by T. L Smith
That was what the Carl I thought I’d known would do.
“I don’t know why you… how you figured this out. I couldn’t even hint to anything like this.”
“I’d felt that… thing, before. Right before we fought. You, or it, thought I was asleep. But the second you saw me, it disappeared. And this time you were asleep.” I leaned on the counter between us, pulling the bottle of scotch closer, turning it with my fingers. “So, it can get distracted. If I get you really drunk, I should be able to talk to it again.”
Carl shifted his gaze from his glass to my eyes, but I could feel that thing inside him stirring. Carl could too. “I think the answer to that is… ‘no’.”
“Yeah.” I laughed. “Probably didn’t help warning it.” I let out a sigh and took my drink over to the wall of bios, staring up at the last couple displayed. “So this is us. A couple EHs heading into God knows what.”
Carl followed, but kept an arm’s distance from me. “I guess. Except we’re not EH.”
“Really, says the man who was put back together with metal and wires, carrying around some alien entity in his brain? Sounds Enhanced Hybrid to me.”
“Fine...” Carl huffed again. “…but you’re nothing like her.” He jerked his head at the woman in the picture. “A military EH ship’s captain.” I continued to stare at him. “What?”
I tapped the corners of my eyes in a set pattern, but with a blink, I knew the chocolate brown of my eyes phase to the clear silver eyes characteristic of EH. His jaw dropped open, but no words came out.
“Really! Six years. All those meetings and negotiations, ending the way I wanted? Tricking your guest out of hiding? No? It never crossed your mind?” I let my eyes roll away. “Huracid figured me out in one sit down.”
“You’re… you’re EH.” Carl was totally dumbfounded, but I sensed his other self wasn’t so thrown off. “But you’re like…” He grimaced, but kept talking. “… you know… pretty.”
“Thanks?” It felt like an offhanded compliment. “You’re thinking about dominant EH genetics, Y chromosomes, meaning a lot of big scary EH men. But once in a while we come out female.”
“Why are you pretending to be a normal?”
“Asks the man pretending to be human.”
Carl’s face scrunched up at the jab. “I’m not… pretending.” He picked through the words in his head. “I think he was too far gone for the… integration to work.”
I let his words sink in a bit. “So why didn’t they just find a less damaged body?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that being near you was my only purpose in this life.”
“So, I AM nothing but an assignment?”
Carl grabbed me, pulling me into his arms. “No, Kali. I can’t live without you. Me.” Carl’s bear-hug eased as I stopped resisting. “You promised, no going back, no matter what.”
Looking up into his eyes I sensed every word was true. His deep sorrowful eyes brought back our promises, our passion. Instinct told me to run, but I could see he was just as trapped as I was, and scared. I buried instinct and clung to my emotions. “We have to figure this out.” I let my eyes dart to the wall. “We have to succeed where they failed.”
“Kali.” His hand pushed hair from my face, his eyes blazed with a new light. “We’re going to make it through this. We’re going to have the life they didn’t.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Carl’s secret wasn’t any more far-fetched than mine. He was a body-swapping alien and I was the EH reincarnation of some 20th century woman who’d dreamed all my prior lives. With that threshold crossed, I told Carl about my dreams and nightmares. Of the darkness and Huracid suggesting I would somehow stop it from spreading.
I dreamed of the darkness more often. Of war. Of my prior lives. No longer an observer, I became my former selves. So I knew the large battleship deck as I faced a large com-screen. “EDC captains and pilots. We fight against slavery. What do you fight for?” I pointed into the feed. “Don’t let your names be recorded in history this way. This is your final warning.”
Yeah. This was from the book. So I was Commander Xi Tao of the Space Colonization Pact. Major Jolen Tao was my MHR husband. The Earth Defense Command created Mutant Human Replicas to fight Earth’s battles for them. Now they wanted the MHR destroyed, but the SCP stood against the EDC. Jolen was the face of the MHR rebellion. I commanded the attack.
“EDC ships holding their course.” Keifer announced the obvious.
Major Keifer, my first officer and friend. I gave him the nod. “We came to rescue men, not kill them. Avoid destruction, if possible. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He took control of the holographic warboard, shouting orders as he moved around it.
I didn’t want to watch this disaster, but it was my duty. The EDC forces were outclassed against our pilots. Explosions flashed across our boards, leaving behind stagnant clouds of smoke, frozen markers in space where a ship was disabled or destroyed. After losing half their fighters and a cruiser, the EDC broke away.
“Cease fire. EDC in retreat.” Keifer came around the warboard. “Hold the perimeter.”
I leaned into the screen. “EDC Command. Recover your disabled ships. If emergency recovery is needed, we will respond to any request.” Silence filled the air, no response at all from EDC Command, addressing us or their own soldiers.
Then a broken voice floated above the bridge. “This is the cruiser Stargazer. We have hull breach. Losing oxygen too rapidly for recovery. The Stargazer surrenders to the SCP.”
“Stargazer, prepare to be boarded. Stand by for instructions from Maj. Keifer.”
I returned my attention back to Yuma. To Jolen. This attack distracted me, but I’d listened to the ongoing ground reports. Jolen’s team had gone to the Yuma Proving Grounds to rescue imprisoned MHR. Now they were pinned down by EDC forces, but that didn’t block the world from knowing what we were doing. We had a reporter embedded in the operation, to report it live.
Her courage was impressive. “This is Amanda Olivas, KLATV, coming to you from the Yuma Proving Grounds. Air strikes have stopped. Is this a turning point in the battle…” She turned her head up, the camera following her gaze. “…Maj. Tao?”
The man centered in the video was pure MHR, large and scary looking. Built to fight and win. His silver eyes penetrated the distance, stabbing into my heart. “No. I believe there’s a reason they stopped bombing the base. A reason we need to discover before…” His stare became more intense and it felt directed at me. “…they resume bombardments.” He turned back to the ground battle and the camera swung back to Amanda.
“Again, we’re at the Yuma Proving Grounds. If you’ve seen the evidence of genocide against these brave MHR, then it’s time to make it stop. Stop the EDC!” Immediately KLATV started to replay the secret video we’d released to them. The EDC repeating Earth’s most infamous genocide. Leading unsuspecting MHR soldiers into gas chambers and incinerating their bodies to destroy the evidence.
I stopped watching. Jolen’s statement was a message. “Surveillance. The EDC is afraid of hitting something on that base. Do a full scan, all buildings, top to bottom, subfloors. Scan in all spectrums. I want everything down to the heartbeats of desert rats.” I turned to combat. “Yuma needs more air support. Jump a squad down there. Authorizing deadly force.”
My crews jumped to the new orders. I took the moment to retreat to my office, to send updates back to command. Behind closed doors I took several deep breaths, repeating the mantra that SCP picked me for a reason. I had the best experience, and best motivations. Two children, whose father was MHR. “I have to do this!”
I barely got the words out before Keifer walked in. The look on his face knocked me down again. “What is it?”
Keifer handed me the report and I only got through the first two lines before I grasped the rest of the data. I jabbed my desk com. “Dominguez, a secure line to Maj. Tao. Now!”
“Take it easy. Just because it’s�
�"
Jolen’s voice, interrupting Keifer. “Xi, you have information?”
“Get your asses off that base. Now! Yuma’s a WMD repository.”
“Damn, that’s… that’s bad. What kind of weapons?”
“I don’t know. Twenty-first century? Anything from bio to nuclear. It doesn’t matter. We both know the EDC will blow the base. Get out of there!”
Keifer leaned over my desk. “Jolen, if you can’t make orbit, get to safe ground.”
As we yelled our orders, Jolen reversed his cam. I could see his face. It wasn’t a look I liked. “Those bunkers might already be compromised. Notify the state governors that they need to order mass evacuations, and quarantines.”
“We’ll make the calls, but I need you out of there. We’ll quarantine our people here.” Jolen’s eyes made my chest tighten. “Jolen. Don’t! We need you. I need you.”
“There are innocents here. Civilians, families, schools, the hospital...I have a duty.” Jolen cut our link, but his voice came through the live broadcast. “This is Major Jolen Tau of the SCP, at the Yuma Proving Grounds. We’ve been informed there is an illegal repository for Weapons of Mass Destruction under the Yuma base. With the EDC bombings, the bunkers may already be compromised. If not, they will be when the EDC resumes bombing. If you can hear this broadcast, get out of the area. Evacuate the Yuma Area immediately!”
Amanda stood beside Jolen. Her face turned pale. “Sir, shouldn’t we evacuate too?”
“We’ll get you out on the first transport, but there are innocent people on and around the base. We’re going to try to evacuate them before this… escalates further.” He was in full MHR mode, barely holding back the urge to run into danger, to get this message out.
The woman stared at him with disbelief. “Sir, this isn’t… we’re not your responsibility anymore. Why are you staying to save—"
“Humans?” Jolen reached into his pocket. He pulled out a picture and turned it to the camera. That knife in my heart twisted deeper. “I’d want someone to save my children, regardless of the blood flowing through their veins.”
I choked, even harder as the camera swung around to the MHR soldiers, all on their feet, ready to charge back into battle, but many of them held up pictures of the children they were never allowed to acknowledge. The cameraman captured each photo and the men behind them.
“Move out!” Jolen gave the order. Despite fear for their own safety, Amanda and her cameraman followed.
“This isn’t the plan.” I tried reopen the com link to Jolen.
Keifer caught my hand. “No, but this is war. So, get it together, Commander.”
I pulled my hand back, clenching it. “Get those Governors on the line. Now.”
“Already linking up. Nothing like a live declaration that millions of constituents are going to die to get their attention.” Keifer nodded towards lights on my screen flashing urgently. “The Governors of Arizona, California, Nevada. Fourth light, the Mexican state of Sonora and the fifth light is the state of Baja. Take a breath and get your head on straight.”
I tightened the collar of my jacket and pulled my shoulders back until they ached, then activated my link. None of them sounded pleased, demanding answers from the Arizona Governor, who looked angry and stunned at the same time. I interrupted them all. “Esteemed Governors, I am Commander Xi Tao of the SCP.”
“Is it true?” The governor of Arizona leapt ahead of the other governors.
“Yes. I’m sending you the orbital scans. Our troops have initiated a rescue operation to evacuate anyone in harm’s way, but we have no idea what contaminates are stored in the bunkers. You have to declare emergencies and initiate processes on your end. You also need to do everything you can to stop the EDC from blowing those bunkers.”
All five governors’ faces went grey as they got the same report I’d read. They conferred with staff, concern etching deeper into their faces. The Sonora governor returned first. “Governor of Arizona. Is this true, the presence of this repository?” He asked, but the woman was engaged in a heated off-screen debate. The Sonora governor demanded an answer.
She looked at him directly. “Bunkers were common place hundreds of years ago. Like everyone else, I assumed Yuma had been stripped and shipped to the EGenerator. But if this data is accurate...” The Arizona governor’s face contorted from doubt to fury. “I’m declaring a State of Emergency and mandatory evacuation of all persons within one hundred miles of Yuma. The National Guard are ordered to cooperate fully with the SCP. NOT the EDC. All MHR within my jurisdiction are extended full refuge and safe haven.”
The other governors declared the same emergencies and refuge. Declarations were sent to the Americas Continental Council to intercede with the EDC. Keifer took over working with their emergency centers, while I watched our ground assault.
Jolen gained ground on base. Human soldiers received the emergency signals broadcast by Arizona and heard the Governor’s orders. They joined the mission to evacuate the base. Outside the gates, the National Guard soldiers turned their weapons on EDC. State and local Police opened evacuation routes, every highway turned to reverse traffic.
I rejoined the bridge, but barely made a round of the warboard before the officer manning it for Keifer stiffened up, leaning over the board. “Major Tao!” She shouted into her com link. “Fifty signals coming your way fast and low, from the north and east. Approximately ten seconds… we’re engaging.”
Two huge air squadrons closed in on the base. The EDC was throwing everything it had at Yuma, despite the public declarations. Despite the innocents still stuck in the crossfire. Our air squadrons went up against them over the open desert, as we sent more ships to defend the base. More signals popped up on the screen. Too many for our defenses.
I heard orders being issued. I heard the governors. I heard the explosions vibrating through my eardrums. I heard Jolen giving orders, his voice still strong and calm, then nothing.
“Communications to Yuma lost! Trying to reacquire.”
The enlarged satellite images of the base told me the bombers made it through our lines. I collapsed into my chair as glaring clouds grew, then blossomed out of the southwest corner of Arizona. The air was filled with nothing but the static, then KLATV’s link turned into a screaming Emergency Alert.
The com officer continued broadcasting. “Major Tao, please respond. Yuma Team, please respond.” She repeated it, over and over, until Keifer rested his hand on her shoulder. “Yuma, please respond.” She choked it out one last time, a whisper echoing across a bridge gripped by grief.
Keifer turned back to me. “You need to jump and make way for Commander Argot’s second wave. I’ll take a recovery team and do a search of the area. There’s a possibility they got off the base.”
“No, I need to go look for…”
“Commander, you have your orders.” He moved up to stand close, dropping his voice to a whisper. “The EDC will have a price on your head. I’m not going to be the one to explain to your children that you got captured, or worse.”
“This isn’t how it was supposed to happen.”
“Shhhh. It’s okay.” Carl stroked my shoulder as I woke clinging to him. My chest hurt from her pain. “It’s just a dream.”
“No. It’s a message. They’re all messages, warnings.” I clung tighter, but couldn’t tell him the revelation of this dream. It hurt too much.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dreams and dread-filled messages aside, we still had ore to deliver and settlement supplies to pick up. Then we’d make for the last outward stop on this route. It took several weeks and as many Syncs. As I keyed in the last Sync, I couldn’t help but remember what happened the last time we were out this far. I pushed the thought away and myself out of the cockpit.
The ship reached L4 as I passed Carl in the galley. “What are you doing?”
Carl looked away from the cabinets. “Thinking dinner. Want anything specific?”
“Keep it simple. I have to do
the tubes.”
“Eww, forgot.” Carl shivered. “I’ll take that into account. Need anything else?”
“One of your massages when I’m done?” I smiled extra sweetly. He went back to digging through the food bins as I headed to the engine room.
I dropped down into the battle-gray guts of my ship, past the cargo deck and into the bowels housing the machines that kept us flying. Nobody liked the tubes. Not even the most rabid engineer. From the storage locker I lifted out an EV suit. It was a hot, nasty job being so close to Sequence matter, even thoroughly shielded. But my ship, my job.
Disdain for this task made it harder before I even started. The tool belt felt particularly heavy as I strapped it on. Heavier as I climbed up to the hatch. I coiled my body into the tube, propelling myself into the conduits that crisscrossed the engine room.
I had to inspect each conversion processing panel and energy waste recycler, look for signal degradation, then clean and reseal the panels.
Towards the end of my inspections, the heat inside the suit was unbearable. Sweat drained into the hollow of my back, so every time I braced to get leverage on a maintenance panel, my spine squished down into that oozing puddle.
I was drenched in hot sweat and my skin crawled from the SM that permeated this entire level. It was like a persistent static on my disgusting wet sticky body. Extended exposure could induce the Slides. This was no place to get stuck in an altered mental state, and I could feel it clawing at me. It was time to get the hell out of the tubes.
Backtracking my way to the exit hatch, I counted rungs as a distraction from the static. Fifteen left, seven right, around the central core, then thirty and another right, then… the hatch. Wait! It wasn’t where I left it. Of course it is. It didn’t move.
I stopped and the sweat squished up around me again. A violent shudder ran through me. “Where’s the fucking hatch?” I felt the panic scratching at me. It’s here, calm down. “You just turned too soon at the core.”
