  Bewildered, he took the chip from her.

  She lowered her voice. “Eli, you should have told me you had the Bite.”

  Harding didn’t move, replaying the day’s events in his head, turning the chip over in his hand. He pulled his shirt sleeve up, slowly revealing unblemished skin on the inside of his wrist. A faint tracery of red hinted at what might have been an old wound. His mouth pressed into a thin line. He bet if he unbuttoned his shirt, the Ringhead Frostbite scars would be fading from his chest and neck as well. His mind began to race with the implications of the serum and he pocketed the chip.

  He tried to bluff her out. “What makes you think I had the Bite?”

  Tomoko patted the autodoc. “Anti-Freeze has never been anything but a stop gap. Eli, you have antibodies. You have something we’ve never seen before. Do you know what this could mean?”

  He thought about the endless batteries of tests Alvarez had been subjected to. “Can we talk about this later? I need a minute.”

  Tomoko frowned at him. “Of your many shortcomings, stupidity is not one of them. Eli, whatever Camila put in you is the closest
I’ve ever seen to a permanent cure for Frostbite.”

  She looked like she wanted to say more, but she stepped back and gave him a short bow. Calling Mochi to her, she headed back to her mountain fortress.

  The mountain air felt fresh and clean in his lungs. The cold that had bothered him earlier refreshed him now. He rolled up one pants leg above the boot, exposing bare skin to the elements. No ugly Bite tracings. He tucked in the thermal pants and unhooked his exoboots. He began to jump, up and down. He waited for that familiar pain, the stabbing in his chest and ribs. He kept jumping. Nothing hurt.

  He thought he’d come to terms with dying from the Bite. He’d been kidding himself. Harding made his way back to Tomoko’s lab, thoughts racing. He’d wanted the serum and he’d certainly gotten it, all right.

  He headed back to the lab and faced the massive doors. He pressed his palm against the sensor. Tomoko’s face came on, the familiar contours of her face filling the screen. He looked at her serious expression, and the words almost didn’t come.

  Finally, he said, “You’re right. What do you need from me?”

  Her eyes met his, and even through the screen, he could feel their piercing intensity. “I want you to see Taylor.”

  He nodded, and the door snicked open. Mochi greeted him and he followed the small dog to the patient quarters. Tomoko awaited him there, and she held out her hand to him. He looked down at her slender outstretched arm, the palm open, and the memories bombarded him of other times when she had reached for him. He grasped her hand in his own and he felt a moment of relief that he didn’t have to cover his skin with gloves to hide the garish marks of Frostbite.

  She pulled him close and reached up with her other hand to turn his chin. “Eli. Go in there and look at Taylor. She is dying. I am trying to make her more comfortable.”

  Denial rose in his throat, constricting it. He let go of Tomoko’s hand, giving up that familiar comfort and entered the patient ward. Immediately, he was bombarded by the sounds of the pump, artificially breathing for Taylor. She lay on the bed, her eyes closed. Yazzie sat by her side, her head in her hands. Despair lined her face and when Yazzie looked up at Harding, he could see she had been crying.

  The distinctive blue and black marks wrapped all the way around Taylor’s neck now. He exhaled in shock. He had been the dead man walking. Taylor should have had more time.

  Tomoko stepped in behind him. “You can order the Anti-Freeze treatment, Eli.”

  She was right. Under martial law, his organization had been given all sorts of leeway over civilian property and civilian liberties. Senate Bill Z23 meant he could order “extraordinary measures” to revive Taylor. His own soldiers had long ago signed away autonomy over their bodies. Still, he’d done his best to respect Taylor’s wishes, especially given how they had mirrored his own.

  Taylor took a gasping breath, or attempted to, the intubation preventing her. Her hands reached for her neck, frantic. Yazzie jumped up, holding Taylor’s hands and then strapping them down to the bedrails. Tears streamed down her face now, splashing on to the stark white blankets. Tomoko walked over and injected another dose of sedative into the line.

  When Tomoko turned back to look at him, he nodded. “Do it.”

  ***

  “Thank you, Eli. I think a half liter should suffice, for now.”

  He winced. “As you wish.” He rolled up his sleeve. Tomoko took out the needles and vials. As she worked, she began to hum. He recognized the tune from a playlist she’d loaded onto his sound system over a decade ago. He never played it, but he’d never deleted it either.

  She finished and taped him up, applying pressure to stop the blood flow. “I named you Patient Z in the records.”

  He winced. He knew she and Dr. Beaufort were obligated to share the results with the World Health Organization and the ad hoc committee for Ringhead research.

  Tomoko held out a lollipop. It was green, just like Ringhead blood. “Good job today, Eli.”

  He took it from her and pondered the events of the day. Taylor was breathing on her own. That was something. The serum was gone but not gone, now that it was coursing through his veins. That was unexpected. He wouldn’t call it a win, but it wasn’t a loss. He unwrapped the lollipop and popped it in his mouth. The tart flavor of citrus caused his cheeks to pucker. Yuzu. He bit through it and crunched it all at once, the sticky bits coating his teeth. He had the serum and he wasn’t dead. He swallowed the candy, the sour tang lingering in his mouth. Fuck it, he’d call it a win after all.

  THE END

  © Copyright 2019 by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle

  Echoes of Sonya

  Ken Britz

  Chase

  The ships slid out of the terminus like gun barrels, silver and belching fire.

  “Here they come,” Van said as the two lead ships closed. His fingers caressed the controls of the weapons array.

  Ace squawked in her pilot’s seat at the front of the ship, her bulk and plumed head blocking the forward viewscreens from his gunner’s seat.

  “Jes’ stick to the plan, friend,” Van crooned, gripping the controls. Sliver rolled over, arcing away from the chasing ships’ mismatched particle beams. He saw the prow of a massive pirate ship emerge from the terminus. Van whistled, impressed. She was the size of a small cargo ship or destroyer and she outclassed their Quarterhorse-class courier ship by several megatons. Her particle beam weapons came to bear and Sliver’s targeting alarms buzzed. Ace chittered, and Sliver slewed again, a beam glancing and shield-hit alarms droned.

  “Let them mosey a bit,” Van said, tightening his gloves.

  Ace growled and clacked her hooked beak, golden eyes darting. She shifted in the pilot’s seat modified to hold her large anthropoid frame. The large and small talons of her hands blurred over the controls.

  Van flexed his fingers, amping up his implants, and the world slowed down in time. Can’t make it look like we’re too easy. He snapped the controls. The gun ports swiveled, and he fired short pulse bursts, missing intentionally. Van fired again, and the bursts punched through the lead ship’s shield and her bow crumpled. She veered away as her engines sped up in a lazy turn, following the last command her vaporized crew gave her. Van gave a small salute. Sliver’s target lock buzzed, and the ship rocked. Van punched the tactical change in his gun controls for the second ship. Sliver spiraled and changed course. More particle beams passed astern of them. Another beam glanced off her hull. Van punched the debris detonator. Sparks and pieces of hull burst from Sliver’s dorsal side and she spun like a top as Ace yanked the controls.

  “Don’t overdo it, partner,” Van drawled, the stars swirling around him.

  Ace squawked.

  “We don’t want to spook her is all I’m sayin’,” Van reminded her.

  His gunner seat swiveled on gimbals as Ace shook her head as though flicking water off, her fine feathers rippling iridescently.

  “Crazy Nid,” Van muttered.

  Ace warbled.

  “I said, ‘Crazy, isn’t it?’” Van chuckled.

  Sliver bucked like she’d been punched, and Van’s stomach leapt in his throat.

  “Shields below fifty percent,” her computer systems chimed.

  “I know, Chirp,” Van said. “I ain’t makin’ plans to scrap the only ship we got.”

  “As the ship, I appreciate that,” Chirp said.

  Van fired more pulse bolts at the second lead ship. The pirate ships dropped their acceleration. They were still in cautious pursuit.

  Ace screeched.

  “Yes, toward the planet! How are we supposed to get there if we don’t go that way?” Van said, motioning at the dusky orange expanse of Backwater.

  Ace screeched and chittered.

  “Right, dammit, that-a-way!” Van gesticulated.

  Sliver re-vectored and shot toward the Stage Two planet at dizzying speed.

  “That’s it, partner. They’re following.” Van charged the rest of the debris packs and checked the carg
o bay door was open. “Let me take care of this last squirrelly bastard first. Need to get him before we hit atmo. Otherwise, it’ll just complicate things.”

  Ace warbled in acquiescence. The orange and brown planet filled the forward screens. Van slid back into his implant trance. He focused on the pursuing ship’s wedge wing drives. He fired, randomly at first, seeming to lock on to the ship and then three shots in rapid succession. The enemy’s shield flared. His fingers twitched, and he fired a micro-missile burst right down the pipe. The missiles slid right through the compromised shield flutter and their starboard drive exploded. The view screen clouded as Sliver hit atmosphere.

  Ace warbled again.

  “Yeah, yeah, I see her,” Van replied. “Jes’ keep going. Max aft screens.” The pirate ship loomed over her. Van checked the second pursuit ship. It glowed and tried to pull out of its atmospheric nose dive and exploded in a silent ball of flame. Blasters pounded Sliver’s hull. More alarms blared.

  “Shields compromised,” Chirp announced. “Deflectors only. Now would be a good time to make good on that offer.”

  “Don’t get lippy, flannel mouth,” Van said. “All right, on my mark, Chirp.” Van fired at the advancing ship. He let go of the controls and sat back, keeping his implants amped. The large pirate ship bore down on them, pushing through atmo to get to them. Ace spiraled and deepened their dive.

  “That’s it, lass. Come and get me,” Van whispered. The targeting lock alarm buzzed and screeched. Van hit the debris detonators. “Now!”

  Beams flashed; Sliver jerked and tumbled out of control in the atmosphere. The star drive died. The sky and ground spun in Van’s vision. The pirate ship slowed, knowing they’d wounded their prey a little too much. They’d gotten aggressive after losing their two pursuit ships, as pirates are wont to do. The gunner seat settled into stow position, and Van unstrapped. He hopped out, almost slamming into the overhead when Ace pulsed the gravity generator off. They were in free fall. No need for gravity just yet. Van climbed over to the open cargo bay. He checked the bomb and release. He deactivated the atmosphere shield and dry hot air howled through the ship. “Ready, Chirp?” he yelled over the wind.