"Interesting..." Annabelle thoughtfully replied. "So that was her motivation... At least, that's what she thought her motivation was... I wonder how many of the 'aberrations' are out there..."
Leo's thoughts fell into further grimness. "I don't know. There could be millions for all we know... However many there are, I think they're very good at hiding, and clearly, they have very effective ways to communicate... They've been able to ambush us at every turn, regardless of where we are..."
Annabelle absentmindedly rubbed her fingers across her acid scars, feeling along the outlines of the raw, red skin. "Well, maybe something good will come from all this. Maybe it will kill Thrall and his sick buddies, and maybe it will let us live..."
Leo couldn't help but wistfully consider that thought. "Yeah, maybe... That would be convenient..."
Leo calmly stroked Annabelle's hair as he felt her breath blow lightly on his neck. "I have to kill Thrall... He's too dangerous, too evil, and too powerful... And, I have to know how far his reach spreads. I need to know how dangerous the aberrations are. If Exony was telling the truth about them, they have to be stopped..."
Annabelle took a deep breath and hugged Leo firmly. "Yeah... I have a bone to pick with him too... Assuming Exony's agent doesn't wipe them out, I'll help you. However a blind, silly gal can..."
Leo was taken aback by her game attitude. Even in the face of her blindness, she still wouldn't back down.
"I think we should get you your sight back before we do anything too crazy," Leo replied.
"Hm... Yes, I do believe I would quite like that. Brilliant idea!" Annabelle replied with mocking amazement. However, she quickly became serious again. "I wonder if Idi can treat it. I'm skeptical about letting her back into my head, considering she tried to brainwash me, but I bet you she could."
Ah, the brainwashing, Leo thought as he sunk into the utmost underbelly of despair. Ever since Exony had revealed it to him, he had known that he would have to confront the topic with Annabelle. It was a topic that caused him profound fear, but that also begged him to discover the truth.
"We can't trust Idi," Leo declared. "She did the same thing to Randell and Sila that she did to you, although I can't help but think that maybe she pushed them a little harder than she did with you... At least, I hope she did..."
Annabelle broke from Leo's embrace and stared blindly across the medical bay, then spoke in a guilty voice. "I know what you're thinking. You think that Idi was controlling me. You think that my feelings for you weren't real..."
Leo did his best to keep his voice from breaking. "Yes... I just... I love you, Annabelle! I know it seems crazy. I know we barely know each other, but I love you. And now, it doesn't seem real... Now, it could all be a lie..."
Annabelle took a few seconds before replying. "Idi was in my head, Leo... It was subtle. I could hear her in my mind, telling me things, and guiding me. And, when I did as she told me, she gave me a reward. She made me feel happy. It was like a very, very powerful drug. Then, there were other benefits... She made me strong, smart, and fast. She gave me the power to do things I couldn't have done on my own..."
Leo's heart tightened into a knot as he listened, and he felt pure desperation begin to ooze over him. "Did she tell you to kiss me? Did she tell you to be nice to me? Did she tell you to be funny and smart and brave... And beautiful?"
"I don't know, Leo... I don't know!" Annabelle admitted as her voice dripped with guilt. "I was drawn to you when I first saw you... But, I don't know where I ended, and she began... It all seemed natural, but I just don't know..."
Leo's ached with a toxic, consuming pain as he absorbed her words. He should have known better. He should have known that what he experienced with Annabelle couldn't have happened so quickly - not without outside manipulation. Why would a woman like Annabelle want anything to do with him anyway? What did he have to offer besides pain and misery?
Leo's chest tightened as torment pierced through his heart. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and his heart was beating a frenzied drumroll in his gut. He needed air... He needed to get out...
Then, tears began to stream from his eyes, and his grief shredded through his outer composure with a lashing wave. "I'm s-sorry, Annabelle... I'm sorry... This isn't your f-fault... It's okay... I'll be okay..."
Suddenly, Annabelle turned and took his hands within hers. "Leo! Please..."
Leo's mind ran a frail sprint of confused thought. He cared for Annabelle more than he cared for himself, and that was something he had never experienced. He didn't want to lose her. He would do anything to hold onto her...
He had held strong feelings for Annabelle from the moment he had first seen her, and he had been charmed by her since she had first spoken to him. From the first time he had laid eyes on her, she had struck a beautiful chord within him.
Then, a powerful realization struck him. The seeds of love had been within him long before Idi had gotten into Annabelle's head. He had felt profoundly for her, before Idi had ever gotten in her mind. And, now that Idi was gone from her, he still felt those same profound feelings.
Leo tried to keep his trembling voice under control. He didn't know what Idi had done to Annabelle, but he was still sure of his feelings for her. He had never been more sure of anything in his entire life.
"You are Annabelle, and you are the woman I love. I felt something spark in me the moment I first met you, and I feel something deep inside me now. It was love then, and it's love now! I know it! I didn't stop loving you when Exony showed me the truth. It didn't change when Idi was in your mind, and it didn't go away when Exony pulled Idi out of you."
Tears streamed down Annabelle's cheeks as Leo spoke, and her lips began to tremble. Her eyes called out to him.
Leo pulled Annabelle close and whispered into her ear. "Did you stop loving me when Idi left?"
Annabelle pulled him closer as tears streamed down her cheeks. "No! I felt it before and I still feel it... Maybe we were meant to be... Maybe Idi just sped things up a little bit... I don't know..."
Like a glorious shower of sunlight touching his skin for the first time, Leo felt Annabelle's love wash over him. In spite of Idi's manipulation, his feelings were still there, and so were Annabelle's. It was real...
Leo smiled and nudged Annabelle's head off of his shoulder. Then, she leaned into him and opened her lips to welcome him. Her warm breath washed over his as their lips touched. They kissed, deeply, passionately, and their breath became one.
Suddenly, Idi's voice echoed loudly around them, and they broke their embrace. "Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroximity aaaaaarrrrrrrrrreeralert!"
Leo was stunned by Idi's words and the way she had delivered them. It called back memories of the corrupted A.I. on Randell's ship.
"What was...?" Annabelle whispered.
She was interrupted, however, when the medical bay gave a sudden, turbulent lurch, and a loud shattering sound rumbled through the ship's walls. The sound of shattering glass was so loud, Leo felt his eardrums throb as his head filled with the sea of noise.
Then, just as quickly as it had erupted, the noise ceased, and Idi spoke again. "Hullll breachrrrr! Commmmand deckkrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!"
Chapter 51
Alice tapped away on the control panel in front of her. It had been fifteen minutes since Desdemona had exploded, and Idi was still unable to pilot the ship or perform any other task besides scattered, garble communication.
The symptoms reminded Alice of what had happened to the A.I. on Randell's ship, so she had worked frantically to ensure she had manual control over the ship systems. In spite of her best efforts, however, she had lost control. They were now drifting through space on whatever course Idi had last set. She had also been unable to access the communications and defense systems. With those offline, she thought they were pretty much screwed.
Suddenly, Idi's distorted voice blared across the command deck. "Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroximity aaaaaarrrrrrrrrreeralert!"
Alice quickly tried to di
scover what was coming near the ship. Before she could get any data, however, she heard a booming sound that reverberated through the Epiphany's hull.
Then, the wall to her right exploded in a burst of tiny shards, and Alice was blown away from the control panel. She flew through the air and smashed into the wall on her left as shards of the hull showered over her.
"Hullll breachrrrr! Commmmand deckkr zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!"
Alice absorbed the impact and gasped in pain. As she recovered, she could feel her shoulder throbbing, but she had landed on her feet and still had a clear head.
Alice glanced at the opposite wall, and her spirits sank at the sight of a large, circular hole that had been bored through it. At first, she thought that she was looking through the hull into the darkness of space, but she quickly realized what had happened.
It was a breaching and boarding system that had burst through the hull. It was standard issue tech on Council warships, and she had seen it used many times. It used the brute force of the ship's propulsion combined with a ring of superheated uranium to punch through the hull of a target ship and provide a tunnel for attackers to board.
She was being boarded by a Council ship, she realized with deep confusion.
She observed the dark tunnel, and waited for someone or something to emerge from it while questions swirled in her mind. Had the other Council ship been unable to communicate with Idi? Was that why they were boarding by force? Or, was it a team of operatives who would take them to a Council facility by force?
Alice's questions were soon answered, when a familiar voice suddenly emanated from the breaching tube.
"Ah, yes... Leo is here. I can smell him."
The voice sent shivers up Alice's spine, and she instantly recognized it. It was Thrall. The moment that realization hit her, she bolted for the door to the control room. She covered the distance in a flash, but the door was still closed.
"Idi! Open the door!" she screamed.
Idi didn't respond, but Thrall did. "Where are you going, my little morsel?"
Alice wheeled around and reached for the pistol in her waist holster, but her hands found only air. The gun was gone. She bent down and reached towards her right ankle holster, but there was no pistol there either. Where had they gone?
Alice's heart raced as she watched Thrall emerge from the breaching tunnel and begin to walk towards her. His eyes were wide, and a mocking smile lived on his face. "A little discombobulated tonight, are we miss?"
Alice glared back. "Get fucked, scumbag."
Thrall stopped a few meters from her and sneered. "I think you mean 'I got fucked.' As in, what you'll be saying when I'm done with you..."
Alice didn't feel like humoring him. With a flash of motion, she stepped forward, planted her right foot into the ground, and launched herself into the air. Thrall's eyes widened as she flicked her left foot toward his face. When he raised his hands to protect himself, she unleashed a furious switch-kick with her right leg. The feint worked, and her black boot found its target on Thrall's chin. A dull smack echoed through the command deck as Thrall was knocked to the ground, and Alice landed agilely above him.
"Gah!" Thrall grunted, but Alice was already on him.
As he spoke, Alice dove through the air and targeted a wide, swinging right hand at his temple. This time, however, he was ready. He caught her in the midsection with his feet, rolled backward with her momentum, and launched her through the air with his his legs. Sh then tumbled over him awkwardly and collided painfully with the command console in the center of the room.
Alice hopped back to her feet as quickly as she could, but when she looked at where Thrall had just been, he was gone. Then, she heard something whizz through the air behind her and felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her back. Before she had time to react, she saw white ropes fly over her shoulders and wrap around her arms.
"Fuck!" she screamed as she struggled against the ropes. They moved with intent, though, and quickly encircled her arms and legs.
As she struggled, she felt the cords cinch tightly around her wrists. Then, they wrapped around her ankles. She quickly lost her balance and she fell to the floor. As she rolled around helplessly, the ends of the white rope met, linked together, and cinched even tighter.
"Damnit!" Alice spat as she stared at the pure white floor. It had taken only a few seconds for the lines to do their work, and she was now completely immobilized.
An Antares tether held her. It looked like a long nano-polymer rope with a barbed blade at its center. However, the line was controlled by a sequence of nano-chips programmed to bind anything the blade was embedded in. New Republic troops had used them during the war, but it was the first time she had been caught by one.
Alice gamely writhed around on the floor, but she knew she wouldn't be able to escape the tether. She had no implants that could help free her. Leo and Annabelle were the only ones who could help her now.
With a slapping cadence against the floor, she heard Thrall walk toward her. Then, she felt a boot dig into her side, lash out, and kick her over onto her back.
Alice looked up and saw Thrall standing above her. He loomed over her imposingly as he smiled and licked his thin lips. A long ropy scar extended across his jawline, and a small hairy tumor was now growing from the side of his neck.
"How?" Alice gasped There should have been no way that Thrall himself could be there. It would have taken a standard ship two weeks to cover the distance between Osiris and Desdemona. And yet, there he was, in the flesh and with her at his mercy.
"There is joy to be found in injury and pain," Thrall replied in his sly, slippery voice. "And the greatest joy is death..."
Thrall raised his stump of an arm and scrutinized it while he gently caressed it with his remaining hand.
"I almost had a new one put on..." he continued, grinning as if he had recalled a fond memory. "In the end, I decided against it. What would the point be? A hand is a piece of meat and nothing more."
Thrall lowered his arms and crossed them behind his back. Then, he lashed out and kicked Alice in her ribs. She screamed in pain as she felt his boot dig into her flesh, and tried to roll away from him. He stopped her pathetic attempt at evasion, however, by stomping brutally on her chest.
"Just a piece of meat..." Thrall continued as he stared down at her, his face twisted with insane glee. "That's what you are, too. Nothing more..."
Thrall knelt next to Alice as she glared up at him. He was a psychopath, and she had encountered her fair share of them in her life. She would not give him the pleasure of revealing the fear that was coursing through her.
He stared back at her and slowly extended his stump towards her face, then rubbed it gently across her cheek. Her instincts told her to pull away from him, but that would be a sign of weakness. It would only drive him further...
"Some would look at what happened to my hand, and be disturbed by it," Thrall whispered as he continued rubbing his stump against her skin. He slowly rubbed his way down her body, from her face to her bosom. There, he lingered as he rubbed his stump over her breasts.
"They see an injury like this, and they wonder how it happened," Thrall continued in his sick, slimy voice. "That mystery intrigues them, but there is another, even more profound mystery that lies at the heart of their curiosity. Why haven't I repaired it? I mean, surely a man of my status, my means, and my authority could easily afford a high-quality replacement, right?"
As he spoke, he rubbed his stump down her body, cutting swirling patterns across her torso before leaving it to rest against the lowest part of her abdomen.
"What the pathetic pieces of meat can't understand, are the benefits of possessing such a rare anatomical tool. It's not a handicap at all! In fact, I've grown rather fond of it. Maybe I'll thank Leo for providing such a useful gift after I show him what I can do with it. Maybe my heartfelt thanks will take some of the sting away when he sees you as I see you."
"A useful gift..." he finished knowingly. Then, he licke
d his lips and pulled his stump away from Alice's belly.
She felt slight relief as he pulled away, but it was short-lived. As he slowly pulled his stump back, he suddenly lashed out with it and jammed it between her upper thighs. She barely managed to avoid protesting, though every fiber of her mind screamed at her to do so. She needed to buy time, and he would not kill her until he broke her. She could not break, for anything!
"Little stumpy will blow your fucking mind!" Thrall screamed as spittle flew from his lips and landed on her face. As he screamed, he rammed his stump forcefully between her thighs. Fortunately, her black pants held firm, and the only immediate trauma she had to endure was intense pain that radiated up from her most sensitive of nerve endings.
"Little mister stumpy wants to be inside you!" Thrall roared.
He grunted like an animal as he pushed harder and harder. Alice struggled to stay calm and not give in to the pain and embarrassment. She needed to stay alive until Leo and Annabelle could find a way yo help her. She needed to play for time. She needed to distract him in whatever way she could.
"Where is that dirty little freak? Where is Leo?!" Thrall roared as he finally pulled his stump from between Alice's legs, then sniffed it with a savoring inhalation. "I want to see that stupid fucking look on his face while he watches me rip your eyes out! I want to listen to him beg while I cut you into pieces and feed you to him!"
Alice fought through her disgust and tried to put a seductive expression on her face. "Y'know... Under other circumstances, I would spit in your face, but truth be told, that's the most action I've had in years. I kind of enjoyed it..."
Thrall's expression changed subtly as he looked down at her, and Alice thought for a second that he might take her bait.
But then, he unleashed a savage roar and smashed his stump down onto her forehead. Flashing stars bloomed in her eyes when the blow landed, sending shockwaves through her skull and adding to her already extensive catalog of pain.
The Ganymede Legacy Page 42
