The Reclamation and the Lioness

by Robert D. Armstrong

  I listened to her footsteps trail down the hall. “Do you think they’ll know Xena hacked that android?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to hang around and find out. Let’s figure out a way to insert that device into Sylass. We need to destroy their ability to clone and secure that aircraft for the Legion,” he insisted.

  “Okay. Any ideas on how we can upload this device into Sylass? It doesn’t seem like this will be a walk in the park,” I asked.

  “A walk in the park?” he asked, confused.

  I closed my eyes. “Never mind. It’s an old phrase,” I said.

  “Oh,” he replied.

  I held up my finger. “You think we could sneak up on Sylass somehow? We know he’s in the officers’ lounge,” I said.

  “How are we going to sneak up on him when this place is crawling with androids?” Leo asked.

  “Well, you got any other ideas? The way I see it, there won’t be as many androids roaming the corridors after the attack. They’re in meetings and tending to the wounded nomads,” I said.

  Leo sighed. He bit his lip for a few seconds. His hazel eyes bounced around the room. “Let’s try it, then. Maybe an opportunity will present itself,” he said. It was worth the risk to secure that aircraft for the Legion.

  I stepped toward the hatch and opened it slowly. I looked in both directions down the long, dim corridor. To the right, there was an armed android standing guard about fifty meters away. His head slowly panned left to right.

  I turned back to Leo. “Rules of engagement?”

  “Attack only if attacked. I don’t think that will happen, but let’s not go weapons-free unless we have to. Also, remember your training. We’re in very close quarters, Victoria. Be cautious where you point that blade. Remember, I’ve only got one arm to lose.” He grinned and raised his arm.

  I smiled. I wanted to burst out laughing despite the grim situation. His casual, dark humor about his missing arm was unexpectedly hilarious. I covered my mouth with my hand. “Understood,” I said, clearing my throat.

  The reality of the situation flattened out my smile. I had no idea how these machines would react to us walking around without an escort. This was risky. “Hey, I’ve got an idea,” I said.

  “Yeah?”

  “If we’re stopped, just remember what Sylass said. He told us we could leave anytime. We’ll just use that as a cover,” I said.

  “But the officers’ quarters is in the opposite direction of the exit,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes. “We’ll just tell the androids we got lost,” I replied.

  I waited for the android sentry to our right to turn his head. “Let’s go,” I directed, stepping through the hatch with Leo in tow. We briskly walked away from the sentry, hugging the walls to make ourselves less visible. I glanced over my shoulder, past Leo, and noticed the android’s glowing blue eyes panning toward us.

  I dashed through a corridor hatch in front of me and stopped, guiding Leo against the wall with me. “Stop,” I whispered. We stood up tall, making ourselves as narrow as possible.

  “And... go,” I whispered as the android panned away from us again. Ahead, there was a ladder well.

  “Fourth deck, right?” Leo asked.

  “Yeah, but be quiet. We can’t see what’s above us,” I said. I slowly headed up the first ladder, gripping the rope like handrails as I peered upward. As I stepped onto the second deck, I noticed it was darker here than in the corridors.

  A red floor light strobed as we started up the next ladder. I heard what I thought were human voices. I peeked down one of the corridors and noticed two android crewmen about sixty meters from us. They were working on wiring in the ceiling. Then one of them turned toward us. I could have sworn it made eye contact with me.

  I pulled back, “Shit,” I said.

  “What?” Leo asked.

  “Let’s go,” I said, tiptoeing toward the ladder as I made my way up to the third deck.

  As I reached the platform, I heard voices again. It wasn’t on the deck below us, but it was somewhere close. I turned toward Leo as he made his way up. “I know you hear that.”

  “Yeah, sounds like a kid,” he said, arching an eyebrow. I peeked into the adjacent corridor. About forty meters away, a hatch was open. Light from inside the room beamed out into the dark hallway.

  The voice sounded like that of a young girl. I turned back toward Leo. “We should see if we can help,” I said.

  Leo shrugged. “I’m not sure we should risk it. I say we head topside for Sylass and stay the course,” he said.

  I shook my head. “I have to know, Leo. It’s a child.”

  Leo sighed and shook his head. “Fine,” he said. I hurried down the passageway and stopped next to where the voice was coming from. I slowly peeked around and into the open hatch. This area looked like a hospital room with several beds inside. There were monitors with holographic displays hooked up to each bed.

  I saw the injured nomad from earlier. He was in the bed closest to the door and had his eyes closed. On the other side of the room, there was a young girl humming a song in a bed. She looked to be about nine years old. She was bald and had no eyebrows. She appeared frail and drained of energy.

  Then her head whipped toward me. I moved out of view as she stopped humming. “Shit,” I mumbled. I noticed she had different colored eyes: one brown and the other blue. She was unnerving to look at it. Her stoic face and ghostly pale appearance reminded me of something out of a horror movie.

  “Lady. You can come in,” she said plainly. Leo shook his head at me as I sighed.

  “They don’t monitor this room, if that’s what you’re worried about. There is usually an android in here, but since the attack, they’ve relocated it to surgery. Please, come in. I don’t get visitors,” she insisted. I hesitated but stepped through the hatch and into the room anyway.

  “Dammit,” Leo grumbled.

  I glanced at the injured nomad. “I don’t want to wake him up,” I said, pointing at the man.

  She glanced at him. “Oh, don’t bother. He’s dead. This isn’t a hospital; it’s a ward. We’re moved here to die.” She grinned, glancing at the empty beds beside her.

  “Oh,” I said. I looked back at Leo as he stood watch at the door and panned back and forth down the hall.

  She looked at me with a puzzled face. “You’re not supposed to be here. Are you lost? Should I page an android escort?” she asked, struggling to sit up in bed. I noticed several electrode stickies attached to her body.

  I showed her my palms. “No-no, we’re fine. We’re heading up to let Sylass know we’re leaving,” I said.

  She shook her head. “You know, I’m different, but I’m not stupid. In fact, people like me have heightened intelligence. I do know humans aren’t allowed to explore this ship without an escort. I would guess you’re taking advantage of the current emergency situation, but you’re not nomads. Who are you?” she asked, looking me up and down.

  “We’re from the Legion. We’ve come to form an alliance with the Reclamation,” I said.

  She glanced up at the ceiling. “An alliance? Hm. Sometimes the androids would bring the Warden’s nomads here to die. I would get to hear their ramblings, but I’ve never heard them speak of the Legion before.”

  My eyes widened. “Um. The Warden’s nomads?” I asked, confused.

  “The Warden is the leader of the nomad army. He immediately dismantled his alliance with the androids after myself and the other clones were discovered. Very unfortunate turn of events. It could have been a powerful coalition, some say,” she explained.

  I slowly looked back toward Leo. He gazed through me and bit his lip. “And then what happened?” I asked her.

  “The Warden went missing the day after he dismantled the alliance. The nomads hold Sylass responsible, even though our androids maintain their innocence,” she explained. I closed my eyes for a moment. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “Uh, no,” I lied. Well, that explained the
feud between the nomads and the machines. Luther’s execution of the Warden was assumed to be the androids’ doing.

  “My father was telling the truth. He created an army to fight against the Architect,” Leo muttered.

  The girl looked down the row of vacant beds and paused for several seconds, rubbing her arms. I could see goosebumps just below her gown sleeve. I wondered what she’d seen and been subjected to. I heard footsteps in the hall.

  “Victoria, we have to go,” Leo said sternly.

  The girl held her stare at me. “I hope the reason you’re sneaking around here is worthwhile. Just so you know, I don’t care much about anything at this point, but there is one thing that would give me comfort when I close my eyes,” she said.

  “What’s that?” I asked hesitantly. I just knew she would ask me to end her life.

  “If you could make sure what I’ve gone through doesn’t happen to anyone without destroying the androids, that would give me peace,” she requested, leaning toward me. I nodded without saying a word.

  I gathered she’d been initially brainwashed by the androids, but as time went on, maybe she developed her own opinion but retained some level of sympathy for them.

  My instinct was to snatch her out of that bed and take her to the Legion with me, but it didn’t make sense.

  I took in a deep breath and looked at her one last time before turning away. I doubted I would ever see her again. I hurried toward the exit as Leo leaned into the corridor. “Come on. We’re cutting it close,” he said, slipping outside the room. We darted down the passageway. I didn’t bother looking behind me, but I could hear voices behind us.

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  We dashed toward the ladder well and shimmied up to the fourth deck.

  “Which way?” Leo asked.

  I looked aft. “This way,” I replied. We edged down the corridor. I could see a pair of glowing blue eyes in the distance.

  “Victoria, you know what this means... My father wasn’t lying. There is an army of nomads loyal to him and—”

  “Leo, can we talk about it after we destroy the cloning research? That’s the objective, isn’t it?” I asked. I turned right down the first corridor to break the line of sight with the android sentry in the distance.

  Then the hatch in front of us opened. We froze and slowly backed up as an android with a rifle turned away from us. My heart pounded as it marched in the opposite direction.

  We turned around, and in front of us stood two armed android sentries in bulky black battle armor accompanying Sylass.

  “Oh no,” I muttered.

  Leo immediately ignited his sword and cut the closest android trooper in half. “You fuckers!” he shouted. Its metallic body crumpled to the deck. It sounded like a person groaning in agony followed by a short static sound and then nothing. The androids raised their arms in the air and backed away slowly.

  I ignited my sword as well, aiming it at the other android behind us. I wasn’t sure if Leo intended to react that way or if he was startled, but I had to back him up.

  Leo lunged forward, stabbing his blade at Sylass. “Stop backing up. Don’t you dare move!” he yelled.

  We were surrounded on both sides. “Drop your weapons, or I terminate Sylass,” Leo commanded. When he said it, I felt a sense of conflict. Every word and every move we made could jeopardize the Legion, even humanity’s chance of survival. These machines weren’t ideal allies and their cloning research went against everything the Legion stood for, but their existence was based on our survival. That was something.

  I saw Sylass’s eyes shift to the left. He turned around to the android behind him. “Lay down your weapon. Put up your hands,” Sylass ordered his troopers. They complied. A red light strobed above us, followed by a blaring siren.

  “Now, cut off the alarms,” Leo ordered Sylass. After several seconds, the lights stopped flashing. Not that it mattered. They likely were all on alert regardless.

  Sylass looked past Leo and at me. “You know it’s impossible for us to harm humans. Your aggression is completely unnecessary.”

  “Speaking of unnecessary, this entire colony is nothing but a fucking freak show,” Leo said.

  “Knights, we’re not sure what you hope to accomplish here by snooping around. I was clear about our motivation. Don’t be so shortsighted and emotional. Please—”

  “Get on your knees, all of you,” Leo ordered, nearly touching Sylass’s face with his sword. Sylass raised his eyebrows and nodded. All three of them complied, dropping to the deck.

  “Victoria, front and center,” Leo said. He edged around behind Sylass cautiously. “You got the thing?” he asked me. There was a certain panic to Leo’s bulging eyes that I had not seen before, but it was clear he had assumed control of this situation. Sweat beaded up on his forehead as he nervously panned back and forth at the androids.

  “Leo. I got it. Okay?” I pulled out Xena’s device as I walked toward Sylass, stepping over scrap pieces of the destroyed android.

  “Insert it, now,” Leo ordered, nodding at Sylass.

  The android looked up at me, tilting his head at the device. “We detected your intrusion inside our network,” Sylass said as he stared at the device.

  “Good, then you know what we’re going to do. We’re shutting down your cloning operation,” Leo said.

  Sylass slumped his head. “I’m not sure you’ll accomplish this, but if so, that’s unfortunate for Eva, our last remaining clone.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Shutting down our cloning division will not bode well for her condition. We require access to our research in order to sustain her health. Pity, we had such high hopes for her. She was improving steadily,” Sylass hinted.

  “Bullshit. That girl is days away from death thanks to your research. At their expense they suffered so you could eventually recreate your previous owners. I saw the room full of empty beds that prove it,” I said.

  Sylass grinned. “I’ll say it again: the moment you destroy our research, you will kill Eva and countless other humans that would come later,” he said.

  I wanted to believe there wasn’t any truth to Sylass’s guilt trip, but something told me he wasn’t lying. I stared at Leo. He shook his head slowly. “She wasn’t gonna make it anyway, Victoria,” he said.

  I had to do it. There was no telling how many more iterations of these clones would suffer and die in testing. Eva might live if I didn’t go through with it, but at what cost?

  I gulped and inserted the device. Sylass’s eyes flickered as he stared up at Leo. “I want to ask you something first. Months ago, the Warden became persistent about his only son. He wanted to know if we had any information regarding a... Leo. You wouldn’t be the same Leo by chance, would you?” Sylass smirked.

  “Shut up,” I said, aiming my sword at Sylass.

  “Wait,” Leo said.

  “He’s just distracting you,” I said, lasering Leo with my eyes.

  “What did the Warden want to know about me?” Leo asked.

  Sylass raised the muscles in this brow. “Ah. What any father would, of course. The Warden was curious about his son’s condition. Unfortunately, we had no information about your status, since you were confined within the Legion’s walls.”

  “He’s lying,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure if he really was.

  Sylass nodded. “We recovered your father’s body. We found it odd that his head was removed by a high-temperature weapon, much like a plasma sword that Legion knights use. Very strange,” he said, staring at the tip of my blade. The imagery of Luther lopping off the Warden’s head entered my mind. “Did you ever stop to think that we could have easily shared this evidence with his nomads? Instead, we took the blame. We’re protecting the Legion. We’re taking the fall to prevent human civil war,” Sylass said.

  Leo glared at me as Sylass’s eyes turned black.

  “Cap-tain,” Xena’s voice erupted through Sylass’s mouth. The first syllable of the word sounded like Syla
ss’s voice, with Xena’s tone taking over the second.

  “Xena, get to work please. We might not have much time,” I said.

  “Understood. Accessing their cloning research... This could take a moment... Located. Breaching their firewall using Sylass’s security code... Done. Captain, would you like for me to delete all known files and research regarding human cloning?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Leo answered.

  Xena held her stare at Leo for a moment. She turned toward me. “Captain?” she asked again, lowering her voice.

  “Victoria?” Leo demanded.

  I nodded slowly. The clone, Eva, was on my mind as I attempted to block it out. “Do it,” I said. There was no way around it.

  The android behind Sylass stepped forward slowly, extending his hand. “Please, we understand you’re upset, but this research could be the key to repopulating the human race. We—”

  “Shut up!” Leo yelled. “Not another fucking word about it!”

  “Deleting research data... Captain, it’s decades of data. This could take a few moments,” she said. It was strange hearing her voice coming through Sylass’s creepy face.

  “Whatever it takes,” I replied.

  She looked up at me. “Other than myself, you really haven’t had the best experiences with androids,” she said.

  “Don’t give yourself too much credit,” I said.

  She grinned. “Understood, Captain.”

  “What? Say again? Come in,” Leo said, pushing in his earpiece. There was a long pause. He appeared concerned.

  “Leo?” I asked.

  “It’s Knight Renheart. He... He said there was another attack and this one was worse. It was the Mave infiltrators,” Leo said, his eyes wide.

  I looked down at the deck. “Luther?” I asked.

  Leo shook his head slowly. “I lost communication, but Renheart said it wasn’t safe to return to the Legion.”

  I paused for a moment. “Hold on. We can’t return to our own home?” I asked.

  “Renheart wouldn’t exaggerate. I know him well enough—”

  “Xena,” I said.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “Stop deleting their cloning research,” I said.