by Barry Solway
Gorgeous hesitated. “Can we do the gauntlet and not fight? Is that even possible? Anna, what do you think?”
“If you guys go in at level three and don’t fight, the architects are going to be pissed. If Kathor doesn’t show, it would affect your ability to get gauntlets in the future. Which is maybe a good thing at this point. But the biggest risk is that the Order finds out about it. They could find all of us.”
“But if we go, can you devise a strategy so we don’t have to fight?” Mel asked Anna. “Gorgeous, if Anna could do that, would you be in?”
Gorgeous hesitated again, then nodded reluctantly. Anna started to speak, but Mel interrupted. “Can we take a break? Give everyone a chance to think this over? I need to go to the bathroom, too.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Anna said.
“Let’s meet back in an hour,” Mel suggested. “We still need to make a final decision.”
Everyone agreed and filed out of the room. Mel went back to her room and lay on the bed. It all came down to Anna. If Anna could convince Gorgeous, then Gorgeous would join. Mel was sure of it. And she was sure of Kathor, too. If he knew where to find them, he would come for her. She just had to convince Anna.
After half an hour, she got up and went back to Anna’s conference room. She walked in and shut the door, sitting down and staring out the window. Anna’s hologram popped into view.
“That must have been hard,” Anna said.
“What?”
“Telling them about you being a clone.”
“Yeah. I had almost managed to forget myself. Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” Anna replied.
“You still think this is a stupid idea, right?”
“Yes. Is that your question?”
“No. I’ve been having… dreams. Of Kathor. He keeps telling me that he’s trying to find me, that he needs me. I just feel… I feel that if he knows where I am, that he’ll come looking for me.”
“Seriously? Because you had a dream? Mel, come on,” Anna said. “You’ve had so much trauma over the last few months, it’s amazing you’re sane at all. It’s post-traumatic stress.”
“You think I’m crazy.”
“I didn’t say that,” Anna replied quickly. “You’re not crazy. But you are dealing with a lot. A dream like that isn’t that surprising, is it? You can’t base a decision about joining a level three gauntlet on a dream.”
Anna responded exactly the way Mel had expected. For all of her denials, Mel knew Anna thought she was a little off. “What are you going to tell Gorgeous?” Mel asked.
“The truth. That we can probably come up with a plan to keep everyone safe, but that it’s pointless. There’s no way to know that Kathor would come, and just being in the gauntlet is risky. We’ve already lost Simon, and we almost lost you and Evan. Look at yourself, Mel. You’re a cyborg. Can’t you see what you’re doing to yourself? You’re sacrificing everything about yourself—your friends, your principles, your humanity—on the barest of chances to get home. The odds are radically against you, and you need to stop and consider other options.”
“What about you? You’re dying, Anna. How much longer do you have? Weeks? Finding Kathor, and quickly, is the only chance you have.”
“It’s too late for me, Mel. Your idea is impossible. You need to start being realistic.”
Mel nodded. She knew what she had to do. The hardest thing she had ever done.
“You know, I wonder about that. About losing my humanity. Before I was cloned, I would never have tried to talk a friend like Gorgeous into going into a dangerous situation with me. Or Beats or Evan or even Jon. But now… I’m willing to do anything to get back to Earth. To get all of us back to Earth. I set off a bomb on a space station. When someone gets in my way, I shoot first and run before asking questions. When did I become this way, Anna? Can you honestly say the cloning hasn’t changed me?”
“It’s the gauntlets, Mel. And everything Kathor did to you and the others. You’re singularly focused on getting home, and you’re not looking at other options in front of you. You have a choice.”
“I don’t want to lose anyone else, Anna. Especially you.”
“Neither do I,” Anna said softly. “You can’t help me. You, Riley, Evan, and Jon should try to live your lives. But do it here. Give up trying to get back to Earth.”
Mel stood. “I can’t do that, Anna. I can’t give up.”
“I can’t help you, Mel. I’m sorry. I’ll tell Gorgeous what I think and then she’ll have to decide for herself.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I want you… I command you to tell Gorgeous that you’ve analyzed my plan and decided it’s the best option. That we can come up with a good plan to keep everyone safe and that you’re already working on a plan to take over Kathor’s ship.”
A strange sound came out, somewhere between electronic noise and someone choking. “Mel. What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, Anna. I don’t want to do this. But I’m right. I know I’m right. I won’t let you die when I know I can save you. I’m not crazy. I can’t explain it, but I can’t afford to let you ruin this chance.”
“Mel! You promised. You promised you would never command me to do anything against my will. YOU PROMISED!”
“I’m sorry. I really am. But you’ll do what I just said. And you won’t tell anyone I commanded you to do it. Not Riley or anyone. In any fashion. No sneaking around to leave secret messages or trying to lead people to figure it out, either. You have to keep it a secret. Do you understand me?”
The door burst open, and Evan and Riley rushed in. Mel turned to face them, trying to stay calm.
“Everything okay? We heard someone scream,” Riley said.
“We’re fine,” Mel said. She sat down. “Is everyone else coming? We should finish up our meeting.”
Riley looked between Anna’s holographic image and Mel. “Anna? Everything okay?”
Anna paused for a long moment. Mel could feel the wheels turning in Anna’s head. Ways to get around Mel’s command, to tell Riley. If that happened, then Mel was ruined. Riley wouldn’t trust her anymore and if he told the others, no one would.
Anna slowly faced Riley. “Everything’s fine, Riley. I’ve been analyzing Mel’s proposal, and I’ve determined it’s the best option for getting to Kathor. We should call everyone in to finish discussing it.”
Chapter 32
“I’m not going to go into a big discussion right now, but I’ll give you the overview. We’re registered for a level three gauntlet in six days. It’s on Asadhara in a city named Mrtyu. Kathor’s home planet, if that matters. It’s an old city that was caught in a nuclear war during the early part of the War of the Suns. Right after that, the inhabitants built an extended underground city but eventually abandoned it. Much of the surface is a wasteland, and the underground city probably isn’t going to be much better.”
“A nuclear war?” Riley asked. “Is that going to be safe? I don’t want to turn into a genetic freak.”
Mel forced herself to smile. The tension between her and Anna was palpable. Anna had convinced Gorgeous to do the gauntlet, but Jon still wasn’t on board. When he had walked in the room, Mel caught the sweet scent of the yellow fruit in the air. He leaned forward in his chair, holding his head in his hands, ignoring the others. Whether it was from intoxication or not, he didn’t want anything to do with a level three gauntlet or potentially getting caught by Kathor again.
“It was four hundred years ago, so radiation isn’t a problem. I doubt the architects want the gladiators to melt from radiation poisoning at the beginning of the show. It would ruin the ratings. Anyway, I’ll talk about the city later when we look at training scenarios. In the meantime, we’ve got the other team’s roster. Some of you will be happy to hear that Stoner will be there.”
Gem leaned forward. “I must join the team, then. This will be my chance to find him.”
“If Jon was sob
er, he’d be doing cartwheels,” Anna said. “As for the rest of the team, we have a bunch of familiar faces. Wicked, Soryda, Bodysuit, our old friend Junkyard, and Samor.”
“Samor? Really?” Gorgeous asked.
“Yep,” Anna said.
“You can’t shoot him, Mel,” Gorgeous said, her eyes glowing bright green.
Mel sighed. “I don’t intend to shoot anyone. Promise.”
Anna cut in with an overly chipper response. “Mel promises, so you know he’s safe.” Mel kept her face a mask. She could understand how Kathor had so much trouble keeping Anna in line. It was exhausting to cover all the subtle ways she would reference Mel’s betrayal. Mel would have to talk to her again.
“I’m a bit surprised that entire group is at level three. Anything else we should know?” Mel asked.
“A few things. You’re in the big leagues now and this isn’t the standard game we’re used to. There are actually five different types of gauntlets, although the Capture the Flag version is most common in the lower levels. This is an attack/defend format, or Evan and Riley might prefer calling it King of the Mountain.
“One team is given a small area to defend and the other team attacks that area. If no member of the defending team is in the area for longer than thirty minutes, and at least one of the attacking team is in the area, then the attacking team wins immediately. Otherwise, the attacking team has—it would be about twenty-seven Earth hours—to defeat the defending team. If the defenders hold out for the entire time, they win. We won’t know whether we are the attackers or defenders until the morning of the gauntlet, so we’ll have to train for both scenarios.”
“At least we won’t have to run around finding the goal,” Evan said.
“If we’re chosen as the attackers, it could work to our advantage,” Mel said. “It would be on us to engage, so we could leave without worrying about being attacked.”
“Possibly,” Anna said. “But if you’re the defenders, it will cause problems. Even if you try to escape the ‘mountain,’ the other team won’t know what you’re doing and may try to take you out to prevent you from coming back.
“Next up, you should know that level three has a bit more ritualistic fanfare around it. They do the ceremonies at level 2, assuming the gladiators don’t attack the architects or the Order doesn’t show up out of the blue. At level three, they’ll be an architect who will meet you at the beginning. He’ll give a speech and then ask each of you if you accept the challenge of the gauntlet.”
Riley laughed. “Can we say no?”
“Not if you want to get paid,” Anna replied. “But it’s slightly weirder then that.”
“They ask you three times,” Beats said.
“Correct. They will ask you three times if you accept the gauntlet and wish to enter the temple. It’s a formality, but you have to respond yes to all three requests. So no joking around, or they’ll kick you out.”
“What’s that about?” Evan asked.
“No idea, but it’s been going on as long as the gauntlets have and they take it pretty seriously.”
“Fantastic,” Mel said. “Any other good news?”
“I save the best for last. Here’s a holo-vid of Soryda, giving an interview on the upcoming game.” Anna’s head disappeared and a scene of Soryda sitting in a chair floated in the air.
Mel gasped. Evan examined the hologram and shook his head. “What did she do to herself?”
She was almost completely a cyborg. Both legs, both arms, and her abdomen up to her lower chest were all replaced by sleek mechanical parts.
“Why would she do that?” Mel asked.
“Because her husband died,” Anna said. “She wants revenge. Apparently, at any cost. Listen.” Mel shifted uncomfortably in her chair as the holo-video began to play.
Soryda turned to the camera. “I fight now for vengeance. This nameless wretch killed my husband, but not in combat. Look at the videos, remind yourselves of her true nature. She is a coward, who runs and hides, letting her friends fight for her. Letting her friends die for her. In the very same gauntlet that she killed my husband, she hid behind her own teammate so she would not be shot.”
Soryda leaned forward into the camera, the light glistening off a black metallic shoulder. “I loved my husband, with all my heart. And now he is gone. I have nothing to live for but this one thing. To see her suffer and die, at my hand.”
The room was silent for a moment, then the hologram faded and Anna’s holographic head returned. “Normally, this wouldn’t be a concern. Cybernetic parts are mandated by law to be substandard to the original biological part, so this should be a downgrade. But we can safely assume that Soryda isn’t trying to be weaker. She thinks she’s found a way to trick the architects. And they won’t really care at level three. At level one or two, they wouldn’t let her play, but they figure people at level three know what they’re getting into. It will definitely create some excitement.”
“Even though it makes them weaker, some people choose to have cybernetics just to be different. Kind of like getting a tattoo. And who really cares if you’re only eighty-five percent as strong as before?” Evan said. “But this means she’s illegal. If the Order figures out what she’s done, she’s as good as dead.”
“She should have thought of that before she and her husband joined the gauntlets on a lark,” Mel said. “They had a choice about doing this. It’s disgusting.”
“We have a choice, too,” Evan replied. “You don’t know why they did it. It probably made sense to them at the time. I don’t know if it’s disgusting, but it makes me sad.”
“Whatever,” Mel said. It was too confusing to think about. Soryda and her husband, Carun, had joined the gauntlets because they were bored in their day jobs. Mel was doing it to save her friends and herself. They’d been kidnapped against their will, so there was no comparison that Mel could see. “Anna, is there anything else?”
“Not at the moment. I’m analyzing information regarding Mrtyu and we’ll put together a training course to simulate the city as much as possible. We have the spot, but we’ll need to decide how we want to send a message to Kathor. We may be able to use Soryda to our advantage.”
“Soryda? How so?” Evan asked.
“She’s one of the more popular gladiators. Her interview is getting a lot of press. And she specifically called out Mel.”
“That wasn’t my fault!”
“That’s not what the rest of the universe thinks. And, to be fair, you’re pretty popular, too. I guess people like how loyal you are to your friends.” Anna paused. “There’s an opportunity to respond to Soryda and build up the whole rivalry thing. Should create lots of extra exposure. It would increase the odds that Kathor sees it.”
Mel’s lips set in a thin line. “Fine. I’ll watch the interview and come up with a response.”
“Splendid,” Anna replied. “So exciting to be working as a team. That’s all I have today. We’ll see everyone in the training hall tomorrow, bright and early.”
Mel stood, nearly stalking out of the room. Riley tried to get her attention, but she was in no mood to talk. He finally caught up with her in the hallway and grabbed her arm.
“Hey, slow down there, Captain. Can I talk to you for a second?”
Mel pulled away. “I’m not really in the mood. Can it wait?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think it should. What’s—” Riley began, as Jon staggered into him. “Whoa. Dude, get yourself together.”
Jon pushed away from Riley, almost falling into Mel. “Leave me ‘lone,” he slurred. “I’m fine.”
“Yeah, you look great,” Mel said, holding Jon’s arm as he regained his balance. “You’re going to be a mess in training. You keep this up, you’ll get one of us killed.”
Jon stared at her, squinting slightly, as if not recognizing who she was. “Not you. You’re… you’re already dead.” He giggled and plucked at the t-shirt Mel wore. “Over and over and over…”
Riley pushed Jon�
��s hand away from Mel. “Leave her alone.”
Jon swayed backwards but maintained his balance. “Riley, Riley, Riley… sorry. I’m sorry. I wasn’t messin’ with… with your girlfriend. Promise.” He swayed again, then looked more seriously at Mel. His mouth opened a few times, then he licked his lips. Mel was afraid he was going to throw up.
“The thing… the thing is… they think I’m a coward. Because I’m not stupid. I’m drunk, but that doesn’t… those are different things. You understand me?” He leaned towards Mel, his expression suddenly intense.
“I literally have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mel replied.
Jon grabbed Mel’s metallic arm, whether to avoid falling down or to get her attention, she couldn’t tell. “She’s dead. You understand? How… I wanted to apologize…” A tear slid down Jon’s cheek. He took a step back and wiped the tear away. “Shit. I waited too long. She’s dead. And everyone… always a coward. You can’t run away from it, even when you aren’t stupid.”
Jon swayed again, then took a deep breath. “Whatever, man. It’s all good. I am going to go… somewhere. I’ll catch you all…” His brow knitted in concentration. “Later. Yeah, later.” With a grunt, Jon staggered down the hallway.
“What the hell was that about?” Riley said.
Thoughts swirled in Mel’s head. She thought she knew what he was talking about, but she couldn’t deal with it. Not now. “Who knows. Maybe… maybe he’s talking about Sharon. What did you want to talk about?”
“Oh, right. I was just wondering what’s up between you and Anna.”
“Nothing, Riley. I’m just on edge, that’s all.” Mel fished for a response that would satisfy him. “Look, everyone knows I’m a clone. Jon treats me like I’m an alien. Gorgeous thinks I’m contagious or something. And this mission, it’s a long shot. I know that, and Anna knows it. There’s a lot riding on it. Kathor might not show up. We may not be able to steal his ship. Who knows? I’m just… I’m just feeling the pressure, okay?”
