by Barry Solway
“I understand, Mel. It’s cool, okay? We’re all feeling it. But you and Anna have been working together a lot, and it just seems like you’ve both been a bit off the last day or so. I’ll be honest, I have another concern.”
“What concern? About me?”
“No, no. About Anna. I’m wondering if her processor is decaying faster than she’s letting on. She doesn’t really seem like herself. I know that’s weird to say about an AI, but do you know what I mean?”
“Yeah. I’ve kind of noticed that, too,” Mel lied. “Have you tried asking her?”
“She just said that she was fine, that there wasn’t any change. But she seemed sad. You know she’s only got a few weeks left, based on what she said before. And if the damage is spreading faster, then she could already be feeling the effects.”
“We have to focus on the gauntlet. On surviving long enough for Kathor to find us. Once we get his ship, we can help Anna.”
Riley nodded. “Okay. But I’m going to keep an eye on her, anyway. If she needs help, we need to be there for her. This is probably scary for her, too.”
“You’re a good person, Riley. Anna’s lucky to have you as a friend. But I’m exhausted. I’m going to lie down for a bit.”
***
Mel sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, deliberately not leaning against the wall so she wouldn’t fall asleep. Another dream had come to her the night before, of her without cybernetic parts, huddled over a computer console. Surprisingly, she hadn’t been in a lab, but rather in the kitchen on the Insight. The dream Mel had executed a program, and moments later, a rotating robot arm reached into a device and pulled out a small fluorescent pink object. She had poked the object, then picked it up and sniffed it. As she bit into it, the taste of warm shrimp flooded her mouth, followed immediately by the stench of rotting fish. Dream Mel spit the morsel out all over the computer console, just as the real Mel had woken up. Then she’d spent the rest of the night trying to mentally reach dream Mel. If it was real, it was incredibly frustrating that her communication was limited to eating artificially rancid shrimp.
Ever since that last dream with Kathor, weeks ago, she had tried this every night and sometimes during the day. Sitting quietly and searching with her mind for another version of her that likely didn’t exist. The reason for her obsession occurred to her a few days ago, after a particularly tense conversation with Anna.
If the dreams were real and she could communicate with this other self, it meant she wasn’t crazy. Almost more importantly, if this other clone Mel existed, then maybe she could justify what she had done to Anna. She had done it because she felt—she knew—she could talk to Kathor and arrange for him to be there to save them. To save Anna. If she was right, if she could save Anna, then her betrayal would be worth it. If she was wrong, then she wasn’t sure she could live with herself. On the other hand, if she was wrong, the odds were pretty good she’d be dead soon anyway.
After twenty minutes of sitting stiffly, she sighed. Nothing. Just like the several dozen other times she had tried. Was there something she had missed, besides the fact that she was crazy? Maybe it really was all just a dream.
A dream. With a sudden realization, she lay down on the bed. Every time she had experienced the other Mel, she had been asleep, and it felt like dreaming. In her attempts to recreate it, she had focused on staying awake. That could be the wrong approach. Maybe she had to be asleep, or almost asleep. She could try to find the connection while dozing, half-asleep but awake enough to direct the conversation. Assuming she didn’t go completely out.
Relaxing, she let her mind drift, just barely holding onto the idea of finding her dream Mel. She imagined the kitchen in Kathor’s ship, the computer console and the robot arm. The taste of the shrimp. She caught herself snoring.
A shift. Like floating in a dark lake, but with an intangible ripple next to her. The ghost of a presence.
Who are you?
I’ve been searching for you.
Are you real? I thought I was crazy.
We probably are.
I don’t know what to believe.
Believe in yourself. Believe in us.
You should make that a bumper sticker.
Maybe I already did.
My name’s Mel? What’s yours?
A ripple of laughter. I call myself Mel, too.
That’s going to get confusing.
Aren’t we the pair?
Yeah. I always wanted a sister.
Me, too. What a coincidence.
It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mel.
Welcome back, sister.
I need to tell you something. You’re going to love this...
Chapter 33
As she walked into the makeshift medical bay, Mel almost missed Sheila. The Chaturee stared out the picture window into the pastures behind the farmhouse. Mel had never seen her sit so still.
A vision of Simon superimposed itself over Sheila, torn and bloody. It was all Mel could do to not run from the room. Forcing herself to stay calm, she coughed slightly to get Sheila’s attention.
“I’m looking for Evan. We’re supposed to do this thing with Soryda.”
“You see him, don’t you?” Sheila’s head pivoted slightly, but she didn’t look at Mel.
“What?”
“Simon. You see him. When you look at me. I can see it in your eyes.” Now Sheila did turn, looking directly at Mel. The translator cycled through a handful of emotions that it thought Sheila was displaying, but didn’t settle on one.
“Yes…” Mel whispered.
Sheila turned back to the window. “Good. It makes the pain more bearable knowing that you suffer too.” Tears formed at the corner of Mel’s eye, but she blinked them away and Sheila continued as if she wasn’t there. “I wish you had never come here.”
Mel caught the laugh that threatened to come out, turning it into a small cough. “I’ve wished that many times.”
Sheila pivoted sharply. “I meant here. To the farmhouse. I wish you’d died in the gauntlets or been captured on Chandir. Or when your ship crashed. Simon was my friend. A good friend and a brilliant engineer. Your foolishness… your stubbornness… you led him to his death.”
“I’ve died too,” Mel whispered. “In the gauntlets, twice. In training for the gauntlets. Every time one of my friends die. I never asked for any of this.”
Sheila sniffed. “You only think of yourself.”
“Please,” Mel scoffed. “Like you’re any different. You don’t care about Evan. Or any of the rest of us. We’re just interesting experiments. You’re hardly any better than Kathor. You should visit his ship sometime. The two of you could go wild creating cyber-genetic freaks.”
The hair on the back of Sheila’s head visibly rose into the air. She stood stiffly, reaching her fullest height, and glared up at Mel.
“I want you out. All of you.” Sheila glanced sideways for a moment, then back. “Except Evan, he can stay. But the rest of you will go to the next gauntlet, or whatever insane cliff you wish to throw yourself from, and not come back. I hope to the heavens I never have to look upon you again.”
As Sheila walked stiffly from the room, Mel bit her tongue before she said anything else she would regret
***
Trudging through the hallways like a purposeless zombie, Mel continued searching for Evan until she found him in Anna’s conference room.
“There you are,” Evan said. “Ready to do this?”
Mel wished she could avoid this. She had already told her clone that the gauntlet was on Mrtyu, so trying to reach Kathor through an encoded message to Soryda was pointless at best. Her clone was going to talk to Kathor about how to find this library he had mentioned and how to get the information he needed. The deception ate at her, but since she couldn’t tell the others about her conversations with her clone, she had no choice but to go along with Anna’s plan.
“We’d better get it done soon,” Mel said dully. “Sheila’s kicking u
s out.”
“Too bad we can’t just command her to let us stay. That sure would be convenient,” Anna replied.
Mel twitched as if she’d been slapped, the world threatening to collapse in on her. A moment later, she felt Evan’s hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” he said, smiling at her. “She’s sad about Simon. We all are. I’ll talk to her, it’ll be okay.”
“Maybe,” Mel replied. “I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself. She said… she said she never wanted to see me again.” Shaking her head, Mel looked pleadingly at Evan. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for—assurances she wasn’t a horrible person who had murdered Sheila and Evan’s best friend. And betrayed her own best friend. Evan’s frown didn’t help.
“She didn’t mean it. Probably.” Evan shook his head. “I’ll talk to her, but we should take care of this Soryda thing. You ready?”
Mel nodded and pulled the hood of her jacket up to mostly cover her face. They were going to record a video that Anna would distribute through the game architects, but they didn’t want it too obvious that Mel wasn’t a standard race.
Mel adjusted her hood as Anna dimmed the lights. “How’s that?”
Evan reached forward and pulled the hood even further forward. “That should be good. Turn slightly to the left so your face is more in the shadow. Great. We can see you, but not enough to clearly tell you’re… well, an alien.”
“Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
“I’ll play Soryda’s interview again,” Anna said. “To help you get in the mood.”
Mel swallowed the scream. Ignoring Anna was best, but her barbs were getting more obvious and painful every day. Mel didn’t know how much longer she could put up with it.
Anna’s head was replaced with the holo-vid of Soryda’s interview. With every word, Mel could feel the confusion melt away, her mouth setting in a thin line. Maybe letting Anna play the video was a good idea after all.
“Are you recording?”
“Yep. Go for it,” Anna replied.
Mel tilted her head slightly down, trying to accentuate the shadows that hid her face. She kept her face blank of emotions, although the aliens who saw the video wouldn’t be able to translate them anyway. What would be important were her words, and she let the fury building inside of her drive them.
“Soryda. Why did you join the gauntlets? Today, you want revenge, but before that. Before the bomb exploded that killed your husband. Did you think you were a hero? Did you enjoy being famous, as you sat in an office on Latanu between gauntlets? Maybe you liked the money. Were your friends jealous of your bravery?
“I have fought and died for my friends. You say I hid behind my teammate, but the truth is the opposite. My friend, a friend that I loved, sacrificed himself to save me. We fight for a larger purpose. Not for money, or fame, or to brag at parties. We fight to save the people we care about. It’s too bad you couldn’t do the same for your husband.
“My team will advance to a level three gauntlet. I know who my friends are and I know, when the time is right, they will be where I need them to be. Maybe, in this pointless quest for revenge, you will be there too. But it won’t matter, because I don’t care about you. My only goal is to save my friends. To win. And I will go through anyone who stands in my way.”
Mel froze for a second, then released a whoosh of air and pulled back her hood. “How was that?”
Anna brightened the lights. “That last line has the benefit of being honest, at least.”
Evan gave a thumbs up. “Solid. Hopefully Kathor gets it. If he does, he’ll know we’re going to level three and he can probably find out where. But, I still don’t get why you think he’s going to come try and find us. It would be crazy for him to do that. It doesn’t make sense.”
“He needs me. For lots of things. It will work out, I promise.” Mel cringed, expecting Anna to respond with a snarky comment. “No pressure, but have you thought more about the next gauntlet?”
Evan shifted awkwardly away from Mel. “There’s something you need to know. I’m not going back. Back to Earth. I haven’t decided about the gauntlet, but… either way, I plan to stay behind.”
Reaching out to touch Evan’s arm, she withdrew it at the last moment. “Why would you want to stay here? You have family and friends back on Earth.”
“Do I? I guess I would if we all went back. But I have other friends here. Sheila and some of the other Latanua. I like it here. I like the culture and the technology. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like I fit in. And let’s be realistic. I’m three-quarters cyborg. They don’t have technology here that can return me to my original human look, not enough to pass for a human on Earth, anyway. I’d have to live as a freak or with the constant fear of being discovered.”
Mel looked at her cybernetic hand. She had avoided thinking about it, but Evan obviously had. Maybe he was right, for his part. In the worst case, Mel would just have to reveal what she was. She preferred that to never seeing her family again. To never going home.
But it made it even less likely that Evan would join the gauntlet.
***
As they walked through the outdoor market, Mel felt herself hunching forward, barely paying attention to everyone milling around them. They were scheduled to leave for Asadhara tomorrow, but nothing had changed. Riley and Gem were in. Anna had proposed several ideas for taking over Kathor’s ship, but everyone could see how farfetched they were. The primary flaw in every plan was the assumption that Anna would be there to help them, and they had no assurances that she would survive that long.
After her conversation with Evan, Mel thought it was more likely he would leave with Sheila than join them in the gauntlets. With only three team members, there was no way they could field a real team and would likely have to forfeit the match.
“Any luck talking to Beats?” she asked Riley.
“No. He keeps talking about how the fighting is wrong, how hurting people is wrong, but there’s something weird going on with him.”
“He always was a pacifist. Remember the first time we did training and he didn’t want to hurt the training bots?”
Riley chuckled. “Yeah, that was a while ago, wasn’t it? But you’ve seen him in the gauntlets. He can be vicious and, honestly, I think he enjoys fighting. It doesn’t really make sense to me.”
“Nothing makes sense. We’re going to lose this chance to find Kathor. I feel like we’re so close.”
“How about Gorgeous?”
“I talked to her again. She’s doing better, but I think she’s afraid of what she’s become. I kind of see her point.”
Riley shook his head, his expression matching what Mel felt. “I’m not really into this crowd. Let’s grab the fruit for Beats and head back.”
They wound their way through the maze of stalls, Mel sidestepping to avoid a woman with a Latanua monkey on her shoulder. As Mel took a step back, she was almost knocked over as a child ran into her. The same boy from the fruit stall their first night here.
“Hey!” Mel said, smiling down at the boy.
His face tentacles waved strangely. Worry. Fear. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side between two stalls, Riley a step behind.
Mel squatted down so she was eye level with the boy. “Is everything okay?”
The boy held onto her cybernetic hand, and for a moment he must have forgotten whatever was bothering him. His fingers ran over the hard plastic and metal, and his eyes shone with excitement.
“This is so cool,” he said. Then he shook his head. “There are people here. They are going from stall to stall showing a picture of you and the Maneshee and asking whether anyone has seen you. I think… I think they work for the Order.”
Mel glanced at Riley. “Do you think they’ve found us?”
“We should head back,” Riley said.
Nodding, Mel turned to the boy and gave him a quick hug. “Thanks for the warning. Keep your head down and avoid the Order.”
His tentacle
s waved excitedly as she stood. “I hope you win and beat Soryda. I’m going to be a gladiator someday too.”
“That’s a bad idea,” Mel said. “Stay in school. Love your family. Whatever it is you do around here. But, whatever it is, don’t be a gladiator.”
***
Riley scanned the crowd, looking out for agents of the Order. He motioned Mel forward and they scuttled across the path to duck between two stalls on the other side.
“Have you got Anna yet? She’s not responding,” Riley whispered.
“Stop whispering. It makes us look suspicious.”
“Whatever. I feel like we’re surrounded. I swear I’m going to have a heart attack.”
Mel? Can you hear me? The Order is here and they’re looking for you.
Anna! We know. We’re trying to avoid them and get back to the farm.
It’s too late. Go to the field a mile north of the farm. There’s a dropship waiting for you. It will take you to the port in Svarga. There are forged documents that will get you, Riley, and Gem to Asadhara.
What? Anna, wait! What about you and the others?
Anna never responded.
***
“They’re not coming,” Gem said, as she climbed into the dropship.
“What about Anna?”
“She’s with the others. In another dropship that she got for the others. Evan disconnected her, so she wasn’t able to respond.”
Mel ran her hand through her hair. Part of her wanted to cry, but she also felt strangely numb. “How did they find us?”
“Anna said it was her fault. She was running a search algorithm to find Kathor’s ship, hoping she could still contact him directly and call off the gauntlet. The Order found her and traced her back to Chosba.”
“Damn. She did that on purpose,” Mel muttered, ignoring Riley’s questioning look. “We’re done. It’s only the three of us and we don’t have Anna anymore. We can’t do the gauntlet.”
“Do we have to?” Riley asked. “If Kathor shows up, we can just find his ship, right? We don’t actually have to do the gauntlets.”
