The Ganymede Legacy

by A C Bonesteel

  Shock and disbelief filled Alice's mind. Thrall? There? She had seen him with his throat slit on the floor next to her. Was it possible he had survived his wounds on Osiris and had such resources to be able to track and ambush them there?

  He couldn't be there himself, she blurrily realized, not without a lightspeed ship. So then, maybe his sick gang of psychopaths wasn't confined to Osiris. Perhaps he had allies on Oberon. How had he tracked them there, though? It shouldn't have been possible. If he had injected a tracking device into Leo, Idi would have detected it...

  A third attacker swam to her view as he rubbed a bleeding wound on his forehead. "Fucking bitch threw a wine bottle at me! Who does that?!"

  "Shut the fuck up! Cart will be here soon!" a slimy male voice grunted above her.

  Thall clearly wanted them alive, so why had they shot Leo? Had someone just mistaken their orders? Was it all part of the plan to isolate them while they tried to treat Leo's wounds?

  "What about this one?" the man asked above her.

  The woman answered. "I don't know who she is, but she's a good shot. Hit me ten times in a row, right in the chest. Good thing I bought that body armor, or I'd be dead. Anyways, Thrall's sign only mentioned two. These two..."

  Alice perceived her body move as the woman kicked her, though she couldn't feel it.

  "We only have space for two in the cart..." the man remarked.

  "Not that hard to figure out what to do then, is it? Kill the bitch..." the woman gleefully replied.

  They were going to kill Annabelle. Alice's heart screamed as a desire to stop them took over every fiber of her being, but her arms wouldn't move, and she couldn't even talk.

  Alice's remaining hope rapidly receded as she watched a blurry form step over to stand above Annabelle's fallen body.

  The familiar sinking sensation of guilt fell over Alice as she laid there, helpless. Annabelle was about to die, and it was her fault. Why had she allowed Annabelle to take part in such a crazy, hopeless mission in the first place?

  Alice's guilt and desperation were joined by a confused hope when an odd sensation of movement suddenly registered in her mind. The angle of her head and her sight suddenly changed, and her view of Annabelle's impending murder was replaced by a view of the dark grime on the alley floor. Something had just moved underneath her...

  Her hearing had recovered even more since being deafened by the stun grenade, and she could clearly hear the panicked voices of their attackers. There was another noise there too. It was like a deep, roaring hum...

  "My gun... What the fuck?!" the man shouted.

  "That's impossible..." the woman replied, her voice bathed in fear and disbelief. "Knife... kill him. Now."

  "I don't have it!" the man moaned.

  Alice's heart filled with resolve when she heard Leo's voice cut through the confused and fearful voices of their attackers. It was bright and firm, and there was a passionate and righteous fury within it.

  "Not in this reality, or any other."

  Alice wished she could see what occurred after Leo spoke, but she couldn't. She could hear, though. She could hear the unmistakable sounds of smashing flesh, crushed bones, and the pleading, and increasingly hysterical cries for mercy by Annabelle's would-be murderers.

  Leo grunted as he went about his work. It was quiet and brutal at first, but as the noises of violence reached their peak, Alice heard his breathing intensify, and his grunts of effort become more intense. After twenty seconds of the macabre soundtrack, the noises of injury and death quieted, leaving only Leo's labored breathing to fill the dark alley.

  "Never!" Leo roared. Then, Alice heard a light rustling next to her.

  "Annabelle?" Leo asked, his voice filled with fear and love. But, he received no response.

  "Goddamnit..."

  Then, there were more rustling sounds of fabric and skin rubbing against one another.

  "Alive... Can you hear me, Annabelle?"

  Chapter 34

  Leo stared down at Annabelle's limp body as he held her hand within his. She had a pulse, and it beat softly against his thumb. It was a weak reassurance to him that they had not yet shared their last laugh.

  Her eyes were open, and they stared up into his. In them, he knew there was life, and beyond that, awareness. He was positive that Annabelle could hear his words.

  "C'mon Leo, do something. Think!" he growled to himself as he broke eye contact with Annabelle and began looking around.

  The four assailants all lay dead on the floor of the alley. One of them had been shot in the head. Leo guessed had been Alice who had struck that killing blow, but he hadn't seen it happen so he couldn't be sure.

  He had been awake for only a few seconds when the dark Void of nothingness had entered him. It had been his feelings for Annabelle that had called it, and it had been the prospect of her imminent death that had allowed him to use it. Of that, he was sure.

  Never before had he gained such insight into his gift, but his certainty of what had occurred was undeniable. It was Annabelle. She was the reason the Void had come.

  He had observed as an outsider when his mind had welcomed the Void of dark light, and instinctively channeled the flow of space and time through himself.

  The Void had flowed through him, and into the weapons in the hands of Annabelle's would-be murderers. In an instant, their instruments of death had been erased from the spectrum of possibility, leaving them naked, fearful, and pathetic. Then, Leo had beaten the life out of each of them.

  Leo was amazed but also scared. His gift had manifested in defense of Annabelle, and in a way that allowed him the first granule of real understanding about it. The Void had receded as quickly as it had come, however, and wouldn't be of further help at that moment. Nevertheless, he still needed to move Annabelle and Alice before more would-be murderers arrived.

  Leo stood and quickly looked around the alley. He moved first to Alice, who seemed to be under the same paralytic effects as Annabelle. He couldn't help but feel slightly guilty that he had focused so tightly on Annabelle's well-being and neglected Alice until that moment, but it was what it was. The feelings he had were something entirely new for him, and he couldn't resist their yearning pull.

  He hurriedly rolled Alice onto her back and checked her pulse. Its soft thump against his finger revealed her to be alive as well. A small dart was stuck in her shoulder, just above her collarbone. With a quick pinch and flick, Leo extracted the dart and dropped it to the ground.

  "Don't worry. I'll figure something out..." Leo whispered, hoping that she could hear him as he grabbed the pistol in her hand and picked up the handbag next to her.

  He tucked the pistol into his waistband and started rifling through the handbag, searching for anything useful. He only searched through it for a few seconds before realizing there was nothing within that would cure paralysis. There were no adrenaline ampules, no nerve stimulators...

  Leo knew he didn't have time to waste, so he ceased his riflings and slung Alice's satchel over his shoulder, then inspected the alley more closely.

  The low thump of electronic music echoed through the dark, grimy walls. A few drunken, passed out bums leaned up against a garbage dumpster farther down the alley. Leo's eyes paused on the bums as he checked to ensure that they weren't a threat, and indeed, they weren't. They were out cold, in spite of the battle that had just taken place next to them.

  Then, Leo's eyes moved back over the dumpster, and something caught his attention. The dumpster didn't look too big or too heavy. It seemed to be made out of a light polycarbonate. There was also something else interesting about it, and Leo started running the moment he saw it.

  It had wheels. Excellent, well-oiled wheels by the look of it. The dumpster, if it wasn't too full of garbage, would give Leo the means to carry two paralyzed women without drawing too much attention.

  He quickly ran to the dumpster, then flipped up its lid. When he looked inside, he saw that it was close to empty. There were only a few
bags of garbage at the bottom.

  Leo was invigorated by the opportunity the dumpster presented. He rushed to the other side of it and began to push it towards his fallen friends. Luckily, it wasn't very heavy, and he was able to get it rolling with relative ease.

  As it began moving, the bum that had been leaning against it was rudely awoken. With a solid thunk, his head fell to crack down hard on the pavement.

  Leo eyed the bum as he pushed the dumpster past him, but the bum made no aggressive action. He never even opened his eyes, and only mumbled a few incoherent profanities.

  "Motherfucker... Dogshit..." the bum moaned as Leo rolled by, but then he just turned over and went back to sleep.

  Leo left the bum without bothering him further and pushed the dumpster over to Alice and Annabelle. They hadn't moved. There was no telling how long they would be paralyzed. It could be a few minutes, or forever for all he knew.

  With adrenaline coursing through his veins, Leo scoped out the entrance to the alley as he moved to grab Annabelle. There were a few people walking by, talking and laughing, but none of them were inclined to look his way.

  With urgency, Leo knelt next to Annabelle and slid his arms under her. He felt weak, and there was still a pain in his chest despite the nanite treatment, but Annabelle was light, and he was able to lift her in his arms and stand up. He then used his elbow to bump the dumpster lid open and dropped Annabelle inside as gently as he could. Thankfully, her head didn't hit the hard bottom of the dumpster but instead landed softly on a garbage bag full of stinky, rotting food.

  Leo smiled to himself lightly as the stench of rotten potatoes filled his nostrils, and he moved to pick up Alice. Could Annabelle still smell, even though she was paralyzed? If she could, she was probably displeased with him at that moment, he thought with dark amusement.

  With identical urgency and technique, he lifted Alice into the dumpster and deposited her within. Alice wasn't as lucky as Annabelle, however, and her head bumped off the hard bottom when Leo dumped her inside.

  With both women safely deposited, Leo debated what to do next. One thing was sure; he needed to move before any more of Thrall's people could arrive. Based on their operating methods, it seemed Thrall's gang preferred to use teams of four to ambush their prey in small spaces. They preferred incapacitating weapons like gas grenades, stun grenades, tranquilizers, and also, apparently, paralytics. Those elements were all consistent between when they captured him on Osiris and the ambush that had just failed. If other aspects of their strategy were consistent, there would be at least one more ambusher nearby, a commander of some sort, and probably others.

  Wasting no time, Leo shut the lid on the dumpster, moved behind it, and pushed it out of the alley onto the well-lit and moderately populated connecting street.

  Paranoia consumed him as he hurriedly pushed the dumpster down the street on a course that would eventually take them back to Rithe Island Starport, and Alice's ship.

  It was a kilometer to the starport, and many things could go wrong during the journey. Thrall's people could regroup, track him, and ambush him again. Also, Rithe Island security officers could stop him and find the paralyzed women inside his dumpster.

  In fact, he asked himself, would the officials even let him into the starport with a freaking dumpster? Probably not; it was way too suspicious. Security was lax on Rithe, but not that lax...

  Well, shit, Leo thought to himself. There was no way he was going to make it back to Alice's ship without trouble. Best case scenario, security officers would arrest him for kidnapping and hold him until Alice and Annabelle had recovered enough to tell the whole story.

  There was no way around it, Leo realized. He couldn't take them back to the Epiphany, not until they had recovered. He needed to find a safe place where he could let the effects of the paralytic wear off. Somewhere close, and somewhere secure...

  "Randell..." Leo said to himself suddenly, slightly irritated that he hadn't thought of it sooner.

  Randell would still be at his shop, working on their quantum implants, and his shop was only a couple blocks away. Leo could go there and explain to Randell what had happened. Randell would probably be able to provide some treatment for the paralysis that affected Annabelle and Alice, and possibly be able to offer some security inside his lab.

  "Okay, good idea! Let's go!" Leo said to himself as he turned the dumpster around and pushed it down the street, past a few drunk, extravagantly dressed Oberonians.

  "Forget where the dump is, dumbass?" one of them shouted at him, but he walked by without responding.

  A few more passersby gave him odd looks as he pushed the dumpster past them, but a broad smile and a shake of his head kept them from inquiring further or being anything other than lightly curious.

  When he reached the next cross-street, he turned right, past a brightly lit brothel with beautiful women posing temptingly in the front windows. One of the courtesans broke character when she saw Leo pushing the dumpster past and pointed at him, laughing mockingly through the large windows.

  Leo ignored her and continued past. Only one more block, then a right turn, and they would be at Randell's.

  As he reached the alley that led to Randell's, Leo wiped the beads of sweat that had begun to drip from his forehead. It was hot, he thought with irritation.

  After a few more paces, Leo looked back and noticed a group of four people, one of whom was the same tall woman who had spooked them at the restaurant. They were walking quickly toward him...

  With a jolt of adrenaline, Leo shoved the dumpster forward and broke into a run, all thoughts of avoiding unwanted attention gone from his mind. He turned right as the dumpster bounced awkwardly over the rough brick pavement.

  Randell's place was only twenty meters down the alley. He did his best to cover the distance as quickly as possible and reached the entrance within seconds. Before he moved to open the door, however, he looked back and saw the group of four running after him with pistols raised.

  He immediately dived behind the dumpster just as eight shots rang out. He was quick enough, and the bullets hit the side of the dumpster with eight loud plinks. The dumpster was excellent cover, but he still needed to get Alice and Annabelle out of it because it wouldn't fit through the door to Randell's.

  Leo took a deep breath, reached up, and took hold of the rim of the dumpster. Then, with a great downward heave, he tipped it over towards himself. It fell over with a loud crash. Leo quickly opened the lid, grabbed Annabelle and Alice, one with each arm, and pulled them close to the door to Randell's.

  With a burst of strength, he threw his weight against the door and was relieved beyond measure when it swung open with a rush of warm, wine-scented air. Then, with two more massive heaves, he pulled them inside.

  Leo paused when more shots rang out from much closer, and six bullets ricocheted off of the windows of Randell's storefront. With practiced grace, he reached into his jacket and drew his pistol, then ducked back outside behind the dumpster. As more shots rang out, he popped up and rested his arms on top of it as he primed his pistol. He could see his targets. They were close, only fifteen meters away and still dashing toward him while they fired.

  Leo took a deep breath as he steadied his aim, then fired three times at each of them, moving tactically from the man at the far left, to the woman at the far right. As the loud hiss of his pistol repeatedly sounded, he saw two of the four fall to the ground. He then ducked down, extracted Alice's gun from his other jacket pocket, then rose to his firing position once again.

  When he popped his head up, he was slightly surprised to see that the group had abandoned their assault and had begun to retreat. The two unwounded attackers were quickly dragging the other two back onto the connecting street.

  Leo attempted to fire at them as they retreated, but nothing happened. Alice's gun had run out of ammo. So, he pocketed the pistol and quickly ducked back through the door to Randell's.

  "RANDELL! IT'S LEO! HELP!" Leo screamed.


  Content that there was no way Randell could miss his presence, and his need, Leo reached down and grabbed Annabelle and Alice by their arms. With another burst of effort, he dragged them farther into the shop and eventually reached the bar, then deposited them limply behind it.

  Just as Leo set them down and tried to catch his breath, Randell suddenly burst out of the dark hallway behind the bar. "Leo? What the hell? My cameras... Who are they?"

  Leo tried to catch his breath as he answered. "Bad... Bad people. Same ones who kidnapped and tortured me on Osiris, I think."

  Randell closed his eyes as his lips trembled. "Oh, fuck... Them? I have to lock the doors. They won't get through the front; it's three-inch nano-polymer... I'll lock the doors..."

  Leo heard a series of loud clicks as the locks to the front door slammed shut.

  "We'll be safe here, at least for a little while..." Randell gasped as he eyed the dimly lit street outside of his shop, then turned his eyes to Alice and Annabelle. "What about them? What happened?"

  Leo brushed the sweat from his forehead. "Some type of paralytic, I think..."

  "Okay... Okay. Not good for business, this," Randell replied. "But Alice... She does have endlessly deep pockets, eh? So this should be worth the effort and inconvenience... Eh, Leo?"

  Leo was irritated that Randell's main concern was financial, but he understood the man's position. "We'll pay you whatever you want, Randell. Help us, and I'll make sure you never have to work another day in your life..."

  "That sounds pretty good..." Randell said as an odd giddiness crept into his voice. "Maybe y'all are my ticket to easy street. We need to go into my lab. Here, I'll get... what was her name, Annabelle?"

  "No, I'll get Annabelle," Leo grunted. "You get Alice."

  "Okay, okay..."

  Together, they carried Annabelle and Alice down the dark hallway to the entrance of the lab. When they arrived, Randell turned to Leo and gave him and ominous look.