by Barry Solway
“One other thing, Evan,” Mel said. “We have to find a way to turn Anna back on.”
Chapter 13
Thin fingers flexed soundlessly as she repeatedly curled and released them. Sheila had performed the surgery the day before. The new hand was slim metal and plastic, about the same size as her other hand, but with longer, tapering fingers like a Latanua. Beats had come out of surgery the day before. They repaired a torn tendon in his leg and removed the bullet from his shoulder.
The feeling wasn’t right. Ghost feelings crept in, as if someone was touching her hand. Sometimes it was painful, but Evan said she would get used to it. Eventually. Like everything else.
Mel had come up with a solution to restore Anna that morning. The problem was with the interface. Anna had placed her consciousness into a device called a qCore that was designed to be plugged into a ship’s computer system. The qCore handled the processing and memory but used the ship’s systems for power, sensors, and communication. Without the right interface, they couldn’t attach her to a computer system to talk to her. The computer interface in question wasn’t uncommon, it was just unique to spacecrafts and not generally available to the public. The Viro Kara could get one, but they thought it might take several weeks. Mel wasn't willing to wait.
That morning, she’d had the realization that there was a computer interface they could use, and it was close by. If someone could sneak back to the ship and remove the right parts, they could use it to interface with another computer system.
Evan and Riley volunteered to go. They took another member of the Viro Kara with them, a Chaturee named Simon. Even more lemur-eyed and energetic than Sheila, Simon seemed to vibrate constantly, even when he was sitting still. He would occasionally get up in the middle of a conversation and turn in circles, reminding Mel of an over-excited puppy.
They had left that morning, and Mel continued trying to distract herself from going crazy waiting to hear back. Since they had been taken to a Viro Kara safe house, they were now a full hour away from the crash site. Plus, the ship was sure to be heavily guarded, so it wasn’t even clear if Riley and Evan would be able to sneak in. Mel was particularly concerned about the Order laying a trap. Hopefully, they would assume the humans weren’t stupid enough to return to the ship. She smiled at the thought. Apparently, they were.
She moved her fingers a few more times. The exercises Sheila gave her to acclimate to her new hand were difficult and boring. She was still learning how to use it, and sometimes the fingers would twitch in spastic ways instead of doing what she intended. But the motions were getting smoother with practice. She wondered if it would affect her accuracy with the pistols, immediately frowning at the thought.
The sound of running in the hall outside her room caught her attention. That seemed odd, the place had been dead quiet except when people visited her. She was under the impression that there weren’t many people there. So far, she had only met Sheila, Simon, and the two cyborg Latanua that Evan had been with when they first met. She clenched her hand into a fist one last time, then swung her legs over the bed and stood. Waiting wasn’t her strong suit anyway.
She stepped out of her room, and was almost run over by a Latanua racing down the hall. Mel couldn’t really tell one Latanua from another at this point, but she thought this might have been one of the ones with Evan. The man barely dodged Mel in time, and waved to her with a cybernetic hand in passing. She raised her right hand and wiggled her prosthetic fingers in return, feeling awkward.
As the man raced by, he said, “We have an alert. Find the others. Your friends.”
Mel wondered what ‘having an alert’ meant. Had they been discovered? She had no idea where the others were, having been stuck in surgery and then her room for the last day. With no other option, she followed the man.
He turned down another hallway and came to a sliding door leading to a large meeting room. Computers and monitors were stacked haphazardly against one wall. There were several chairs, but no two were the same. It had a certain kind of hacker quality to it, at least based on the hackers she had seen in movies and the robot nerd team at high school.
There were five other people in the room: three Latanua, another Chaturee lemur, and Gorgeous. Mel was relieved to see her. She had visited Mel that morning, but Sheila had interrupted the visit to force Mel to do her exercises, so they hadn’t had as much time to catch up as Mel would have liked.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Mel asked.
Gorgeous nodded somberly. “Riley, Evan, and Simon were able to sneak onto the ship and remove the interface. It wasn’t heavily guarded. They were heading back when we detected they were being followed. They tried to throw them off, but now Sheila and the others are worried that the signal from here may have been traced. I don’t know if they are being paranoid or not, but they’re going to evacuate as soon as Evan and the others are back.”
“Now I’m going to feel guilty if they lose their base,” Mel said.
“Not to worry, dear,” Sheila said, bouncing on her toes next to Gorgeous. “We always plan for this. It’s standard procedure, we don’t take chances of being caught. All of our facilities are set up to be abandoned at a moment’s notice. It’s the only way to stay ahead of the Order. Get anything you need to take with you, though. Evan should be back in twelve minutes, and we’ll be out of here within twenty.”
Mel shrugged. She didn’t really have anything to get, so that didn’t matter. Shaking off her guilt, she turned back to Sheila. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Find your friends and get them ready,” Sheila said. “Someone should be checking on Beats, but you may want to make sure that happened. We don’t need a last-minute panic trying to find a seat on the bus for a Maneshee. They’re ridiculously huge, you know. Very inconsiderate.”
Mel smiled and turned to Gorgeous. “Any idea where Jon is?”
Gorgeous shook her head. “I haven’t seen him since last night. I’ll go find him if you want to check on Beats.” Mel nodded, and they made their separate ways down to the hospital rooms.
Mel found Beats in his room with a Latanua, who was helping him out of bed. They had devised a new metal crutch. It flexed alarmingly under Beats’s weight but was far lighter than the huge branch. As the realization they had crashed the ship yesterday sank in, she shook her head. So much was happening, she felt she had lived several lifetimes in just the last week.
Walking back to the meeting room, they caught each other up on their various medical situations. Jon and Gorgeous were already back. He had two black eyes from when his nose was broken, and they had applied gel tape to protect it. He grunted when he saw Mel and Beats.
They waited patiently for updates on Evan, Riley, and Simon. The last report was that they had lost the vehicle following them and were finally returning to the base. Sheila and the rest of the Viro Kara weren’t waiting. They had cleared out the important computer equipment, and a group of them had already left in a van-like quad-copter. A second vehicle would take off with the rest of the Latanua as soon as Evan and Riley returned. Mel, Gorgeous, Jon, and Beats would wait for Evan and Riley and leave in their quad-copter., along with Simon and Sheila.
They got word that Evan and Riley were getting ready to land and they all made their way out to an open space covered in gray concrete with weeds growing out of the cracks. The building looked similar to the other warehouses, except more decrepit. Across the parking lot was a field, and on the other side of the field Mel could see fences. Behind the fences were rows of houses and a road in the distance, crowded with cars. Apparently, the hidden headquarters of the alien resistance backed up to a suburban neighborhood. Mel watched as the second ship with the Latanua took off. The ship looked like a sleek minivan with a rotor at each corner, like a drone. Six Latanua sat on the floor of the open bay. Mel thought it was going to be crowded with eight of them in one ship, especially with one being Beats. At least the Chaturee were small.
They saw Evan’s sh
ip coming over the horizon as the second ship took off. It landed with a blast of air that forced Mel to close her eyes and turn away. The engines died down, and the bay door opened. Riley waved to them, smiling smugly.
They all boarded, taking extra care to position Beats in the center to balance the weight. Evan and Simon piloted, but Simon moved into the back and offered Mel his chair.
They rose slowly into the air and Mel could see the other ship less than a mile ahead of them. The Latanu landscape opened beneath them, with rows of houses directly below and the city of Svarga off to their left. Past that, a large forest sprawled to the horizon. As they gained height, she thought she could see the scar in the forest where their ship had crashed.
Mel cried out as the ship ahead of them, full of Latanua, exploded in a ball of flame. Evan swore, swinging hard to the right.
“Where did that come from?” he yelled.
“You’re throwing us around back here, clumsy human!” Simon yelled.
“The other ship just got blown out of the air,” Evan yelled back to them. He straightened out and urged the ship forward, keeping close to the ground. “I didn’t see where it came from. Can anyone see another ship? Damn, damn.”
“Hang in, Evan,” Mel said. She twisted in her seat, trying to see to the rear. The drone ship had poor visibility towards the back. Evan angled away from where the other ship was shot down, as Mel caught a glimpse of two streaks off to their left.
“There. I saw two ships, back there.” Riley was at one of the small windows and he quickly confirmed it.
“What do they look like?” Evan asked.
“Like fighter jets. And they’re moving fast,” Riley said.
“There’s no way we can outrace them,” Evan said. “This is my fault. I thought we lost them. How did they find us? Simon, any ideas?”
Simon came up to the front to consult with Evan. “They may have gotten lucky,” Simon said. “Maybe patrolling the area? We should land, get out of the ship.”
“But where?” Evan said. “There’s no place to hide here.”
Mel could tell that Simon didn’t know what to say. Evan suddenly veered right as a ship streaked by on their left. “Those things are fast. They’re going to shoot us down. I need some ideas.”
“We could surrender,” Simon said. “I honestly don’t have a better idea. We can’t take on two fighters. It’s impossible.”
“Anna,” Mel said. She turned to Evan. “You have the control interface, right? Can we use it now? Can we hook it up to this ship and plug Anna in?”
“Let Anna fly the ship?” Evan said in surprise. “I don’t know…. We have to attach it to the control bus. Damn, that might work, though. Simon, what do you think? Can we get a multi-mode splice beam interface plugged into the quad-copter's digital bus?” Mel had no idea what Evan was talking about, but she was relieved to see Simon's response.
His eyes bulged with excitement. “Maybe!” He jumped up onto Mel’s lap and started to rip off an access panel. “I’ll need some time, maybe ten minutes.”
Mel pointed out the window. “You have, like, two. Evan, head for the city. Keep low, between the buildings. We can use their speed against them.”
Evan nodded and pushed the ship forward at greater speed, the engines whining in protest. Simon shifted around on her lap, jumping down between her legs into the footwell, then back up to lean over and stick his butt in her face as he pried at the panel. He finally yanked it free, then called back to Riley.
“Tall person, bring me the UVMSB interface! Hurry, slow person. You’re so slow, why do I always have to wait on everyone!” Mel was afraid Simon was going to have a heart attack on her lap.
“Let me get out of your way,” she muttered, trying to unbuckle herself.
They approached the city and Evan weaved between several tall buildings. Mel looked up to see the two fighters streak by overhead. She had been right. They were too fast to fly inside the city and avoid the buildings.
“This won’t buy us much time,” Evan said. “We’re in restricted airspace. The city police will send out drones to force us down. Or the fighters may decide they don’t care about civilian casualties.”
Mel tried to push Simon away enough to get out of her seat. He fell off her lap and into the footwell, then popped back out. His eyes bulged as he looked accusingly at Mel, then glared at Evan. “Evan, I need your help!”
“I’m piloting the damn ship, Simon!”
“Have her pilot, I need an extra set of hands,” Simon screeched, spit flying from his mouth.
“I’m not flying,” Mel said as she crawled out of the seat. She had a sudden idea. “Wait. Jon!”
“What?” Jon yelled from the back.
“Get up here, we need a pilot!”
Jon came forward, looking skeptical. “I don’t know how to pilot one of these.”
“You’ve worked with Anna on the spacecraft. How different can it be?” Completely different, she thought. No need to tell Jon that, though. “Evan needs to help Simon. Come on, hurry, there isn’t much time.”
Jon cursed as Evan looked at him skeptically. But finally Evan shrugged. “I don’t have any better ideas.” He pointed at the controls. “The control stick does what you think. Up, down, left, right. This lever is faster, slower. Simple enough. I’ll rise above the city so we can have a clear runway to switch seats. Make it fast.”
Jon nodded as Evan brought the ship up. As soon as he leveled off, he yelled, “Now!” Evan dove out of the seat to the one Mel had sat on, landing mostly on top of Simon. Jon slid easily into the pilot’s chair and grabbed the controls. As he guided the ship down, a series of bangs sounded and the ship vibrated. Beams of sunlight glowed through small holes in the side.
“Get us down, get us down!” Riley yelled.
Jon yanked at the control and the ship dropped straight down. For a second, Mel felt weightless.
“Don’t kill us, boy!” Simon shouted, his head poking out from under Evan.
“You wanted a pilot, this is what you get,” Jon snapped. “Just fix the damn controller.”
Evan took the interface from Riley, and he and Simon worked hastily, yanking wires and arguing heatedly over which wire went where. Sparks flew and Simon yelled as the smell of burning hair drifted through the ship. Jon flew down almost to street level, causing people to run screaming along the street.
“We’ve got company,” Jon said, pointing off to the left. Three sleek drones with official insignia were heading towards them.
“Got it!” Evan said. “Give me Anna.”
Mel fumbled in her pocket, then brought out the small device that housed the artificial construct. She handed it to Evan. He grabbed the mass of wires from the control interface and twisted it so the slot was facing up. Pushing the qCore into the slot, he sat back.
A moment later, Anna’s voice came over the cabin speakers. “Ah. Good to be back. Did I miss anything?”
Chapter 14
Mel yelled at everyone to be quiet. Between Simon and Evan shouting in celebration and Jon, Gorgeous, and Riley trying to tell Anna what happened all at once, she could barely hear herself talk.
“Anna, no time to explain. We're in a ship being chased by two fighters and at least three police-looking helicopter things.” Mel spoke as fast as she could.
“Quad-copters,” Evan corrected.
“Whatever. Anna, can you see what's happening?”
“There aren't any cameras on this quad-copter.,” Anna replied. “I should be able to patch into the planetary comm system, though. Maybe I can get some sensor data that way. Keep us alive for another minute or two.”
“Hurry. These police units are right on top of us,” Jon replied.
“Okay, I'm getting comm access now. I'll see about tapping into the units chasing us. In the meantime, whoever's flying needs to follow my instructions.”
“It's Jon,” Mel replied.
“Oh fun. Mr. Teamwork himself,” Anna said. “I have our positio
n. Take the next right, then loop around the building on the left to head back in the opposite direction. Do it as fast as you can.”
“Got it,” Jon said. He banked hard right, then took three immediate lefts that sent the craft sliding sideways, almost slamming them into a building. Seconds later, they were heading back in the opposite direction.
“Follow the highway under you for another two miles. Who do we have on board?” Anna asked.
“Beats, Jon, me, Gorgeous,” Mel said. Gorgeous waved to Anna, before realizing Anna couldn’t see her. Mel shushed her and continued. “Two lemur people, uh… Chaturee. That’s Simon and Sheila, and… Evan.”
“Excellent, you found him,” Anna said. “Hello, Evan, it's good to almost see you again.”
“Glad to have you on board,” Evan said.
“Silly, slow people! Now is not the time to chatter! We need to escape,” Simon yelled in Evan's face.
“True,” Anna responded. “What’s our condition? Injuries?”
“Banged up from the crash,” Mel replied. “Beats is on crutches. That's the worst of it. The rest of us can manage. Not sure if you know or not, but Evan's mostly a cyborg.”
“I suspected that might be the case. Evan, any chance you’re modified?”
“All standard for Latanua bio-type,” Evan said. “About ninety percent human equivalent, I would say. It's almost impossible to get moded parts and you sure don't want to get caught with them.”
“Mmm, we may want to address that at some point,” Anna said. “Beats is going to be a problem, but we'll manage. Jon, pay attention. You're coming up on a left, take it. You'll see a tall tower about half a mile ahead. Climb to two hundred meters, just below the top of the building.”
“I can’t do meters on the fly. Give me feet,” Jon said. He made the next left and gunned the ship forward. “The three police ships are coming over top of us. They're trying to force me down.”
