by Barry Solway
Mel struggled with the woman for a second until she seemed to give up. Mel wasn’t sure, but thought she might be sobbing.
“You would not kill her in cold blood,” Stoner said.
“Try me!” Mel shouted back, raising her arm and jamming the pistol against Sahass’s head.
“I surrender,” Sahass said. “I give up. Please, don’t shoot me.”
“What?” Mel said in confusion. Was that a thing? Could someone surrender in the gauntlets? “I don’t even know what the means.”
“I won’t fight anymore. I don’t want to fight. I almost drowned and I was just trying to get somewhere safe. I don’t know what happened to Kapha… I’m so tired. I just want this to end. Please don’t kill me.”
As doubt crept in, Mel relaxed her arm, but immediately caught herself. This wasn’t a time for sentimentality or weakness. Sahass had made her choice when she entered the gauntlets.
“It doesn’t work that way,” she whispered in Sahass’s ear. She yelled back to Stoner. “I’m getting impatient. Give us the goal, now!”
Stoner shrugged, peering at her with his one good eye. “Do what you wish. Her blood will be on your hands. She is not my concern.”
Mel swore and squeezed Sahass harder around the throat. Stoner must be bluffing. “I’ll do it, Stoner.”
“I’m sure you will,” Stoner said. Riley looked back at Mel, shaking his head. No, he said, the thought flitting through Mel’s mind. Now she didn’t know what to do.
Stoner took advantage of the moment. He swept forward and swung one of his long, orangutan-like arms, knocking Riley into the air. He flew back at least ten feet. Mel lost track of Riley as Beats sprung forward and jumped on Stoner’s back, pushing him under the water. At the same time, Mel felt cold metal on the back of her head.
“Let her go,” a voice hissed in her ear. Mel half-turned to see Polliwog behind her, a pistol in his hand. “Two can play at this game.”
Mel didn’t let go of her hold on Sahass, who was still weeping. She kept her pistol pointed at the woman. “You shoot me, I shoot her. We’re at a stalemate.”
“Maybe,” Polliwog said. “My guns are designed to work in wet conditions. Are yours?”
“It did last time. You really want to find out?” she shot back.
Polliwog’s mouth opened in a way that made him look like an idiot to her, but the translator said he was laughing.
Sahass cried out, “No! Polliwog, don’t, please.”
Mel still couldn’t decide if Sahass was faking it or not, but the translator thought her fear and desperation were real. Maybe she was just that good of an actress. Polliwog’s expression became one of annoyance, and he was about to say something to Sahass when a second giant water snake reared up over Beats, Riley, and Stoner.
Chapter 22
Riley and Beats held Stoner down while Gorgeous crouched nearby, looking for an opportunity to steal the goal. The black snake reared up, towering twenty feet above them.
Riley had been right. The first one must have been a juvenile, this one was nearly twice as big. With an eerie cry like a screaming infant, it crashed down on Riley, Beats, and Stoner. Gorgeous dove sideways as Riley leapt backwards, jumping nearly twenty feet in the air. But he screamed, clutching his leg in midair. He fell behind Stoner and Beats, disappearing under the water.
Beats let go of Stoner as the snake struck them both. A wave rippled outward, carrying Mel and Sahass off their feet. Mel let the woman go, as she turned upside down in the water. Popping up, she faced Polliwog coming to the surface in front of her. Pistols raised, the Nipunee rose, facing away from Mel. Without thought, Mel fired two shots.
The sound of the first shot was almost drowned out by the screams of the water snake and Stoner. The second shot misfired, but it didn’t matter. Her first shot hit Polliwog directly in the back of the head and he fell forward into the water, blood spreading around his floating form. Mel hadn’t meant to do that; it had been a reflex. She fought back the urge to retch.
Sahass swam away from her and Polliwog. Maybe she had been serious about giving up. The snake had Stoner in its mouth, worrying him like a dog with a bone. Beats thrashed in the water, backpedaling away from the snake to avoid being crushed. Shots rang across the park as Jon fired from his perch. But if they had any effect, Mel couldn’t tell.
Mel doubted the water snake could kill Stoner, but if it swam away with him, the goal would be lost. She didn’t know what would happen then. Maybe it would be a tie game. Diving under the water, she swam toward the snake. Stoner pushed at the massive jaws and Mel could see lacerations along Stoner’s arms and body from the long teeth. Swimming forward, she tried to position herself. The snake shook Stoner again and then slammed him forward into the water. Mel timed it and dove under.
She latched onto Stoner’s back, wrapping one arm around his neck and the other over one of his arms. The water snake had him by the body and one leg and Mel made sure to keep her legs free of the snake’s mouth. As the water snake pulled them both back into the air, Mel reached down with her left hand and tried to feel for the pouch at Stoner’s waist.
Stoner was so busy fighting off the snake, he didn’t try to stop her. His left hand swung up, punching the water snake in the side of the head as he braced the jaws with his right arm. She fumbled with the clasp and popped it open. Before she could grab the sphere inside, the snake screeched and dove down. Mel barely had time to hold her breath as she plunged under water. Grabbing the sphere, she let go of Stoner. The snake swam forward powerfully, dragging Stoner and her under. She struggled to get clear, but it felt like being in a washing machine.
Disoriented and close to exhaustion, she pushed away with her feet. Her head came above the water, sphere still in her hand, and she quickly looked for help. Gorgeous swam out of the park and the snake had careened into Beats, knocking him back into the water. She had no idea where Riley was. Barely able to swim through the pain and fatigue, she attempted to stand. Staggering sideways, she slipped back in the water. Ironically, the support of the water helped her finally get to her feet. Forcing herself forward, she moved to the statue just thirty yards away. When the goal was put in the endpoint, the game would be over.
She fought for each step. A fear that Sahass or Samor would suddenly attack her sent a chill through her. She pushed a thought out to Jon and Evan, I’ve got the goal. I’m heading to the endpoint. Cover me.
Jesus, Mel, Jon replied. It’s a mess down there. Evan’s trying to find Riley. Hurry with the sphere, we need to end this.
I’m trying, Mel said. She kept moving forward, one step at a time. Too slow.
She turned back and saw the snake had given up on Stoner. With a toss of its head, Stoner flew in the air to smash into a tree and slide down. The snake wailed and swung its head, looking for another target. Mel heard a crack from Jon’s rifle. This one hit it in the head and the snake turned.
Toward Mel.
The statue was fifteen yards away. Adrenaline produced a burst of speed, and she dove under the water, swimming as hard as she could. Emerging at the endpoint, she heard the loud splash as the snake hit the water. Reaching up, she dropped the sphere into a round indentation at the base of the statue. A second later, a streak shot into the sky and burst into a red star. The gauntlet was over.
Mel had expected the snake to stop attacking her once they won the game. It took her a moment to realize the water snake wasn’t aware of that plan. Panicking, she tried to hide behind the statue. Two more cracks from Jon’s rifle hit the snake in the back of the head, but it surged forward, ramming into the statue and Mel, driving them backwards.
The statue pinned Mel down. As she struggled to come up for air, the snake opened its jaws. Mel tried to kick away, which pushed the statue into the snake’s gaping mouth. It thrashed the statue side to side, slamming it against Mel. Bubbles burst from her lips as her movements became more desperate, her lungs burning from lack of air. With a final kick, she pushed herself away. As
she did, a sharp pain tore across her thigh. Ignoring it, she swam away as hard as she could.
Her head crested the water, and she half-swam, half-crawled toward one of the trees. Maybe she could hide behind it. Beats called to her, wading in her direction. She came up to a low wall and tried to climb on top of it, then realized her right leg wasn’t working properly. Blood swirled in the water around her; the sight of the gash in her leg made her gasp. There had been a moment of pain, but it hadn’t registered until now. A glimpse of bright white through the red. She could see her own thigh bone.
She couldn’t slow her breathing. The panicked thought that she needed to lie flat and stay warm raced across her mind, then she laughed hysterically as she looked at the devastated park around her. With a final screech, the snake threw off the statue and splashed toward deeper waters.
Then Beats was beside her, picking her up out of the water.
“My leg. My leg,” she panted, feeling herself shaking. “My leg is falling off.” A hysterical laugh quickly turned to a scream of pain.
“Evan!” Beats bellowed, as he carried Mel out of the park.
“It’s okay, Beats. We won, we won.” Waves of fire pulsed in her leg. Water… waves… fire…
Evan splashed up to them as Beats growled at her. “It doesn’t matter if you’re dead.”
***
Mel wasn’t sure how she managed to stay conscious. Evan threw a makeshift tourniquet on her leg, which stopped most of the bleeding, but hurt almost as much as the original injury. They pulled everyone back to the lobby of the building Mel and Gorgeous had been in earlier, setting Mel up on a counter to get her out of the water.
Everything was a blur through a constant haze of pain. Gorgeous sat with Mel, but was pensive and didn’t talk. Not that Mel could have maintained much of a conversation.
The architects landed on the roof of the building. They sent a team in to secure the area, then tried to set up the award stage in the park. But Mel heard a new commotion, and finally an Asadharan rushed in with Evan.
“We have to go,” Evan said, his face etched with worry.
“I could really use some painkillers,” Mel gasped.
“They’re back on the shuttle. Which is where we’re heading right now,” Evan said. Beats walked over to pick Mel up, a heavy bandage on his left shoulder, limiting his mobility.
He reached under her legs and tried to be gentle, but she couldn’t help but scream. Weirdly, her whole leg felt like it was going numb from the tourniquet, yet it somehow managed to hurt at the same time.
Beats carried her to the dropship that would take them to the larger vessel they had hired, in orbit around the planet. The pain in her leg settled to a dull roar, and she tried to push it away. “What’s happening? What about the ceremony?”
Beats grunted. “The Order is coming.”
“That would kill their ratings, wouldn’t it?” Mel said. “Or maybe it makes them better.” She laughed morbidly to herself as Beats ducked into the doorway of the dropship.
***
Riley and Jon were already on the craft. Jon seemed fine, but Riley clutched at his right leg, his face a stoic mask. Gorgeous walked on board behind Beats, looked at Riley and Mel oddly before shaking her head. Beats laid Mel down on one of the bench seats in the back to strap her down. Evan came up behind him to help.
“Forget the straps, we need to take off now,” Evan said. “I’ll sit on the floor and hold her.” Beats nodded and patted Mel on the head before turning to another seat, forcing his bulk into one of the harnesses. The ship shuddered and rose with a jolt into the sky.
Mel wrapped her arm around one of the straps and turned to Evan. “What’s up with Riley?”
Evan shook his head. “You two are quite the pair. Riley tried to jump clear of the water snake. Did you see it? He must have launched himself twenty feet in the air… but he tore his hamstring in the process. I guess the tendons aren’t as strong as the muscle, and he put too much power into it.”
“Are you serious? He tore his own muscle?”
“I don’t know if he tore the muscle. Probably did. But he definitely tore the tendon off the bone. You can feel it and see the hamstring muscle all—” Evan stopped as Mel waved her hand at him.
“Enough, enough, I get the picture,” she said. She looked at the bandage on her leg, already soaked red. “I saw my thigh bone, when I first tried to get out of the water.”
A thin smile curled Evan’s lips. “It’s not a contest.”
Mel winced. “That’s not what I meant. Riley seems to heal pretty fast. Kathor used to… to heal me. I guess I haven’t had to live with a major injury from the gauntlets. Do you think I’ll be crippled?”
Evan shook his head. “It was a clean cut, along the muscle too, which is good. It’s going to take some rehab, but I’m sure you’ll walk. But it could take a while. Months maybe, unless Anna can come up with something to speed the healing.”
Mel nodded. Sure, Anna would come up with something. She always did. Mel could feel the ship vibrating as they began their ascent. “I’m tired, Evan. Can I take a nap?”
He reached up and held her hand. “Sure. I’ll be here.”
***
Raids of the gauntlets by the Order were common enough that the architects had a protocol to follow, allowing them to avoid capture without much difficulty. The trip back to Latanu took two days. Evan stabilized Mel’s leg, although there was nothing to do for Riley.
Gorgeous became moody and withdrawn, but Mel had too much to worry about with her leg to do anything about it. Riley seemed the worst of them, in a state of shock about his injury.
It was after they came out of the Latanua hyperdrive gate that Mel first realized what was happening. Her leg had felt warm for a while, and she peeled back the bandages to take a look. The edges of the cut were a nasty green color, and white pus formed around the wound. She took a deep breath, her nose twitching at the off smell. Replacing the bandage, she called Evan over.
Mel tried to read his expression, but Evan looked calm and methodical as he tried to clean the wound again. “What’s the prognosis?” Mel asked.
Evan shrugged. “An infection. Probably from being in the water. It’s the first time we’ve tried the new antibiotics Anna came up with. They may not be as effective as she hoped. We need to get you back to the base where we have better equipment.”
It took another twelve hours of transferring to a small van and driving to the farm in Chosba before Mel was in a makeshift hospital room. Sheila poked around Mel’s leg and then went off to consult with Anna and Evan. After an hour, Evan came to sit with Mel.
Mel’s whole body was hot and she felt dry to the touch. Anna’s latest round of medicine wasn’t making much of a difference.
“How’s Riley?” she said, trying to break the silence.
Evan looked up. “It’s as bad as we thought. He tore the tendon, a few ligaments, and the hamstring muscle itself. I don’t know exactly what Kathor did to him, but Anna said the human genetic sequence contains suppressed gene codes. It’s like the genes for having gills and flippers and stuff are in the human gene sequence, but they’re dormant. She said Kathor turned on some gene sequences for fast twitch muscle fibers and faster firing nerves. Genes that cats and dogs and other animals have, but humans don’t use. She thinks that the gene expression for the muscles happened faster than for the tendons and bones, leaving him unbalanced. Anyway, that’s what she said.”
“Can they help him?”
“Oh, sure,” Evan said, with a wave of his hand. “Riley’s easy. Sheila is going to do surgery to reattach the tendon and repair the ligaments. Anna is talking about some kind of glue injections to strengthen all of Riley’s tendons until they naturally get strong enough to withstand the force his muscles are putting on them.”
“Glue injections? Seriously?”
Evan shrugged. “Why not? Any weirder than turning cheetah genes on?”
“I guess not. So, um, how about
me? I feel like I’m running a fever.”
“You are. You also have blood poisoning. The latest round of antibiotics is helping but… Anna’s concerned it’s spreading and that she won’t be able to develop something strong enough to stop it in time.”
“In time for what?”
“If it spreads to your organs or even your brain, it could be fatal,” Evan said. His gaze dropped to the floor again.
Mel felt her heart beating faster. She couldn’t tell if her face was flushed or if it was just the fever coming on stronger. “What does that mean? Evan? Look at me.”
Evan looked up, his face without expression. “I’m sorry, Mel. Anna and Sheila are recommending that we amputate the leg.”
Chapter 23
The fingers of Mel’s right hand wiggled gently. That wasn’t right, but she couldn’t remember why. The thought crossed her mind that she was dreaming, then she realized what was wrong. The fingers were flesh and blood, not the cybernetic hand she had almost grown used to.
She attempted to flex the fingers, but nothing happened for several seconds. With a delayed reaction, the hand came up and the fingers curled in front of her face.
I wonder what it’s like to have a cyborg hand?
The voice echoed inside her head. Her voice, but it struck her as an odd question to ask herself. She knew perfectly well what it felt like.
The hand disappeared, and Mel found herself looking at a vertical glass tube or cocoon of some sort. The dream was foggy, and the vision seemed both far away and immediate at the same time. An orange light on the side of the tube blinked slowly then winked out, replaced by a solid blue light.
She reached out, unconsciously, and pressed a button. With a dramatic hiss, the tube split along the side and swung back. A cold fog drifted out. As the fog cleared, Mel could make out a form. The dream grew hazy, the form indistinct and unclear. As it came back into focus, Mel could see Anna, her blonde hair hanging down over bare shoulders. Anna’s eyes were closed and she looked to be in a peaceful sleep. Suddenly, her eyes flicked open, staring directly into Mel’s.
